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Adventure, fun, oh my. What is your brand communicating?
This weekend after incessant nagging from my sister we went kayaking for the first time. It all happened a bit too quickly for my controlling, cautious, always-trying-to-avoid-nature self.
After getting the keys stuck in the ignition of my dad’s stick shift pick-up truck we barely made it a mile down the road alive and spent all of 30 minutes on water 4 inches deep. We crashed our kayaks, I tried to start a race (being the competitive one) but my sister refused to participate, I complained of boredom while she took in the wildlife, we both freaked out that we were going to tip over and an hour later we were back safe at our house.
Later that evening over cheeseburgers and a bottle of wine, my sister, (a married mother or two living in rural Colorado) leaned over to me (a *much* younger woman living by myself in the middle of Manhattan), and whispered, “I can’t remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did during our adventure today.”
Adventure? Huh. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but, yes, I guess I did experience a (small) thrill and I begrudgingly admitted that I enjoyed myself too.
The next day I smiled while reading Katie Roiphe’s article in the Times about our adoration for Mad Men and their uninhibited lives (aside from their fabulous wardrobes). We’ve been talking recently with some of our clients about the nostalgia of fun, whirlwind experiences; not knowing where the day or night might take you is something that might be missing in our buttoned up lives. It may not be all random hook-ups and boozy lunches it may just be braving the calm seas to paddle a kayak for the first time, but communicating that your brand has a hint of spontaneity and embraces unknown possibility will never go out of style.
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