You know you're officially an adult when you get excited about a vacuum cleaner. Here's a true story from my long holiday weekend about the power of word of mouth.
Our neighbor, Amanda, bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner last week and has been telling us about how great it is. She's owned several before this one and swears by them. So, when she offered, we put it to the test in our house. Now, Amanda has one dog and one eight-year-old. We have two dogs, one cat, and one messy adult (yes, it's me).
Since I'm a sucker for pet pictures, this is Chase.
Anyway, we powered up the Dyson and watched in disgusted awe as it sucked more dog hair than we thought we had dogs. I actually got a little excited about vacuuming.
Then, just yesterday, we met a new neighbor with two dogs. We were comparing doggy notes when he turned to the subject of keeping up with the dog hair. "I've got a Dyson," he said. "Ever heard of them?" We smiled, laughed and started swapping Dyson stories over the fence. Turns out that when he was shopping, he was eyeballing the cheapest vacuum on the shelf. The salesperson asked him if he had dogs, and he answered yes. The, unprompted, another customer offered advice. "If you have dogs, you must have the Dyson," she said. "You won't regret spending the extra money." The next day, new neighbor guy's wife went to check out the Dyson and had a similar experience. A complete stranger saw her looking at the Dyson and offered her own bit of advice.
So now they own a Dyson. They are brand evangelists. Along with my other neighbor, Amanda, who, by the way, is Welsh. Turns out in Wales, they don't call it "vacuuming." They call it "Dysoning."
Is your product or brand inspiring stories? Is it worthy of owning an entire activity? Why not? If a vacuum cleaner can do it, why not you?