It was the spring of 2013 and life in London was good.  We were having a lovely day, my friend and I, enjoying a pint alongside the Thames in Twickenham.  Considering my fondness for travel and penchant for thrill-seeking, it was only a matter of time before the obvious question was posed.

“So, wanna go run with the bulls this summer?”

“Sure, mate.”

Three months later, we found ourselves at Pamplona’s Fiesta de San Fermín literally sprinting for our lives while being chased by things that have no business chasing us in the first place.  And it was awesome.

Kicking off this week is the 2022 edition of that same Fiesta.  The centerpiece of Spain’s weeklong bender is the famed encierro, better known as the running of the bulls.  This being the first event in three years thanks to Covid, I was moved to pull out my notes from that epic weekend with my British buddy.  I had ventured to the Pyrenees with no intention of documenting it, but when things started to go wrong the moment we stepped on the Tube on our way to Heathrow, I knew there was a story in the making.

The result was a 50-page account of our 72-hour comedy of errors.

Don’t worry, that’s not what’s attached here.  Instead, I decided to turn some of our “key learnings” from the trip into a much shorter how-to guide for aspiring mozos (see guide for mission-critical terminology).  I figured a break from branding coinciding with our summer break would be appropriate.

But, and there’s always a but, it’s not a break from marketing entirely.  This little survival guide was inspired by three things:

1. I thought it would be fun to relive a stunt I will never, ever pull again.
2. Maybe, just maybe, this will save lives.
3. Countless businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic, and content marketing when done well can be an inexpensive-but-effective platform to help them bounce back.

The piece’s tone is casual and the industry is travel, but the underlying concept can be applied in relevant ways to virtually any business.  Whether it’s a guide, series of articles, white paper, website multimedia, drip campaign, social media content, or what have you, don’t be afraid to try new inbound tactics for your brand at a time when “new” characterizes a lot of things out there.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it (in between traumatic flashbacks).  If you end up using it, even better…and you’re welcome.

Running of the Bulls Survival Guide

Hit me up to talk more about your own content and/or the disaster that was our little jaunt to bull country.