VerveCast

Kelloggs recently said that they are considering burning their logo into corn flakes with a laser. (Talk about branding!) One of their representatives had this to say: “We’ve established that it is possible to apply a logo or image onto food.”

It’s true! In fact, look at this chocolate bar…

Chocolate is a little easier to get your name on, as molds are used instead of lasers. Lasers tend to melt chocolate. Sure, you can blast a laser at any piece of food, but I don’t want to get too deep into laser etching food right now…

Hey look, even our friends at Roundy’s have their name on their chocolate bars… which are the generic equivalent of a Hershey bar.

The idea behind Kelloggs “branding” some of the flakes in each box is to ensure that you’re getting genuine Kelloggs brand Corn Flakes™ and to let you know that some knock-off brand is just that, a cheap knock-off of the original.

So where will the future of branded food take us? I’ve got my own ideas (and I’ve done a few experiments) but I’d love to hear what others think.

A restaurant’s name is almost as important as the type of food it’s serving. Restaurant names can reflect themes, food or even locations. Great names are easy to remember, tell a story and leave a positive impression on patrons.

ZAGAT.com, a provider of user-generated restaurant reviews and ratings, recently complied a list of names that do just the opposite. Here’s their list (in alphabetical order) of the top ten “worst” restaurant names across the country.

Asellina
Beaver Choice
Big Wong
Crabby Dick’s
Fu King Chinese
Goat Lips
9021Pho
Phat Phuc
Pink Taco

I don’t think they’re all bad. Most are funny and extremely memorable. I do have a few favorites. Which ones do “Fu” like?

Bumper stickers fascinate me. I love my shih tzu. My child is on the honor roll at Washington Middle School. My Boston terrier is smarter than your honor student. Imagine whirled peas. Watch out for the moron behind me.

Although I’d say the majority of drivers don’t have bumper stickers plastered on their vehicles, it’s the ones that do that intrigue me. You’ve got to be pretty darn passionate about something to stick it permanently to a several-thousand dollar investment. (Although, typically the vehicles with the most stickers are junkers.) So, what drives people to stick?

Every time I read a bumper sticker, I automatically picture the person who is driving the car. For me, the words on the bumper usually create an immediate image of the driver. I’m sure I’m not always spot on, but that’s not the point. The point is that by posting these stickers on his or her vehicle, the driver is trying to project an image—his or her personal brand, what’s important to them, what defines them. That’s the way I see it, at least. Am I overthinking this bumper sticker phenomenon?

Image courtesy of frozenlemonz.blogspot.com

Every day I get numerous e-mails from different companies alerting me about their semi-annual sale, free business cards or this season’s hot, new fragrance.  When I first subscribed to these promotional e-mails it was likely to get a super deal on a product I was purchasing or because I wanted to be sent coupons (who doesn’t want to save money?).  Now, I get an obnoxious amount of e-mail advertisements every day and what do I do?  Hit the delete button.

According to Mashable.com, I’m not the only consumer who gets annoyed by these boring e-mails or useless posts on Facebook or Twitter.  This article features a study done by ExactTarget called “The Social Break-Up.” It outlines a few interesting facts about consumers who unsubscribe, unfollow and “unlike” brand communications:

• 91% of consumers have unsubscribed from opt-in marketing e-mails.
• 77% of consumers report being more cautious about providing their e-mail address to companies versus last year.
• 81% of consumers have either “unliked” or removed a company’s posts from their Facebook News Feed.
• 71% of consumers report being more selective about “liking” a company on Facebook than they were last year.
• 51% of consumers expect that a “like” will result in marketing communications from brands, while 40% do not believe it should result in marketing communications.
• 41% of consumers have “unfollowed” a company on Twitter.

So what do you take away from this?  If social media is one of the tactics you use to market your brand, add personality to each blog post, tweet, Facebook post or e-mail you send out.  If the content becomes bland or too frequent, you’ll likely lose some followers.

We’re all about branding at Z2, and couldn’t help but find it amusing to see a photo that Pete took in our conference room used in a Photopreneur article about how photographers should brand themselves as experts…

Read the article Brand Yourself as an Expert Photographer.