Thinking outside the chocolate box

Thinking outside the (chocolate) box

1st July 2022

Gem has just recently celebrated her Birthday (she told us she was definitely 21 again!) and to celebrate, booked a session at an Escape Room with her family.

In Gem’s words, here’s what went on…

We love doing activities like this for our Birthdays, rather than the traditional ‘meal and drinks’ as we’re quite competitive and get a real thrill out of solving puzzles and riddles.

For those who haven’t been to an Escape Room (if you haven’t, you definitely should!), you’re put into a room with 60 minutes on the clock and have to solve clues to unlock different parts of the room, solving the mystery and ultimately being set free with your pride in tact!

The one we did this time was based on the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ story and it was brilliant! The clues were extremely hard, and it definitely tested our ability to work as a team.?We got stuck on a few really obvious clues (only obvious when we’d solved them of course!) and managed to escape with just 19 seconds to spare!?Seeing as my family probably won’t read this, I can safely say it was my sprinting from one part of the room to the other like Linford Christie carrying a giant gold coin, that won it for us in the end ??

Of the five family members that played, we have Dad who is fab at maths, Mum who is the word expert, Auntie who is super thorough, Husband who is a problem solver at heart and me, who is the self-confessed organiser!

So, you ask, what on earth does a Willy Wonka themed escape room have to do with your marketing? Actually… it has a lot more than you think!

If we all had the same maths brain, we wouldn’t have figured out the anagram NCDAY, to open the alphabet padlock (have you worked it out?) to open the factory gates.?If we’d all had just the word skills, we wouldn’t have calculated the answers to the number puzzles to open the great glass elevator and if we’d all had the urge to be the boss, there may have been a few scuffles and a few flying chocolate bars!

If we didn’t look at things from a different perspective, we wouldn’t have realised that Grandpa Joe shouting obscenities from the toilet, was actually a major clue leading us to be able to unlock the back door of Charlie’s house!

Having the right variation of skills on your marketing team is essential, to ensure you’re able to tackle all of the different challenges that a fast-moving world throws at you.

And, looking at things from a different perspective unlocks angles that you hadn’t considered, and highlights missed opportunities that could prove to be invaluable to you and your customers!

Now… where will we escape from next?