Desert Island Brands - Steve Young

Amazon. The site and services continue to expand and now offer a vast array of products. Given my total lack of practical DIY skills most importantly here, a range of tents, kitchen knives, survival manuals, sports equipment, a hammock and of course books. Lazing in my hammock in the tropical sun whilst reading all the novels I've been meaning to read for last 20 years -- I may not be in too much of a hurry to be rescued.

2. Last taste of civilisation
The island has a plentiful supply of nuts and fruit, not to mention a healthy population of fish, so you will have plenty to eat. But which one food brand are you really going to miss from your old life?
Fresh and Wild - one advantage of life on a desert island would be the chance to eat naturally and live a life free of additives. It does not seem appropriate to select a luxury that would compromise this more puritan eating regime. Fresh and Wild the Organic and Natural Food retailer would provide all the additional products to ensure a varied and enjoyable diet, including some fine organic wines and beer to make meals even more enjoyable.

3. Best reminder of home
Successful survivalists always claim that it is mental attitude which sees them through. Belief that you will get back home is going to be vital -- so which brand will sum up home best?
One contender would be our company Rhyme, a brand close to my heart as I managed its launch from a management buyout just two years ago -- nothing could be more poignant reminder of daily life; but if it were only one it would have to be Queens Park Rangers FC. Those traditional blue and white hoops provide a classic brand and have provided every conceivable emotion throughout my life and would certainly give me the feeling of being part of a wider clan and not just a desert island castaway.

4. Most welcome online brand
Eventually you manage to rig up your own connection to the internet using bits and pieces found on the beach but you have only one chance to log on to a website before it goes down -- which online brand will you choose?
A very obvious choice but no apologies -- the BBC site is the clear winner. Vast and yet simple, it provides so much more than news content. Being able to listen online to the wide variety of radio stations and services, from all types of music, through comedy, drama and current affairs would be a marvellous additional benefit to keeping in touch with the wider world. Of course if I knew roughly where I was the weather information would aid in deciding which of my Amazon tents to use that night!

5. Ultimate luxury
Self indulgence is hard to come by on a desert island, so what brand would you be most excited to find washed up on the beach?
My I-River Audio Jukebox Player would give me 600 hours of my own personal music, whilst also storing photos. What better luxury than be able to have the sounds and images of your life at the touch of a button. This would be on the proviso that I could create a method of recharging the battery.

6. Transferable skills
You already work in the jungle of marketing so there are probably skills which you have acquired through your job which will come in handy -- or you may have other hidden talents. Which of your personal skills will help you to get to grips with life on a desert island?
Being able to look forward with optimism and looking to continue to learn at every opportunity. It is a well-used cliche but looking to find benefit in all experiences has been something that has stood me well over the years. I'm sure a spell on a desert island would teach me a whole new set of skills as well as all those novels widening my education and awareness.

Designer and desert island survival expert Adrian Whitefoord comments:
Steve is quite right, the island is the ideal place to catch up on some reading, I would certainly be putting in my order for the Beano Christmas annual with Amazon if I were him.

As it happens the local tribe has a Fresh & Wild franchise on the island, managed by its eccentric witch doctor. Unfortunately for Steve the only items the store stocks are fish tails and pine needles. Some would find a diet based on these ingredients restrictive but to a creative mind it offers limitless potential.

I'm not a big football fan, but I like the cut of Chris Kemps jib (QPR supporter of the year 2003/2004) who says the best thing about his club is "The constant hope that salvation is just around the corner" an appropriate sentiment to apply to island life.

Can not argue with www.bbc.co.uk, it seems to be the hardy perennial of web sites and the choice of almost 50% of the island's guests.

I-River is a cool gadget choice but unfortunately after the first blissful 600 hours the only method of recharging the battery is a methane powered generator cobbled together by myself during my brief stay on the island. Regrettably its efficiency is not all it could be. The last time it was fired up (powered by fish tails and pine needles) it resulted in an explosion visible from the international space station.

Steve's mindset seems to be very positive when it comes to transferable skills, in fact I have decided upon a highly magnanimous gesture. I will arrange an airdrop of the complete works of Jilly Cooper. I am pretty convinced that faced with the prospect of reading that lot Steve would conjure up a brilliant strategy for getting off the island.

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