Hunting Pythons and Swimming from Alcatraz: Side Quests Sharpen My Creativity

A true copywriting force, senior creative lead Kevin Zengel is a firm believer that his style comes from time spent beyond his 9-5. He seeks inspiration from his 'Side Missions.' Memorable and documentable challenges that give him perspective and angles he might otherwise not have. From racing across Baja California and studying Aerospace Engineering at MIT to hunting pythons in the Everglades, Kevin’s adventures prep him for the next unexpected challenge.

Don’t just take our word for it. PETERMAYER’s Eli Haddow spoke to Kevin about these quests to give a peek into how they unlock creativity at work.

Eli Haddow> What are side missions, and what do they have to do with your day job?

Kevin>  I coined 'Side Missions' for everything I do in my off-hours. It started about 10 years ago. I was in a big town hall at my new agency, and everyone presented their side hustles. Two people from Account Management were waxing about how they built a Pabst Blue Ribbon parade float, and I recognised I’d handcuffed my creativity to my job. From then on, I opened myself up to lesser-known adventures, often nonsensical and always interesting.

Not a month after that town hall, I made an Australian friend at Ultra Music Festival. Between beers, he mentioned you could buy titles from broke European royals. One day and a hundred bucks later, my creative persona was born: Good Lord Zengel. From there, I officiated weddings for Miller High Life, worked as deckhand on a champion J-Class race boat and medalled at a few triathlons.

My side missions take me around the world and give me a grassroots understanding of the people and places that go unnoticed. Chasing down the unconventional is an adventure - it gives me depth and variety that I can ply as a writer and creative leader.

Eli> What’s been your best adventure so far?

Kevin> My little quests aren’t 'this over that,' they’re about taking shots and being happy where you land. It’s a job in itself finding obscure American and global adventures - but once you know they exist, you put a date on a calendar and work your way up to them.

Last year I swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco against six-foot swells in 50° water. I heard about that race in 2010. It took fourteen years for me to escape from Alcatraz. My racing even inspired my best buddy John to take it on this year. He finished, and that’s the best.

Eli> How far back does this quirk go?

Kevin> I was a quiet kid, but I took excellent notes. I knew what I liked, why I liked it, and how to make others give a damn. I became my own historian, and after decades of paying attention to interesting things - I had a highlight reel of adventures that most people would ask me to tell them more about.

So, does it go back to being a kid? I can’t say yes, but I can say being on top of my superlatives lets me reclassify my earlier adventures under the side mission banner.

Eli> How does it inspire your work?

Kevin> My quests are creative and practical. I have to find them, then figure them out. Having to be logistical and pragmatic heavily influences my work style.

At my last gig at Havas, we put on 'The First Metaverse Internship in the World.' While we had a flashy campaign that ended up winning a few awards, it was the guerilla recruitment campaign that got the most attention. I made handles on the most up-and-coming metaverse universes. I reached out to dozens of creators, tipping their Venmos the hourly wage of what the role paid to get their attention.

Ultimately we landed hundreds of global applicants for the internship, partially because of this 1-1, super lo-fi, buried-in-the-weeds approach. You could say that without finding and completing my side quests, I wouldn’t be able to think beyond the screen and give people ideas they actually value.

Eli> What’s your next adventure?

Kevin> As a creative I’m seeing all the stuff that's coming out of GenAI and I’m thinking, “man, this stuff's going to eat my lunch soon.” I’ve got about one hundred open browser tabs and after digging in, ten will probably pan out to foundational knowledge.

Beyond that, I did hear about a bar that’s got a daylong one-drink-an-hour challenge in Uptown, New Orleans. I’ve also been thinking about signing up for a poker tournament at Caesars with the hope of learning enough to land in third place or better. Also, I’m near the Gulf, so I really wouldn’t mind trophy fishing - or just whipping a really fast cigarette boat really fast and calling it a day. New Orleans is a great place to look for unconventional adventure, because it’s kinda surprising how expected everything is in New York and Los Angeles.

We’ll see what I do next, but hey, you’re invited.