Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Nags Head with my mom, sis and 5 year old nephew Robert. Over the past several years when we visited the beach with Robert, pirates have left him a map which leads him to find some of their buried treasure. They’re hoping he’ll take good care of it and one day when he’s older they’ll come and ask him to be a pirate with them!

As you can imagine, nothing thrills a little boy much more than that. The first year he stood at the seashore and just shook his head saying “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe the pirates chose me!”

“So,” you may be asking, “what does this have to do with marketing, MBM or anything relevant?” Well, I’m glad you asked. It’s all about reminding you, and me, about the simple pleasures of life:

A little make-believe goes a long way.
Instilling some confidence in a 5 year old can reap dividends for a lifetime.
Yard sale jewelry in a cigar box can become a door to a new world.
An annual beach tradition is something we’ll talk about the rest of our lives.
And the time spent with family creating the map, learning that parchment paper burns really, really fast and beach cactus really sting…well, you can never replace that can you?

– Maggi (and Robert)