The elves at Elfster want to give a big shout out to a devoted group of music fans that came up with an innovative way to share their love for their favorite band. They started a “pen-pal style” exchange to pair up fans of the band The Cab from all over the world in order to help them make new friends globally.
The Cab, founded in 2005, is a Las Vegas-based alternative rock band which is inspired by groups such as Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco. The Cab released its debut album in 2008 and was called “The Band You Need to Know 2008” by Alternative Press magazine. Since then, the band has built a strong, loyal fan base.
To commemorate this anniversary, over 130 fans have connected globally on Elfster to celebrate “The Cab Day 2014” by using the site to assign pen pals. And even better, the band itself Tweeted about the exchange, so we think that’s extra cool!
According to exchange’s three organizers Helen Showalter, Mandi Alva and Patty Matos, “The Cab Day is an event that seeks to bring together fans of the band The Cab around the world and to celebrate their music. It falls on April 29th, the anniversary of the band’s first album “Whisper War,” and 2014 is our fourth year celebrating it. ‘The Cab Day’ currently has over 3000 followers on Twitter. It was started in 2011 by us, fans who became fans through The Cab in order to support them musically.”
“We know first-hand how powerful music can be in bringing people together because it brought us together,” they explained. “We try to foster an environment that’s inclusive of every single fan, regardless of where they are in the world, how young or old they are, or how long they’ve been a fan.”
The group originally used Elfster to set up a Christmas gift exchange. “We used it as a way for fans of The Cab to get to know each other and become friends,” they said. “For ‘The Cab Day 2014,’ we wanted a way to connect people and be able to assign pen pals. We remembered Elfster and how great it was and thought it would work perfectly!”
The organizers think Elfster makes the whole process easy and it definitely allows them to enjoy the exchange more. “Instead of worrying about how to decide who gets who and having to get in contact with everyone to set it up, [we] can relax and be excited to find who [we] get matched with.”
“The Cab’s fan base has always been really good at making the world seem a whole lot smaller than it is,” organizers said. “[we], personally, have made fans from across the globe.”
Exchange participants plan to take advantage of the social features Elfster has to offer, like the wishlist and questions/answers. “Once people are paired, [we] think the question and answer feature will be really helpful to facilitate the first bond between the fans,” they said. “Even though most communication will be done via snail mail, it’s nice to get a basic feeling on the person you’re writing to and maybe swap twitter handles or full names.”
And Elfster is so glad to help make these connections easier!
“The real selling point of Elfster for us is the ease of use,” according to the organizing team. “All of ‘The Cab Day’ organizers are students. We have jobs. Putting this together is our passion but we don’t have all the time in the world for it. There are so many undertakings of ‘The Cab Day’ that have involved lots of hands-on attention, like starting a Street Team, selling bracelets and putting together fan meet-ups. The best part of Elfster was that we could do something really great to bring fans from all over the world together in a really easy, simple-to-do way.”
The Cab will also release its latest single, “Lock Me Up,” on April 29th, making this a huge day for the band and its loyal fans. To hear a teaser for the new release, click here: http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/the_cab_tease_new_single_lock_me_up
If you’d like to join in the fun for “The Cab Day 2014,” sign up here: http://bit.ly/tcdpenpals
Are you part of a group that is using Elfster in an innovative way? The elves at Elfster would love to hear from you, too. You can visit us on Facebook or tweet us @elfster.
photo credit: Altpress.com
