What the Duck?

As we cruise past the 5th anniversary of Novel Coronavirus Sars-19 aka Covid, I still can’t believe it’s been five years since our lives and businesses were upended and changed forever. 2020 seems like yesterday and so long ago at the same time. Of course, I still think that the 80s were only 20 years ago. I was never good at maths.

A friend of mine challenged me last week. “Name one good thing that came out of Covid.”

I thought long and hard and responded, “Jeep Ducks.”

In the early days of Covid, a lady named Allison Parliament – a Canadian citizen living in Alabama – was visiting friends and family in Ontario. She was accosted at a gas station by an angry man who accused her of spreading Covid to Canadians because of the Alabama license plate on her Jeep. The confrontation shook her deeply and it weighed heavy on the long drive back home. Fearful and sad, she pondered what to do next.

Allison chose kindness. In July 2020, she started placing little yellow rubber ducks on other Jeeps as a “random act of kindness” because she thought people needed a boost during Covid. By 2021, the practice of “Jeep Ducking” spread across social media,a and it is now commonplace to see a Jeep with their ducks in a row. The Facebook group she started has over 200,000 members.

Allison loved her Jeep, and Jeep loved her back. When she passed last year at the young age of 34, Jeep’s Facebook memorial and subsequent events in her honor were touching.

I’m on my third Jeep since 2005. I love them. My screensaver on my phone is my Jeep. I guess you could say that I’m a “Brand Ambassador.” After hearing this story, I decided I could spread a little kindness too….so I ordered 200 little rubber ducks, and I’m giving them away on behalf of another brand I love.

Stop by the Richmond Texas Inn with your Jeep and “get ducked.” We’ll give them away until we run out.

What “random act of kindness” can your brand do? Email me your idea….I’d love to share them with other folks in a future Weekly Report.