Post 18: Mind Mapping

Alright, so I’m not going to do a mind map this time because I know I have enough ideas from the three I’ve already done. In a way I’m almost saving some for later because as many ideas as I have now, I still have this strange fear of ‘running out’ later on. As much as I really want to just print some pictures of VW cars and draw on them with crayons, that was my idea from last post, so that isn’t really productive. (Doesn’t mean I won’t do it later anyway.) This time I thought I’d focus on the ‘adventure!’ aspect of fun (fun being the aspect of everyday motoring pleasure that I’m exploring).

For whatever reason I can’t get the Disney Pixar movie “UP” out of my head when I try to think about adventure. They go together, obviously, because what bigger adventure is there than flying your house to South America? Basically, I just want to capture the adventure in that movie somehow. What other sorts of adventures do that? I think I can say traditional ‘treasure hunting’ is out because it isn’t like Indiana Jones would really use a Jetta to escape from angry natives. But maybe urban treasure hunting? I personally think that discovering good street art is like finding treasure, so maybe I could play with that idea… Scavenger hunts are really fun and can definitely be an adventure…

Okay, so making a story out of this: VW is for adventures.

A group of fifteenish young people (let’s say college kids) get together for an urban scavenger hunt. Rules are laid out as such: for each found item, take picture of it, including the group in the picture. Whoever finishes first and gets back to the starting point wins.The winners get free dinner, courtesy of the losers, and we all know how college kids are about free food. They break up into groups and rush off to their respective cars (a beetle, a jeep, and a suburban). We get some glimpses of the list and see things like an equestrian statue (dude on a horse, fyi), a fountain, a mural, a guy in a sandwich board, etc. As all of the groups hurry to find items on the list, we see the chaos involved. The radio is too loud in one car and everyone is arguing over it, in another the navigator is squinting at their phone and everyone is gesturing frantically, in the VW, everyone is talking excitedly and an upbeat song plays in the background. The person in charge of locating the next item yells out and points as the car brakes in front of a narrow alley. The driver maneuvers into the alley and we see a beautiful mural come into view beside the car. Everyone pops their heads out the window out and the driver snaps a picture over the roof. As the passengers get settled back in, we see the rival team in the suburban drive up to the end of the alley and try to turn into it. We see that the car is too big and they have to move on to another mural. The same sort of thing happens again when the beetle drives under a low branch on a fallen tree that is blocking a back road into a park with a fountain. The jeep is a few inches too tall and has to turn around. As the victorious VW pulls up to the starting point, we see the other teams still down the street. The winning team gets out and leans against the bug. Posing, they snap one last picture: a selfie with their key to victory.

I really like this because it appeals generally to a lot of people and also makes a jab at other, less ‘innovatively designed’ and maneuverable vehicles. It’s basically saying VW is for winners, and everyone loves winning. The connection to ‘everyday motoring pleasure’ is also clear because duh, scavenger hunt adventures are super fun and pleasurable.