On the re-naming process, when advertising folks gather in a room and cook up words, run them by trademark attorneys and focus groups, massage them with art direction, and bill companies for hundreds of thousands of dollars. They then send out all sorts of brand rules, and make folks onMORE HERE
It looks like Wal-Mart has become the museum of Great American Brand Names. Need a Vassarette undergarment? There it is, on the shelves, just like it’s 1942! For the last four years, Wal-Mart has sold Grapette soda. It sells the soda as a sub-brand of the Sam’s Choice store brand.MORE HERE
These days, the Brand Manager is a sort of oracle. Everyone talks about their “brand” and what happens to “brands” and protecting “the brand.” And even though there are brand managers everywhere, we wonder how great brand names could be lost, or be ruined. How are brands like Sears, Mercury,MORE HERE
On the way to church, walking down Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota, a friend remarks on our daughter wearing a white smocked dress. She reminds him of his sister, wearing maBest & Co. and later shopping at DePinna with his mother. DePinna? What happened to DePinna? Lisa Birnbach in herMORE HERE
The innovator of the modern day spa, Georgette Klinger, is back in business, and the Klinger family is back in ownership, with Kathryn Klinger, Georgette’s daughter, as CEO. Plenty of people were upset when Georgette Klinger, the beloved beauty brand, shut down its Georgette Klinger spas. The fashion website www.racked.comMORE HERE
We wish the greatest and oldest corporation in North America well. Founded in 1670, Hudson’s Bay company was once the government in Canada. The importance of the company to Canada would be as if the Virginia Company that founded the Virginia Colony had survived as a department store! Imagine that.MORE HERE
If you are anywhere near Bowling Green, Kentucky, visit the exhibition “Recommended by Duncan Hines” and the annual Duncan Hines Festival, which is Aug. 14-15, 2008. The Bowling Green Convention and Visitors’ Bureau has worked to keep the memory of Duncan Hines alive, as have folks at the Kentucky MuseumMORE HERE
In the 20th century, one of the most notable guides to food and hospitality on the road was Duncan Hines’ Adventures in Good Eating. The story is simple; Duncan Hines, a traveling salesman, kept voluminous notes on the places that he traveled in the United States. He loved good restaurantsMORE HERE
Another regional dairy brand is disappearing. The Fort Collins, Colorado Poudre Valley Creamery dairy brands will no longer be on the shelves, according to reporter Pat Ferrier of the Fort Collins Coloradoan. Meadow Gold Dairy’s parent company bought the brand in 2000, but has discontinued it because of low demand,MORE HERE
Want a great (cheap) stop for lunch or dinner on Interstate 95 in South Carolina? Try the Dairy Land. It’s just a short drive east of Interstate 95 in Walterboro, South Carolina. It’s exit 53. On your way, you’ll pass what seems to be the world’s largest collection of firecrackersMORE HERE