BK Kid's Club or What Happened to You Burger King?

You know who were great brand characters? The Burger King Kid's Club. When I was young, those character designs were so cool, the characters so diverse, that I can't believe Burger King ever abandonned them. I was actually talking about this the other night, about how downright disgusting Burger King is, and how there are absolutely no redeeming qualities about it. But they used to be good...they used to be great.

If they brought those kids back, I'd be there in a grease-strained heartbeat, with cash in hand, ready to choke down whatever passes for a Kid's Meal these days - just to have the image of Wheels on my bag.

I'm serious, I completely forgot about these kids, and it seems like this brand blog was just desinged to release all these repressed memories from childhood.

But back to the kid's - they had such character, such personality. You could tell just by looking at the that they all got along. None of them noticed the differences in the others, whether it was skin colour, mobility, gender - they all got along like kids should. There was no trying to be clever by making them different coloured creatures, or to imply that a hamburger and a bird who represents chicken nuggets (now that I think about it Mc'Donalds, that's pretty sick) could get along. None of this scary clown horseshit (sorry, but I'm really starting to realize how much I hate McDonalds). It was just kids, all getting along, all representing different aspects of childhood, and all of them were cool. You don't get that alot these days, without being overly sappy, or boring, or annoying.

I used to love going to Burger King (and not just because people could smoke in there...mmmm) and I think that because of my current education, I'm starting to understand why. Maybe some of it was the food, or the toys.

But I think a lot of it had to do with those characters: The BK Kid's Club.

Another day, another post about Pepsi and Coke

This time however, I am not establishing a rivalry between these two brands. Nor am I seeking to point out there differences, nor highlight my preference of beverage. No, in this post, both brands are treated as equals. This is because I'm talking about those things that may only be around for a short time, that at the time you don't appreciate them as you should, and before you know it - they're gone. Brand extensions my friends, can be short lived.

DISCLAIMER: This entire post I will be debating the validity of bringing up McDonalds pizza as a brand extension, because now that it is in my mind, I have to speak of the great injustice done to it. But this will come later.

Vanilla Coke and
Pepsi Twist. Limited time.
At times I miss you.

A haiku, by Nigel

So here's the deal, brands sometimes take a winning formula, name, product, what have you - they try something new. They come up with stuff like Vanilla Coke (which I don't terribly miss, but a sip every once in a while would be nice - plus it mixed surprisingly well with gin) and Pepsi Twist (still don't really miss it, just wish it was around at times). Not like the disastrous New Coke (which in this program we should be quite familiar with), but different takes on the core brand, a flavour niche currently unoccuppiedAAAARRRGGGGGHHH

I CAN'T DO IT!!!

When McDonalds went from serving the same crappy burgers and fries, to introducing a new product, something changed in me. They had created something that I found to be so unlike anything they had done before. They gave me McDonalds pizza, annd for a time, it was good. Then they snatched it away from me, those bastards. How can you introduce something as amazing as McDonalds pizza into the world, only to ensure that after a short time, it will never return again. See McDonalds, you only got half of the brand extension sweet spot right in my opinion (and as a fact): you introduced something new from your brand that had not existed there before, BUT it was only around for a short time. Now it was never marketed as being for a "limited time", it just didn't work for you so you discarded it. You've never tried to bring it back. This was a mistake. I know that my (and I'm sure there are many others) business in your "restaurant" would increase about 4000% if you brought back this pizza. But you haven't, and I've always secretly hated you for it McDonalds.

There, that was my rant - I hope it accomplished the task of speaking about brand extensions, but right now I'm almost too riled up to care.

Pepsi...or Coke?

I've been wondering about something: Does what a brand tells me - the vibe, the stance they take - does it really influence me? Does it make me enjoy that brand more? Does it make me choose one brand over another? You see, the more I've looked at what I consume, the more I wonder why I have preferences for certain brands. Is it because I believe they actually do offer something superior to their competition, or am I just being told that.

So here goes: does brand positioning affect my decision to drink Pepsi over Coke?

Well, if I want to look at the advertising side of this first, I would have to say that the way Pepsi positions itself would speak to me more clearly than Coke. So if we look at this from a standpoint of pure influence, I would say that Pepsi would be the winner in this battle of preferences.

I find Pepsi's advertising targets the younger generation. I mean, when I was a teeneager, and you use the Spice Girls to sell to me (versus an "everybody is happy and loves Coke message") I'm probably gonna go for it. Even though I can say that I truly did not mind some of their music and even liked some of it, having 5 hot women dancing around telling me to drink Pepsi because I was Generation Next, probably didn't hurt their image at all.

So, I think if you looked at it from a brand positioning view, Pepsi does hook me more so than Coke. Pepsi has a logo to identify with (though don't get me started on the new one) the main colour is cooler (blue) and their overall attitude is that of youth (look at their Diet Pepsi spots). Coke on the otherhand has a very strong red as their colour, uses their own name as their logo, and kind of portrays this image of love and joy, with the whole world just loving the shit out of Coke and each other. It's two very different positions that these products put themselves in, and it's hard to say why you would choose one over the other.

Me, I just think Pepsi tastes better.

Itsa Me - MARIO!

Without a doubt, there is one brand character that I can say say actually majorly influenced my life. Not even from a simple product standpoint, but with a huge overlap into many facets of my life and personality has this character affected me.

I'm speak of course, about Mario.

From the moment I started pushing the right arrow to move him forward, right after my parents had introduced me to this new technical marvel called the Nintendo Entertainment System, I was in love with a form of entertainment that I still enjoy to this day.

Not many things have shaped my life, have moved me so profoundly, or have been as major part of my social interactions - even enhancing my relationship - as much as videogames have.

I owe all this to a humble plumber, one who has since become the image almost synonymous with gaming.

Mario and Nintendo are inseparable. His connection to his brand was so powerful, that he has become a character that defines gaming itself. He is the example of a brand character becoming more than just a representation of his brand, but of his market as a whole; the more I think about, the harder it is to come up with a case that reaches that level of achievement.

He may be the most popular brand character of all time. In my books, he definitely deserves it.

By Mennen

This post started with a jingle. While thinking, searching for something to write about it just popped into my head...

"By Mennen"

It's funny how that little jingle/tag was so prevelant in my childhood, and is so engrained in my mind, is no nowhere to be found in modern advertising that I've seen.

This has to do with brand architecture and how certain brands get phased out as their popularity wanes. But it's hard to think that something as catchy as "By Mennen" could go out of favour. I could see maybe it's use being scaled back, but to be eliminated entirely?

There are still some products in North America however, that are still marketed as being "by Mennen" but I haven't ever seen them.

This jingle was so popular that I remember George on Seinfeld referencing it when talking about how he gets into women's heads after a while - annoying at first, but then you can't get it out of your head. "Co-stan-za"

Now, Mennen used to be the company responsible for Speed Stick - but was eventually purchased by Colgate-Plamolive. The interesting thing was, that even though Speed Stick and others were brought into the Colgate-Plamolive brand architecture, they still retained the branding of "by Mennen" and were effectively marketed as such for a period of time. It's an interesting example of how brand architecture changes over time as names and campaigns fall out of favour with the public.

I found this to be a somewhat different case than most products that get rebranded due to public perception, mostly due to the fact that the company whose product was bought and was brought into the brand family, retained it's original owners name - and even had an effective jingle - but eventually fell by the way side.

I could say that I'll miss the jingle, but then again - I don't think I'd want it any fresher in my mind than it is now.

By Mennen


brand architecture, colgate-palmolive, speed stick was part of brand, mennen being dropped in some areas, nostalgia, jingle, seinfeld

Brand Loyalty or How I Realized I'm A Sheep

It's funny, ever since I was a serious consumer, I was always of the mind that I was immune to advertising's sticky tendrils. I always thought that no matter how much advertising I saw, it would never be the advertising alone that would sell me on a product.

I've always prided myself on doing my research when needing to purchase a new product: finding reviews to support the best candidate, and shopping around to find the best price. I've never found that I was swayed by the fancy images and word thrown at me by different companies in an effort to prove theirs was the only one I would ever need. I always said I would never be brand loyal - but I'm not sure if that's so true anymore.

Now mind you, this new uncertainty only relates to one brand, and I still maintain that when it comes to any other product category, I will choose based on which is best suited to my needs, and not by the brand alone.

The only brand I will ever say with some certainty that I would always purchase a certain product from is Samsung. The first HDTV I'd bought with my own money, and doing my research was a Samsung LN40A450.

I can't really explain why I've developed this loyalty...maybe it was the high quality of the product. Myabe it was from all the research I'd done to justify that opinion of quality. Maybe it just looks damn sexy...whatever it is, I'm now hooked. Even though right after I got it, my heart sank upon discovering 2 dead pixels - I was still able to look past this defect (which, if you know me, is like convincing yourself to jump out of an airplane).

I can say now without a doubt, that every TV I buy from now on will be a Samsung.

I haven't decided on whether that's a bad thing or not...maybe I need to contradict myself sometimes, to prove that I can still do whatever I want.

Whatever is going on...I can't wait to get home and turn that sucker on.