I”ll be back next week, until then, enjoy this blast from the past:

It’s Friday, so I was thinking about something a little more fun. I always appreciate when companies are willing to have a little fun with me as a customer. It lightens the relationship, making it feel more familiar, comfortable and about the people – not the transaction.

How can you have some fun with your customers? Let us know in the comments.

Here are some examples I love:

href="http://www.moosejaw.com" target="_blank">Moosejaw – If you don’t follow href="http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/madness_home_10208_10000001_-1" target="_blank">The Madness, I’d recommend you start right now. Moosejaw uses humor and fun in every piece of communication to and with customers. They encourage their customers to pose with Moosejaw flags around the globe, animate crying tomatoes, and more. The best part is their dedication to quality outdoor clothing and equipment comes through anyway. Want a taste? Check out the href="http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/madness_about-moosejaw____" target="_blank">About Moosejaw page. Brilliance.

href="http://www.360connext.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/caribou.jpg"> class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1076" title="caribou" src="http://www.360connext.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/caribou-150x66.jpg" alt="Make The Cup from Caribou Coffee" width="150" height="66" /> href="http://www.cariboucoffee.com" target="_blank">Caribou Coffee - I’ll be honest, I fell in love with Caribou when I lived in the Twin Cities in Minnesota and discovered them as a local place back in the day. And even now, I am biased due to my memories of starting off like Mary Tyler Moore. Wherever I go, there is something about the friendly people they hire and the warmth of their stores that make me loyal. To top it off, I’m loving the “Life is Short. Stay Awake for It.” On their site and integrated with their social media efforts, they asked customers: href="http://www.cariboucoffee.com/page/1/make-the-cup.jsp" target="_blank">What do you stay awake for? Clever people uploaded pictures, dreams, and drawings that may show up on the Caribou cup. It’s fun to participate, plus it’s pretty inspirational (and fun!) to see why others stay awake.

href="http://www.dosequis.com" target="_blank">Dos Equis – Building on the highly successful “Most Interesting Man In The World” campaign, Dos Equis invites their customers to create “ href="http://www.staythirstymyfriends.com" target="_blank">The Most Interesting Toast In The World.”

href="http://www.360connext.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dosequis.jpg"> class="size-medium wp-image-1078 alignnone" title="dosequis" src="http://www.360connext.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dosequis-300x273.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="273" />

Upload a video and pass it on. Clever, fun and who doesn’t like a toast to robots or bad ass chicks? Stay thirsty, my friends.

And here’s a local gem – href="http://newrebozo.com/" target="_blank">New Rebozo. It could just be a local Mexican restaurant with great food, which it is. But the fun part comes when you are greeted as a friend by

class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1080 alignright" title="Paco" src="http://www.360connext.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Paco-150x106.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="106" /> Chef Paco, who embraces customers in every sense of the word. His trademark “Oh My God!” is his way of exclaiming how wonderful a dish is, how great it is to have you there, and more. You can’t help but love walking into this place and feeling like you’ve been missed. Their href="http://www.facebook.com/newrebozo11" target="_blank">Facebook page – filled with pictures of smiling customers with Paco – pretty much says it all.

So…how can you have a little fun with your customers today? TGIF!

href="http://www.360connext.com/have-some-fun-with-customers/" target="_blank">Blog post originally published April 15th, 2011

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