This week is about fun twists on the classics.

I've put together some ambitious outings in my time. Those can be great, but they're not right for every client or every situation.

Most of the time you need something familiar with just enough of a twist to catch their eye and show you put thought into it.

A good show. An interesting dinner. A well-executed bowling night that looks like it’s straight out of the corporate 'Our Culture' photoshoot with everyone smiling just a little too much.

The classics are classics for a reason.

Don't worry though. We'll get back to mixing in some wild ones soon. 

— Robbie

A live-action version of the Hasbro classic Clue is playing at Ahmanson September 8-12. If your clients like a good comedy or murder mystery, this is a great excuse to get out downtown.  

Basics:

Cost: 

Dinner/Drinks nearby:

Added Value: Like many of us, I can get sucked into a good murder mystery. Clue offers a fun combination of a short, reasonably priced experience that packs enough nostalgia and campy acting to keep everyone’s attention.

Too often at a client dinner, you only get to really build a relationship with the two or three people sitting closest to you. A walkable food tour fixes that. As everyone moves around and tries a few places, you can actually connect with the whole group instead of just your corner of the table.

Six Taste operates one of the longest-running and highest-regarded food tour companies in LA (much loved on Yelp and Google with thousands of 5-star reviews). 

I spoke with Sally, one of the owners and guides, who told me their most popular tours for client groups are Downtown LA, the Arts District, and Santa Monica, although they do offer tours all over the city (see all locations here). 

You meet your local guide, get a quick overview and some history of the neighborhood, then tour and taste 4 to 6 spots all within walking distance. Some stops you’ll sit down, and others will be a quick stop (ex. ice cream or matcha latte). 

Tours run 2 to 3 hours, are fully customizable, and can accommodate vegan and vegetarian diets as well as virtually every food sensitivity you can imagine. Alcohol pairings can also be added. 

Basics:

Added Value: I like this one because it's a nice level up from your standard client dinner. Beyond being able to connect with the whole group, it flexes to whatever kind of people you're hosting. The foodies get to satisfy their foodie fomo, the culture vultures get some neighborhood history, and the step count fiends get to make some headway toward their daily 10K.

If you’re looking for a good old-fashioned bowling night, Lucky Strike is dialed in for client entertainment and has locations all over LA (Mar Vista, Beverly Hills, LA Live, Westchester, and Hollywood). 

Bowling is the poster child of a generic corporate outing for a reason. The whole experience is a known quantity, everyone has something to do, no one is ever actually that good at bowling (nor does it matter, in fact, worse is often funnier!), and everyone knows roughly how long it’s going to take. 

Cost: 

Reservations:

Added Value: I’m on the Board of a charity that helps people in the LA ad community experiencing a life crisis. We host an annual Bowling Night and I always figured it’d be one of those parties where everyone just clusters around the bar. But I’m consistently surprised by how many people are actually into the bowling. That’s the thing. The novelty of chucking a heavy ball down a lane to knock down some pins works on everyone, from kids’ birthdays to hotshot corporate outings. 

Ever been hanging with a client and conversation just runs dry? Whether it’s recent and topical, or general and evergreen, the Oasis is about giving you one idea for helping you in that moment.

Do you skip title sequences? 

When out with clients, I often find myself discussing hot takes about what shows everyone is watching.  

If you find yourself there, The Economist had a very on-brand take about the evolution of title sequences that you could bring up (here).

They claim title sequences ‘peaked’ in the late 90s and early 2000s with The Sopranos and the falling guy in Mad Men, which are both admittedly pretty iconic.

Then as Netflix introduced binge-watching and noticed people fast-forwarding through title sequences, they built the Skip Intro button. By 2022, it was getting clicked 136 million times per day since no one bingeing a show needs to see the intro over and over (not to mention our intrepid Netflix sellers working ads in there too!).

To move with the times, many shows are opting for super short title sequences. But the article makes the dreamy, kumbaya case that title sequences are a special in-between moment. 

Would that poetic reframing change your opinion next time you think about hitting skip?

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