Here's something that occurred on a recent, rather long car journey.
To give my son, Joshua, something to do, we suggested he become an Eddie Spotter for a few hours (don't worry: an explanation will follow if you are a confused non-Brit). Eddie Stobart is one of Britain's biggest haulage contractors, with a fleet of some 1000 trucks.
Now, if you were drawing up a list of likely candidates for household name companies, you wouldn't really expect haulage firms to make the list (how many others do you know?). But Eddie is a certifiable cultural phenomenon: most people in the UK will know the name, even if they have never needed to hire on articulated lorry. And for some, who (probably) like standing for long periods of time on train platforms, notebook in hand, Eddie Spotting is something of a passion (there's a couple of fan sites here and here).
How did it all happen? I have absolutely no idea (though check here for the Wikipedia point of view). Maybe it's because all the trucks have names - that's Dawn Ann above (join the fan-club, and download the list here). But whatever the stimulus, it's been going on for many years. And it may even represent a nice little income stream for the company (check out the shop), free advertising (spot the Eddie Spotter car stickers when you're next on the M1) and word of mouth: unlikely I know, but if I was asked to recommend a haulier, it would be Eddie.
A question then. Eddie Stobart has created a discrete community of fans whose relationship with the brand has absolutely nothing to do with its core business (and probably never will), and may have little provable impact on the bottom line. But they encourage and support it any way. And it feels like a good thing. So are there other examples of brands who have done something similar?
And if not, does this make Eddie Stobart a one-off, or are there opportunities out there to be exploited, particularly by companies in non-consumer markets?
