Desert Island Brands - Justin Foxton

No debate on this one -- A Garmin Forerunner 301; the ultimate in portable GPS technology (generally meant for endurance sports but being washed up on a beach sounds like it qualifies). It is shockproof, waterproof and glows in the dark. You can not only find your way back to your reed beach tent after going in-land for your groceries, but you can also tell how many calories you burnt, how far you walked and how many miles per hour/minute you covered doing it. Not to mention the fact that it would also give your heart rate per minute! All essential stuff.

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?
Mullerlite yoghurts. The perfect combination of decadence and health in a variety of tantalizing flavours. The toffee in particular is heavenly - and transcendent when combined with the nuts and fruit (not tried it with fish but I don't see why not!)

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?
It'll probably sound odd -- but I'd say it'd have to be London Underground. I accept the fact that we all have a love/hate relationship with the Underground depending on how it treats us on any given day. But I come from a country with extremely poor public transport and to be able to get anywhere you want pretty much anytime is a luxury beyond imagining. Yes, it can be extremely annoying as the Northern Line changes it's routing for the 3rd time this week -- but hey -- at least there is a Northern Line. It is also some of the best theatre in the world. Where else do you get to see and experience so many different and bizarre characters acting so brilliantly and so realistically? This is not expensive public transport -- this is cheap entertainment! So, we may whinge and whine about it being too pricey, overcrowded, smelly, unreliable etc -- but I can assure you -- we would miss it if we didn't have it.

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?
I am a total techno-moron. So for me there have been two states of life - pre-Google and post-Google. This is the most superb site ever - I mean not only can you find absolutely anything you would possibly need if stranded on a desert island, but if you were delirious and misspelled what you were after it would gently and subtly correct you asking if you didn't possibly mean X. A site with depth, insight and real feelings.

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?
I know that chocolate on a hot desert island is utterly impractical but sod it. Minstrels and a shed of them please.

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?
I think my training as an actor would come in handy. There would presumably be a group of people on this faraway island who spoke no English. It would be useful to be able to communicate with them for all manner of essentials (pleading for ones life, the whereabouts of food and water, the whereabouts of the nearest boat house etc) The only method of communication would hence be facial expression, exaggerated body movements, mime, grunts etc. And if the worst came to the worst, I guess I could always sing for my supper.

Designer and desert island survival expert Adrian Whitefoord comments:
This man sounds like he's already no stranger to being fit. It's making me quite dizzy reading this -- but the Forerunner301 does sound really cool and an essential tool if Justin eventually finds his way off the island. He's obviously already quite organised with the reed hut so I expect the boat will be along in two shakes of a monkey's tail.

Mullerlite yoghurts are obviously essential for Justin as he is clearly someone who watches his weight -- but the good news is that pretty much everything on the island is calorie free so Justin isn't likely to go piling on the pounds unexpectedly is he? We are also dealing with a realist here as he has acknowledged that he's more than likely to be eating his yoghurt with fish - one of the island's main staples. It makes me wonder if Muller might consider some unusual line extensions here? Puffer fish and chips flavour perhaps Justin?

I love the comment about the Tube being cheap entertainment rather than expensive transport. I totally agree. Being a bit of a people watcher myself I think of London Underground as definitely the theatre of the absurd on most mornings. Sometimes it literally makes me laugh out loud.

It's comforting to find someone else who is also a techno innocent and a huge Google fan. This site is the epitome of what a good site should be -- it's user-friendly, it's efficient and it really has built up a dedicated following and real "brand character" over the years. You feel like the brand is "on your side" and that is an increasingly rare feeling now that we have all become such marketing cynics.

I admire the spirit of this man -- melting Minstrels by the shed load. Here's someone who really enjoys life despite having a hopeless chocolate addiction to deal with. Justin, there's a great expression that my mum always used which is "A little of what you fancy does you good!" I'm not sure where she would stand on a shed load of Minstrels though..... Anyway, I'm glad that you have thrown this in and it goes a long way to explaining why you are so keen on the calorie counter function of the Forerunner!

Yes non-verbal communication is big on the island and has always been popular with the local tribe so your acting skills will be very much appreciated. Although, they are all totally fluent in English, due to a consignment of Berlitz teach yourself books that washed ashore twenty years ago. However, despite their fluency they do like to make fun of "the white knees" (new castaways) by pretending that they can only grunt and gesture. Most people are eventually let into the secret and I'm sure that Justin will fall into this group. However, there is one unfortunate castaway that still re-enacts the fabulous "discovering fire" scene from 2001 whenever he runs into the local chief, and he has been awarded no fewer than three tribal Oscars for his performances.

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