The Story Begins

I’m sitting on the plane headed to Austin for SXSW and next to me is a little boy.  As I strike up a conversation with him, I discover that he is flying alone.  But not his first time he confidently assures me.  Our conversation turns to his love for Xbox.  Halo 2 is the easiest to play he says.  What about Xbox 3 the man in the other seat asks?  Didn’t play it.  Why, too violent?  Nah, he says, my dad’s xbox was broke.  Our little solo aviator goes on to tell his seat companions about his iPod (doesn’t have any music yet…maybe Tony Hawk eventually).  He has a pair of Bakugan Balls.  They keep him company.  See how they can hang upside down?  He tells me they stick to metal pretty good.  He recently got a new one from Walmart.  The other one is from his best friend Trenton.

As we’re talking I’m reminded of my own childhood solo flights to Puerto Rico – back when you could still check your bag for free, expect a hot meal in coach and not have to put your personal liquids in little plastic bags.  Everything about flying seemed like the coolest big adventure.  Watching the in-flight movie and reading a book where my entertainment mediums of the day and Snoopy was my travel companion.  I connected with others by simply talking to them, but my family and friends were left behind – out of the conversation.

Looking around now, you can’t help notice that we live in a world of endless devices which are our sources of information, entertainment and conversation.  Mobile phones, iPods and Gameboys are the steady travel companions of both young and old.  The conversation has now migrated beyond your seatmate into a digital world that always travels with you.  It used to be that getting on plane, train, bus, ship or car meant “checking out” for the next foreseeable future.  Now, your family, friends and larger community get to share the journey (or most of it) with you.  Through several of my friends who have already made their way to SXSW09, I was able to get the highs and lows of their journey via Twitter and Facebook.  Some cases good – you can avoid making same mistakes or take similar advantage of something cool.  Some cases bad – you really wish you didn’t have to hear about their 2am reverse encounter with the Taco Mac enchilada special.

All said, we now have a jillion stories being shared; each spawning a multitude of connections that are not just my family and friends, but acquaintances, colleagues and the exponential people I don’t even know yet that will somehow cross my path.  Brands are part of these connections too – willingly or not.  No one knows how all of these connections will fit together just yet.  That’s the interesting part.  The next adventure will be to see how all of the pieces will come together to create larger stories and who is a part of these stories.

For me, touching down in San Antonio was only the beginning of another story.  How it unfolds and is told is still to be determined.  For my little solo aviator, he just wants to make it home in time for Cartoon Network.  Thank goodness for Tivo.