Obviously, I have lived a colorful life. I have something to say about just about anything and everything and that ability was carved out of my life experience. Hey, it’s the Superbowl time of year—I love watching that game and the ceremonial nature that America dedicates to the event, so let’s have a little fun. I loved several commercials during the game but I particularly enjoyed the new Bud Light commercial “Ian Up for Whatever.” I knew from the moment that the young lady asked Ian–just a normal guy sitting in a sportsbar–that if she gave him a free Bud Light would be up for anything that followed–she was playing the role of the mythic goddess figures of the past and that Ian was in for an adventure. There have been many times when life has asked similar questions, and my typical reaction is “YES,” because you never know what kind of adventure comes next—but to get there you always have to say “YES.”
That’s the gist of things in Bud Light’s new “Ian Up For Whatever” Super Bowl commercial—a star-studded spectacle involving hidden cameras and wave after wave of celebrity cameos.
The true star of the commercial, however, is a man named “Ian” who finds himself swept up in a sequence of wild events bordering on the unimaginable, but not quite as crazy as the uninitiated might believe.
Things begin with Ian sitting alone at a bar. He’s approached by a pretty girl named Kelly, who introduces herself and takes a seat. Within moments, Ian’s new friend holds up a Bud Light and asks a single, somewhat ominous question.
“If I give this to you, are you up for whatever happens next?” Kelly asks.
“Uh, I think so,” Ian responds, obviously thinking that Kelly was coming on to him.
That’s how it starts—a night of limousines, twin parties and more Arnold Schwarzenegger ping-pong than ever conceived possible. Actually, that was my favorite part.
Ian receives a new jacket, courtesy of Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly.
He also finds himself with comedian-musician Reggie Watts, who has been stuffed into a DJ booth inside the Hummer stretch limo designated to chauffeur Ian about New York for the evening.
The one prevailing tie in the commercial is the presence of Bud Light bottles, which Ian and company constantly have in hand. There’s also the omnipresent eye of the commercial’s directors and coordinators, who have the entire experience planned down to the moment and wired for video and sound.
In all, “Ian Up For Whatever” is an impressive feat of planning and videography. Any number of mishaps could’ve turned this commercial into a nightmare, but judging by the final product, things went rather swimmingly.
I could tell a number of stories where similar things have happened to me. It is often surprising how a willingness for adventure can pave the way for the unfathomable. Those events may not happen quite in the same way as Ian’s experience—and they may not involve such New York cultural pleasure, but they are often as outrageous and cryptically elusive to the mind of a planned individual. The human spirit often carries events beyond conception, and the real magic of life is often beyond those borders. I have been to such places many times—so much that nothing would shock me now. Where Ian was amazed, I would have been much more flat lined. The limo would not have surprised me, playing “baby tennis” with Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn’t have been strange or finding oneself onstage with a major music group, relative to my personal life. Crazy things do happen, and they often start with the word “Yes.”
A good lesson from that commercial is to say “yes,” a bit more often. When your boss places before you a tough challenge……………..say, “yes.” You’d be surprised what might happen. When your car starts sputtering because you are almost out of gas, say “yes” and keep the petal depressed. See what happens when you run out of fuel a mile short of a gas station. Many adventures are likely to transpire. When you pass by a restaurant that strikes your interest, say “yes” and pull in and try it out. Stepping out of a routine can be very exciting. Say “yes” more often and let adventure into your life, and you will discover that Ian’s experience is not that unique.
Good things don’t always happen, but I still say yes to many things, because I love adventure. It is adventure that has filled my mind with so many opinions, and given voice to so many topics. I have a story for everything when I talk to younger people because in my past I have said “yes” to many outrageous adventures even the ones that appeared to be kamikaze runs. I always figured I was cleaver enough to avoid death, and I have been right more times than chance can take credit for.
Because of those adventures I love my life. I love every day of it and I don’t have regrets. Even bad decisions were part of the “saying yes” process, and the adventures that followed have led to tremendous amounts of experience which translates to personal wisdom. In this life, wisdom is capital—more powerful capital than gold, or the perceived values of finance. Wisdom can gain finances, but finances cannot gain wisdom. Wisdom is by far more valuable, and wisdom can only be obtained by living life—and to live life, you have to “say yes,” to things.
A guy who reads here a lot will recognize this story immediately but I remember a trip to Panama City with him which nearly mirrored this Bud Light commercial. It started by “saying yes” to a cold March evening, a complicated engineering problem, and a political stalemate that needed to be broken loose. It ended hours later over a thousand miles away with me playing football on a beach after jumping off a pier from about 25 feet and breaking my ankle in the sand. I wrapped the ankle and continued playing football anyway under the moonlight next to the ocean. We slept with a tent half constructed next to a harbor, and solved our problem over breakfast at a Burger King. We returned to Cincinnati within 48 hours of leaving for our next meeting and solved all our problems with a fresh perspective. Adventure is good for building wisdom.
There are hundreds of those types of stories, but most don’t involve the kind of elements seen in that Bud Light commercial. The Panama City one did, which is the reason for the reference. But all such adventures lead to the ability to have wisdom—something young people don’t have until it is developed. At the end of his adventure in the Bud Light commercial Ian was wiser than was when he simply agreed to a girl in a bar to accept whatever happened next. Adventure happens all the time to many people, and adventure builds wisdom—but before either can be obtained a person has to be willing to “say yes.” Lucky for Ian, he did. But you too Dear Reader can experience adventure in the strangest places and times. All you have to do is, “say yes.
Rich Hoffman
The Overmanwarrior 