…for posting this: Edy’s Slow Churned ice cream wants to give you free ice cream. LOTS of free ice cream.

Yesterday I bopped out to the mailbox hoping Walter (that’s our mailman) had brought something fun for me to open. Turns out the fun mail was in Lindsay’s (my wife) stack. She gets this letter from Edy’s ice cream. That was exciting in and of itself – when was the last time you got mail from an ice cream company? Then she read the letter and got REALLY excited.

What you may not know about my wife is that ice cream is the one thing that she loves more than me. Well, except for her neices. And our dog. And the cat. And her truck. Well, she really like ice cream. So she hands me this letter, and even I, though not as hopelessly in love with the rich creamy goodness as she, got excited. Allow me to quote:

In this era of high tech communications, isn’t it ironic that sometimes the hardest connections to make are folks just across the street? Think about it – when was the last time you asked your neighbor to borrow two eggs, a cup of sugar, or even their lawn mower?

I realized that out of a dozen houses on our street, I had met one occupant. One. Granted, we live close to a mile from our nearest neighbor, so buzzing by for some eggs isn’t likely to happen, but I just don’t know anyone on our road but the guy who sold us our Chocolate Lab, Tucker. Let me read on:

Edy’s Slow Churned asked Americans across the country how well they knew their neighbors… and here’s the scoop:

• More than half of Americans (55%) believe they are less familiar with their neighbors today than their parents were with their neighbors a generation ago.
• Six in ten Americans (59%) who aren’t friendly with their neighbors say it’s because they’re just too busy to create meaningful relationships.

So far, I fit in both majorities. I don’t have time to stop by for a meet and greet. Halls of capitalism to counquer, right?

Not surprisingly, research and community experts say that on average, students perform better, people live longer, and crime rates are lower when people who live int he same community have a basic familiarity with each other.

Sounds plausible. Now here’s where the letter gets REALLY good:

Looking for an introduction to your neighbors? Edy’s Slow Churned is dishing up a fun and sweetly old-fashioned way to “break the ice” with new and even long-time neighbors – ice cream block parties. Edy’s will award 1,500 neighborhoods a Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute this summer. Winning neighborhoods will receive a doorstep delivery of Edy’s Slow Churned Light Ice Cream for up to 100 guests with all the fixings fo a fun, memorable and easy-to-organize party.

WOW! You can imagine the backflips that were done in our household. The first thing that popped into my mind was “this will make a great story for the World Dairy Diary!” The first thing that popped into her mind was “if he writes about this, our chances of winning will be greatly depressed… the fewer people who know about this, the better!” Naturally, I’m writing this while she’s in the shower so hopefully she won’t find out.

My salute to the folks at Edy’s. This is one of the funnest promotions I’ve ever heard of, and more importantly, I think it’s genius viral marketing. It got my attention, right? You can sign up your neighborhood by filling out a simple form. But the Vance household would strongly recommend not entering…