Raise your hand if you remember Book It, the Pizza Hut-sponsored reading program that rewards elementary-aged students with pizza and pizza adjacent prizes for their literacy. The more books you read, the more pizza and 'pizza street cred' you get. "I can spot you that personal pan 'roni, Timmy, I just discovered the Goosebumps series and I'm up to my ears in cheesy affirmation."
Book It created a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg situation in that as a 40-year-old woman I still:
A. keep track of all the books I read in a spreadsheet
B. Cannot walk past a book store without stopping in - like, literally, I start nervous sweating and
C. I feel a rush of dopamine + a strong craving for mediocre breadsticks when finishing any book.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist EXCEPT that I believe Pizza Hut created Book It as a super-secret experiment to tap into the psyche of the youths at their most impressionable age to create a Pavlov's dog-style relationship between reading books and eating their pizza. I mean, I'm not upset - companies have to do what they have to do to stay in business, and improving children's literacy on the path to profits isn't the worst way to go. Now, can I also pin my other type-A obsession with tracking books and seeking out book stores on Big Pizza? Surely there is a book out there that will guide me to the answer in 200ish pages.
In our own businesses, both for work and in Woodlands, we are with The Hut in making purposeful decisions on who we will partner with that makes both rad products and also takes the "how you do anything is how you do everything" approach to growth via altruism. We have been lucky enough to develop relationships early with just such a partner in Hoka One One. For the past 2+ years, Hoka and their fabulous field team of Kara, Jared, and Greg have sponsored many local races (including next Saturday's Woodlands Twin Peaks Trail Runs) as well as traveled from across the PNW to Southern Oregon with their trunks full of shoes and giveaways to host demo nights, giving our community a chance to try before we buy - not a small gesture when a quality pair of shoes runs upwards of $150 nowadays. Last month when yours truly was at Asante Hospital undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, Hoka proactively reached out, donating over 50 pairs of shoes to the hospital staff. They didn't have to, they don't have to do any of these things as a big shoe company, but this is who Hoka is. How you do anything is how you do everything and Hoka continues to show us who they are.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 12th in Jacksonville's Forest Park, Hoka will once again be demoing shoes. Come join us at 5:30 PM at P2 to meet Kara, try some shoes, and bask in some fall forest vibes. Want to keep those fall vibes vibin'? Register for Twin Peaks Trail Runs 50k/25k/10k/5k on Saturday, October 23rd to run OR respond back to this email to volunteer to ring some cowbell. Fun fact: if you ring enough cowbell at races, you start to crave half-melted peanut M&M's out served from communal bowls in the woods. Worth it.