Can A Copywriter Survive In the Wilderness Off Only His Clients’ Brands?

Lee eats a beetle while living off the brands of his ad agency's client roster
Lee eats a beetle while living off the brands on his ad agency’s client roster

Oregon-based Ad agency Roundhouse made good on the idea of “living their clients’ brands.” They challenged their employee, copywriter Lee Kimball, to survive the wilderness by subsisting only on products created by those brands on their client roster.

Roundhouse Copywriter Tries Living Off The Brands

So far (at the time this was written), he’s been roughing it for four days of the five day adventure. [Further down in this post are his video diary recaps from the first three days along with some of his photos.]

With a daily video diary and instagram photos, we were able to follow Lee’s attempts to make it with only products from the following brands in tow:
• Adidas
• Faust
• Finex
• LA Galaxy
• Leatherman
• Leupold Optics
• Microsoft
• Reebok
• Redington
• Red Bull
• Rio
• Treehouse Chocolate
• Widmer Brothers
• Yeti

above: with his Yeti Cooler and Reebok Rapid Response boots

He made friends with a deer he named Buxton and a Ukele Lady. And it turns out that the Widmer Brothers beer and Faust Wine became good commodities for trading, resulting in some water, fish and potato salad. Thanks to Leatherman, he was able to make fire.

Although it was tough for me to watch him eat a bug whose legs were still moving, the premise was a clever and fun way for Roundhouse to hype their clients’ brands (and possibly kill off an employee).

Day 1 recap.
Roundhouse employee Lee Kimball, recaps Day 1 of Living Off The Brands. After a long hike deep into the Deschutes National Forest, North East of Three Fingered Jack – using his Leatherman Signal and its Ferro-Rod he was able to strike up a fire, purify water with a Finex Cast Iron pan and make Treehouse Hot Chocolate over the fire. Tonight, he’ll be bundling up in his adidas down jacket and Redington waders for a nice night of sleep under the stars

Day 2 recap
Day 2 is in the books! Roundhouse employee Lee Kimball recaps the day during another fireside chat over the campfire. His day began with an early morning wakeup call, a beautiful sunrise and a can Red Bull. But his struggles to catch fish continue, forcing him to improvise – eating a buffet of nettles, beetles and ant larvae… But is that enough to survive? How much longer can he go?

Day 3, recap
Things got interesting on Day 3. Roundhouse copywriter Lee Kimball has been battling a mix of malnourishment, dehydration, sun burns, possible heat stroke, all in addition to the growing fatigue and exhaustion. Luckily, Oregon has some of the nicest, best people in the country and he’s been able to trade Widmer Brothers beer for multiple fish and good clean drinking water.:

Lee played Survivor from Monday, July 18th through Friday, July 22nd. See how it went by watching his video entries and check out his photos atLivingOffTheBrands.com

RoundhouseAgency.com