Desert Island Brands - John Eversley

1. Survival essential
Making a shelter, finding food and attempting to escape are going to be high on your agenda -- so which brand will you find most useful in your attempt to tame the great outdoors?
I love shoes (not quite as much as my wife) but then again, few people can match her in that department. If I wore nothing else on the island I'd have to have a stylish yet practical (or should that be the other way around), pair of shoes. For me being out in the great outdoors means running, jumping, hiking and stopping across all manner of terrain. Since graduating from Dunlop Green Flash and Puma Pele Rio two decades ago, the brand for me has to be Nike. A fantastically stylish range of specialist sporting and leisure footwear for every conceivable activity... even hunting for food and escaping.

2. Last taste of civilisation
The island has a plentiful supply of nuts and fruit, not to mention a healthy population of fish, so you will have plenty to eat. But which one food brand are you really going to miss from your old life?
With fresh fish for breakfast lunch and dinner, my mind is bound to drift to thoughts of a previous life in Barbados and of course bottles of Barbados' finest, Banks Beer... but I'm likely to miss the cool and refreshing taste Stella Artois. Reassuringly expensive, but when it's ice cold, there's no better way to wash down a good BBQ.

3. Best reminder of home
Successful survivalists always claim that it is mental attitude which sees them through. Belief that you will get back home is going to be vital -- so which brand will sum up home best?
Assuming I'd be away for a month of Sundays, my choice would have to be the Sunday Times. An outstanding brand in its field, the Sunday Times represents depth of reporting and breadth of coverage provides the reader with real quality reading, usually too much to get through. Stuck on this island, I might actually get a chance to read more domestic news than I do now.

4. Most welcome online brand

Eventually you manage to rig up your own connection to the internet using bits and pieces found on the beach but you have only one chance to log on to a website before it goes down -- which online brand will you choose?
If I ever got my PC working on this desert island, I'd be logging straight on to www.bbc.co.uk. BBC is a globally recognised brand, renowned the world over for quality, whether it's programming, news, reporting or sport and the website lives these brand qualities through a simple-to-navigate structure. I'd be logging on straight away for news of my demise, "a ray of hope" that search and rescue are out there looking for me and the latest sports results, particularly Birmingham City. I may even get to enjoy some of the interactive games before the website crashes.

5. Ultimate luxury
Self indulgence is hard to come by on a desert island, so what brand would you be most excited to find washed up on the beach?
A case of Stella would be tempting but gone in no time, a bottle Dom Perignon would be gone even quicker, so my ultimate luxury brand would be an iPod fully loaded with the widest array of albums (except Country & Western) from the last 25 years. Fantastic! If my PC (see above) also had iTunes loaded and linked to the Apple store, then relax and let the self indulgence begin.

6. Transferable skills
You already work in the jungle of marketing so there are probably skills which you have acquired through your job which will come in handy -- or you may have other hidden talents. Which of your personal skills will help you to get to grips with life on a desert island?
There will be long lonely periods on this island... severely challenging my interpersonal skills and I'd be bound to start talking to the trees. Assuming there is no new business opportunity to be gained from my visit, I'd probably have to call on some of the other skills all new-biz people tend to posses, ie, resourcefulness, optimism and an intuition for danger... could even help me stay alive until my case of Stella arrives.

Designer and desert island survival specialist Adrian Whitefoord comments:
John sounds like the Imelda Marcos of castaways! His love of shoes extends to some pretty good brands and the ultimate Nike choice should allow him to 'just do it' where others might sit around and think a bit first. Somehow, I can't see this chap spending his days sitting on a rock growing stubble. I have a strong mental image of him as the cartoon Road Runner moving so fast that the local tribe will think he's some kind of huge blurred insect "beep beep"!

His love of Banks beer is to be admired. Personally, it made my stay in Barbados and I found it the perfect accompaniment to parish cricket, not bad with goat stew either. The Stella Artois is also a good one, though I think I probably prefer the ads to the drink when all is said and done. The local tribe do brew a rather nice bitter from a curious mixture of coconut juice and seaweed. It's called South Sea Bubble due to the fact that it makes everybody who drinks it foam at the mouth for at least 24 hours.

The Sunday Times is a great choice of newspaper. I head straight for the comic, the motoring and property sections. I believe there is more but I can never get it back from my wife and daughter, so I'm not too sure what's in it. There is a rumoured Style magazine that comes with the paper from which the women in my family constantly choose expensive shoes so John should be able to do some therapeutic window shopping with his choice of Sunday reading.

The BBC makes it on to John's list and persists as one of the most cherished online brands for castaways. Whether his disappearance would make it on to the site is unlikely. If you were Imelda Marcos, John I could guarantee it. However, despite your love of footwear, I don't think you own enough shoes to get onto the BBC hacks' radar.

The iPod is a great toy and I'm sure that John would be bopping around all over the beach in his Nikes. But beware, there was an instance of a castaway who was listening to 'Stairway To Heaven ' on his iPod while a rescue helicopter hovered over the island for a full 10 minutes. Needless to say, he is still there and you will probably bump into him at some point - don't swap iPods though I seem to remember that apart from Led Zeppelin he is a great Dolly Parton fan.

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com