Post by Josh van den Borst
If we ever doubted just how powerful a tool Social Media can be, then I would like to draw your attention to a brilliant story.
This weekend, I play host to a couple of guys I know from back in New Zealand looking for a place to crash for a couple of nights. While this may sound like a familiar scenario for loads of other people trying in London this weekend – this is a tale of two plucky young Kiwis who put their law careers on hold to play golf every day for a year while travelling the world and raising money for The First Tee in New Zealand.
This all started late one night when Michael Goldstein, Jamie Patton and a bunch of their mates were talking crazy stuff. The idea was tossed out of playing golf every day for a year at a different golf club. Call it fate or just time for an adventure, this weekend they find themselves in my lounge on track to complete quite a remarkable achievement.
Their trip so far has taken them throughout New Zealand, Australia, USA, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and now England. Next week they will be in Holland before moving onto France, Germany, Belgium, back to Scotland before heading throughout Asia, all to be back in time for good old fashioned Kiwi BBQ on New Years Eve 2010.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind for Michael and Jamie, after teeing it up at Riviera Country Club with a legend -- Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger, borrowing Ben Crenshaw’s (a living legend in golfing circles) locker at Bel Air Country Club, hitting balls on the range next to Pete Sampras and seeing Dr. Phil tee off, they were at last week’s Ryder Cup, as spectators and special guests of Tiger Woods’s caddy, fellow New Zealander Steve Williams. They've accepted random acts of kindness from friends or those friends of friends they've met. Take last night, they were all set to spend another night sleeping in a car in Basingstoke when a member of the course they had just played that day reached out and offered them a room. He had heard their story from a friend.
And their story hasn’t been advertised, they don’t beg – they just harness the power of Twitter, Facebook, daily blogs waiting for people to make contact with them, and they do. People have picked up lunch, dinner and those hefty green fees. They've stayed with an estimated 80 or 90 families since they started. All of which is making this sometimes wing-and-a-prayer tour possible
And how do I relate this back to the world of corporate communications? I believe their story has been picked up by so many people because its compelling, its different and put simply, people are interested in what they are doing. They aren’t raising money for charity by selling sausages, running raffles or shaving their heads. They took a chance, dared to be different and go out on a limb – and people have noticed.
And that is the lesson.
Follow their progress here – www.puregolf2010.com
If we ever doubted just how powerful a tool Social Media can be, then I would like to draw your attention to a brilliant story.
This weekend, I play host to a couple of guys I know from back in New Zealand looking for a place to crash for a couple of nights. While this may sound like a familiar scenario for loads of other people trying in London this weekend – this is a tale of two plucky young Kiwis who put their law careers on hold to play golf every day for a year while travelling the world and raising money for The First Tee in New Zealand.
This all started late one night when Michael Goldstein, Jamie Patton and a bunch of their mates were talking crazy stuff. The idea was tossed out of playing golf every day for a year at a different golf club. Call it fate or just time for an adventure, this weekend they find themselves in my lounge on track to complete quite a remarkable achievement.
Their trip so far has taken them throughout New Zealand, Australia, USA, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and now England. Next week they will be in Holland before moving onto France, Germany, Belgium, back to Scotland before heading throughout Asia, all to be back in time for good old fashioned Kiwi BBQ on New Years Eve 2010.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind for Michael and Jamie, after teeing it up at Riviera Country Club with a legend -- Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger, borrowing Ben Crenshaw’s (a living legend in golfing circles) locker at Bel Air Country Club, hitting balls on the range next to Pete Sampras and seeing Dr. Phil tee off, they were at last week’s Ryder Cup, as spectators and special guests of Tiger Woods’s caddy, fellow New Zealander Steve Williams. They've accepted random acts of kindness from friends or those friends of friends they've met. Take last night, they were all set to spend another night sleeping in a car in Basingstoke when a member of the course they had just played that day reached out and offered them a room. He had heard their story from a friend.
And their story hasn’t been advertised, they don’t beg – they just harness the power of Twitter, Facebook, daily blogs waiting for people to make contact with them, and they do. People have picked up lunch, dinner and those hefty green fees. They've stayed with an estimated 80 or 90 families since they started. All of which is making this sometimes wing-and-a-prayer tour possible
And how do I relate this back to the world of corporate communications? I believe their story has been picked up by so many people because its compelling, its different and put simply, people are interested in what they are doing. They aren’t raising money for charity by selling sausages, running raffles or shaving their heads. They took a chance, dared to be different and go out on a limb – and people have noticed.
And that is the lesson.
Follow their progress here – www.puregolf2010.com
