Record company Sony BMG is teaming up with music retailer HMV on an unusually personal promotion to trumpet the Oct. 2 release of Bruce Springsteen’s latest album, Magic.

In an effort to secure the number-one position on the Neilsen SoundScan charts across Canada next week, HMV is offering purchasers of the album a free video and ringtone download of Magic‘s first single, ‘Radio Nowhere,’ plus a limited-edition lyric booklet – and a personal money-back guarantee from HMV Canada president Humphrey Kadaner that they will love the album.

Blaine Schwingenschlegel, custom marketing manager for Sony BMG Canada, says the idea for the promotion came from Kadaner, a massive Springsteen fan. ‘Humphrey is so adamant about the quality of this record that not only will he offer a full refund, but he will also send a personal apology letter to anyone who returns it,’ he tells MiC. Kadaner has also pledged to donate $1,000 to the Daily Bread Food Bank in anticipation of the record soaring to the top of the charts. If it doesn’t, he’ll donate $2,000.

As well as featuring cash header cards and window banners in its 117 Canadian stores, HMV is running a national print campaign to support the promotion, with ads in 15 dailies across the country on Oct. 1. Media buys were handled in-house by HMV Canada. And the managers of the two HMV stores with the highest ratio of Springsteen sales to overall sales will be flown to Toronto to join Kadaner and his wife at the Boss’ Oct. 15 show at the Air Canada Centre.