Hive & Seek

Hive & Seek has a new travel partner. Let’s take a minute to get to know him.

Yesterday, we received a calendar invitation to “Pick up our Lucky Duck” at work. Since it’s almost Spring Break, the thought is to give each of us a rubber duck that we can take with us on our “vacation,” whether we are leaving the house town or not. We are supposed to capture moments with our duck while we enjoy our time away from school. As a travel blogger, this is right up my alley!

The first thing I did after selecting my Lucky Duck was to visit ChatGPT for ideas on how to tie the duck in as a co-mascot for my Hive & Seek blog. Our theme involves bees, and this is a duck, so it is a bit of a challenge….hence my turn to AI to get the brainstorming started.

We started with a name. What duck mascot names could easily tie into a travel blog? ChatGPT had several ideas, but the one I thought fit best was: Miles McQuack. Miles, because of the miles we will travel together and McQuack, because it is a nice blend of my last name McKeever, and the sound a duck makes. Simple.

Next, ChatGPT suggested creating a tagline for Miles and a backstory. I liked this idea, but I will not be using AI for this portion of our branding adventure. Honestly, I didn’t really like what it had to offer; it didn’t fit my Hive vibe, so I’m going to rely on my own brain. Keeping it real: We had tours today at school, so between tour groups, I asked my students to help me brainstorm taglines. They are marketing students, so it fits in nicely with our curriculum.

We came up with several ideas. Some involved “ducking”, not appropriate. Some involved “waddling,” which I was not a fan of (mainly because I don’t want to be associated with waddling around). Some involved “shaking tail feathers,” students did NOT like this. The list went on and on, until we all agreed that “Swimming the Miles” was the best fit for our Hive vibe.

We have a name. We have a tagline. How do we explain to our audience why we suddenly have a duck as a mascot for our bee-themed travel blog? Here it is…..

Miles mcquack’s origin story

After spending several years, floating around the same bathtub day after day, Miles McQuack decided that he was ready to spread his wings and fly to see some of the world while he was still young and able-bodied. He has read some of the recent Hive & Seek blog posts, tried some of the crafts, and admired the Hive’s adventurous spirit. Miles packed his bags, put on his best travel outfit, and flew over to Hive & Seek headquarters, where he proceeded to beg to be let in on the fun. After some negotiation, photo and video release forms signed, we made room in our suitcase for Miles.

Join us as we welcome Miles aboard. We look forward to seeing and hearing about his quacky adventures on our first trip to Spain!