Roderick Brown, a promo veteran and global brand ambassador, has ridden a motorcycle in more countries than the average person has the good fortune of visiting in their life. South America, Scotland, the U.K., Italy … you name it.
For Brown, founder of Harwood Capital, the experiences inherent in international travel unlock enough doors for a lifetime. Based in California, he’s become something of a global consultant in the promo world, making introductions across borders and oceans, which often turn into connections, which sometimes turn into strong, fruitful partnerships. He has brought Ireland’s Colin Loughran, founder and lead consultant of Five Fisherwick, into the fold.
“I’m just working hard to create this global ambassador network, and bringing Colin into that has been a really exciting experience,” says Brown, who received PPAI’s H. Ted Olson Humanitarian Award in 2020.
Meeting people where they’re at means more than just hopping on an airplane. It means experiencing things through their perspective. If business is an aspect of life, then sharing bits of life with one another should never be taken for granted.
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For Loughlin and Thomas van Herpen of Promoclip, based out of the Netherlands, that meant Brown bringing his two promo peers to the U.S. to explore. Not with a fancy dinner after a trade show, but on the seat of a motorcycle through the American Southwest.
- In May, Brown picked up the two at LAX before they embarked on a 15-day, 3,000-mile trip across six states, diligently planned out in advance by Brown.
Loughran’s home country of Ireland is not exactly lacking when it comes to sights, but what got the trio through the grueling task of traveling through adverse conditions was the sheer number of visions they witnessed.
“We saw some of the most epic and soul-shaking landscapes I’ve ever seen,” Loughran says.
Loughran is returning the favor, hosting Brown in June for an 11-day motorcycle tour of Ireland, touching corners even he hasn’t visited. That voyage is currently underway, having kicked off June 15.
“Honestly, it’ll be hard to match the scale and drama of the Great Southwest, but Ireland has a magic of its own,” Loughran says. “Narrow coastal roads, ancient ruins, hidden pubs, live music…”
It sounds like Rick Steves’ dream, but from their personal dispatches, it indeed seems there will be a lot to live up to.
‘The Cold Is Harsh, But It Is The Ice That Is Our Mortal Enemy’
It all started in a hotel bar. Brown was showing Loughran some photos on his phone of motorcycle trips he’d taken in Nepal and Argentina, and as Brown put it, “his eyes lit up.” Testing the waters, he told Loughran that he could host him for a similar experience. He would do the planning, even provide Loughran’s motorcycle for the trip.
“The moment Rod passionately described the Great Southwest, I was all in,” Loughran says. “No hesitation. I didn’t need to know every detail. I just knew it would be special.”
Colin Loughran
Founder & Lead Consultant, Five Fisherwick
Meanwhile, van Herpen’s direct flight back from The PPAI Expo 2025 was a few days after the event, so he decided to kill the time by renting a motorcycle and riding around the surrounding areas of the city. When Brown told him he could curate an extreme version of the experience, he was in.
So, the three embarked on a trip full of natural wonders and American iconography. Brown says he spent
“about 200 hours” planning the trip. He wanted them to experience riding through Navajo and other Indigenous territory as well as some of the region’s great national parks. Some of the stops included:
- The Grand Canyon
- Bryce Canyon
- Large stretches of historic Route 66
- The El Rancho Hotel
- The 1888 Grand Imperial Hotel
- Zion National Park
- The Hoover Dam
It was important to Brown that they experience the vastness of the country through this region, but the conditions weren’t always easy, especially for two novice riders whose fates were in the hands of Brown’s planning. They experienced high temperatures of 102 degrees and lows of 19 degrees, including a blizzard in Colorado.
“The cold is harsh, but we can get through that,” Brown wrote in a dispatch. “It is the ice that is our mortal enemy.”
The trio pulled off the road for hikes, horseback rides and plenty of beers over the more than two-week trip. They relied on paper maps because “out there in the vastness, your phone becomes just another piece of silent metal,” Brown says.
“We stood on ground that has been sacred for a thousand years, feeling the presence of those who walked these paths long before Route 66 was even a dream. We marveled at the mid-century optimism embedded in every diner sign and motor lodge, artifacts of America’s love affair with the open road.”
It was a leap of faith for Loughran, but one that rewarded his faith in Brown and himself.
“Before this trip, I was close to a novice on a motorcycle,” Loughran says. “I even dropped the bike on our practice run – not exactly confidence-inspiring for me or Rod, who had painstakingly organized the entire journey. But we went for it: through suffocating desert heat, scary crosswinds and two blizzards. Through fear and into feeling as free as a bird.”
‘If They’re Going To Do Business In America, They Need To Be Exposed To Its Culture, History And Geography’
It almost goes without saying that the experience brought them together.
“The three of us on the trip are very different people, but that’s part of what made it so rich,” Loughran says. “Out on the open road, sharing the highs and lows brought a level of connection that goes beyond the usual.
“You really learn about each other in those moments. The experience deepened both the friendship and our professional respect for each other.”
Brown, whose ultimate goal is to foster and nurture international connections in the promo industry, says that the trip served that mission.
Roderick Brown
Global Promo Ambassador, Harwood Capital
“I want them to know me and trust me, and if they’re going to do business in America, they need to be exposed a little bit to the culture, the history, the geography and just get an idea of the size of the country,” Brown says.
Even just giving them the opportuntiy to post about the trip on social media, Brown says, helps clients know “that they are real and adventurous people trying out new things and learning new experiences.”
The American Southwest goes a long way in building up the mythos of American culture. Now, Loughran and van Herpen, Irish and Dutch, know it better than so many Americans.
“I’ll never forget it,” Loughran says. “This mind-blowing trip has changed me forever.”
