Brand Characters

One of the best brand character(s) out there that I absolutely adore, are the m&ms. They are so cute and I want to eat them all the time. The milk chocolate M & M and the Yellow Peanut Chocolate M& M remind me of two high school buddies that are best friends and still best friends post high school. LIke Cheech and Chong

So it was aways red and yellow that were up to no good. Now there is a whole family of M&M's. Orange, Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue and CRISPY!! he is dark yellow . I LOVE HIM.. he's always so paranoid. hahaha

Im pretty sure Yellow and Green were introduced in 1982. They are always doing silly things, well especially Yellow because he is a NUT, and getting M&M's message across clearly, and with personality, flavour, taste and humour!

GREEN! the lovely miss green made her debut in 1997. She "melts for no one" I love her. She is now the face of M&M's new campaign for the cure for cancer. What a sweet heart she is. Always thinking of others. And very beautiful eye lashes. I wish I had her eye lashes.

Hi I was writing this yesterday, and had to save it becuase I was too hungry to finish. So, last night at around 11:30pm I was craving chocolate. So I made my way down to the closet 24 hour corner store, which was Mac's, and checked out the chocolate selection. The shelves were packed with M&M products and I was in heaven!! I saw Yellow there, Green, Red, Blue and I said "Hello buddies!! Which one of you do I want to eat?" So I went for a kind of M&M's that I have never had before... peanut butter M&M's. I totally recommend them for a treat. 

Another reason why I love these character's so much is well yes, there is an m&m in everyone, but they love themes. I mean, they were totally into the whole Star Wards thing, they love dressing up for Christmas, they go pastel during easter, AND they were named the official Candy of the new millennium. 

The M&M characters are part of my life. I love seeing them in the store and cannot resist eating them all up because they are so lovable and super tasty.

check out their site. It tells you all about the characters, M&M's history, their candies and much more. just google it. =)  The site is fun, interactive, informative and you can even make your own M&M character! HOW Neat!!!

Today I am going to blog about Brand positioning. 

I would like to first explain the difference between Point of Parity and Point of Difference. From what I learned in my branding class, is that point of parity is when two competing companies carry the same products and offer the same services, but the way the must compete with each-other for market share is by advertising one is 'better' than the other. 

Point of difference is when  two competing companies in the same market differentiate themselves. Yes, they carry the same products, but one stands out more because it either offers something more or simply has better marketing strategies to have more of the market share. 

So two competing companies that are point of parity: Extreme Pita and Pita Pit. They both carry very similar products, target the same audience, and same values - healthy eating. 

Two competing companies that are point of difference:  Quizinos and Subway. Yes, these two companies are very similar, carry similar products, fresh or toasted.. but Quizinos has recently differentiated themselves... Quizinos now delivers!!! WOW what a point of difference!

Brand Personality

The one brand that I really like, but I am sometimes indifferent about, is Coca Cola. I love diet coke, Classic Coca Cola, coke with lime, coke Zero, and even Coke's new vitamin water brand, Glaceau Vitamin Water.

The thing about Coca Cola though is that whenever I see someone with a Coke, especially a Diet Coke, I want one. This is Coca Cola if he were a person. 

Coca Cola does exist Wesley. He does not hide up in his high rise building. Actually, he is amongst us everywhere. Coca Cola is within us all. He is the man that brings happiness to our day. He is the one that makes us laugh. He is the one that makes us smile and feel like we are all friends. Coke brings the party to life. Coca Cola helps us enjoy a strong Jack Daniels. 

Coca Cola has a couple of nick names too. I like to call him Coke. Some people call him Diet Coke but universally, he is known as The Classic. 

Coca Cola is everyone's friend. He mixes well with all cultures, races, nationalities, religions and pretty much any alcohol.

 He simply is the MAN. And he is my friend forever. 

And Wes, I think you have it all wrong about my best friend. He is not a jerk. He is caring, lovable, and has excellent taste. Yes, he is super rich, but wouldn't you want to be rich too? 

Thank you for reading!

Sidney Frank - in Shot Caller and Makin it Rain

This is stolineya pride. The people of Russia not holding back. Showing with great sprit how happy they are to make Stoli a part of their lives. My group and I will be building a never before see portfolio for this historic Vodka that dates back to 1901.
The last class we had to write a story about the beginnings of Stoli. All of the group members and I were all on the same page. We had a lot of fun researching the product and coming up with an appropriate story that truly described Stolichnaya’s background, childhood, and his battle to becoming successful in a world of terror, war and control.

Considering I had such a good time making up a story, for this blog I want to make up stories about some other intriguing brands.

The alcohol industry is very competitive. Beers, wines, coolers, liquers, spirits, vintage wine communicate with us on a regular basis. Whether it is when we go out for hang out, grab a drink, we clearly look around the bar to see what is going on, and without even knowing it, you are ordering whatever is on tap that you see advertised the most around the bar. This may be true if you are not brand loyal that is. And you walk into the bar, and order exactly what you order the night before, the night before that, and last week when you walked into the same bar because it’s your bar and it’s your beer.
Im getting off track with my story and leaning towards brand loyalty,
Anyway, I wanted to tell you my version of the story of Grey Goose.

So Once upon a time, there was this fancy self famed French gentle man named Sidney Frank. He was the life of the party, always knew the right thing to say and enjoyed learning more and more about the North American culture. He always wondered to himself, “if I am going to woo the Americans, what shall I bring them for a gift to show my gratitude for their hospitality” So Sidney figured out that if he could simply propose a very powerful man, Bacardi, with something that would literally give Bacardi a piece of France forever. Frank wanted America to embrace him for an intelligent man that comes from a land of rich culture, raw materials and spirits.
After collecting fresh winter wheat from the South of France, alpine spring water and limestone plateaux of the Massic Central, Frank created one of France’s highly recognized and praised Vodka’s, the Grey Goose.
Frank revealed the Grey Goose to the people of France before he presented it to Bacardi. He knew that if his people loved the smooth yet strong clear sexy vodka then it would be easy for him to fly the goose over and into the hearts of the Americans.
So, to make a long story short, Frank finally launched Grey Goose into the States, and let it fly freely into the hearts of many Vodka enthusiasts. But Grey Goose starting taking a lot of attention away Bacardi. Well, Bacardi wanted to be friends; therefore, he wasn’t going to have Frank control where the Grey Goose flies. So in return, Bacardi gave Frank over two billion dollars to pass over all of the rights for flying the Grey Goose.

Frank didn’t feel like he was losing anything, I mean he always had Jagermeister by his side, and he eventually teamed up with one of the United States most successful rap stars, lil John and created a CRUNK of an energy drink together.
So that is the story of the Grey Goose and his creator Sidney Frank. He brought him up, took care of him supported him, and eventually sold his soul over to a man in his high rise in New York City.

Is this a story of rags to riches, from a lost love to a new love, boy finds girl, loses girl but gets a new girl. In any case, it contains some true events, but the story itself is made up. Did you enjoy?

Sail - Belly up To the Colouds..

My cravings for cigarettes are weaker. The niccotine fits flow through me like flooding waves ofanxiety.. through my young impressionable body.. especially when im driving in my car. That was when I smoked the most. "The car smokes". They were calm, cool, full of bluish grey smoke blowing out between my lips then eventually sucked out through the crack of the window into the skies, polluting.. like it just polluted my lungs, my heart and my body.

Fuck you cigarettes. Im through and I am running away from you. Literally.. I am running, running and running to get rid of you. Go to hell with your toxins for I am clean. Running into clean air, sailing away from your highly addictive ways... and taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"To breath in the air will be the only thing that we have..."

So I am back at home with my parents. My earlier living situation was not working out so well. Since I have been back, I have discovered some new interesting foods. This brings me to discuss brand extensions. I love cheese and crackers. Although I am trying very hard to watch what I eat, I discovered in Mrs. Lee's kitchen "cracker cubbord", RITZ Entertainers. I think that is the name. So RITZ has deicded to create an over the top, indulgent, fattty, esquisit, delicious, sexy, party worthy cracker that pairs up deliciously with any expensive cheese. The packaging totally caught me off guard. It is all black which makes it look classy looking and upper class. This cracker clearly is upper class compared to Original Ritz Crackers. This cracker isn't as flaky though. It has more crisp, more bite to it. I absolutley love it. BRB (be right back.. im going to get the package so I can describe it properly.. )

OKAAY.. lets get back to the basics here about Brands. So Ritz is a brand under it's Family Brand called Christie. Is this a sub brand then? I can't remember the right termonolgy right now. So I have the Box of these crackers I was discussing earlier right in front of me. This is what it reads...

"Premier Ritz Collection Entertaining Selections - Savoury Seeds"

It also has the sensible Solution mark on it.. so shoppers think they are healthy.

WAIT.. Christie is under KRAFT.. wow.. this must be related to BRand Architecture

KRAFT

then

CHRISTIE

then

RITZ

yes.. this makes sense now. So are these entertaining crackers a brand extention.. or a product extention. What is the difference? I clearly need to do some more reading becuase I am confused. In any case, these crackers are appealing and very tasty. In my opinion.. Entertaing Selections is the product name and Ritz is still the brand that it falls under. So.. I believe I was originally wrong thinking that RITZ Entertaining Selections is a brand extension.. and simply a new product line for RITZ.

ENJOY!!

Please comment and tell me whether I am right or wrong .. let alone.. tell me.. What is Premier Ritz Collection Entertaining Selections besides a cracker?

Loyalty

Being loyal is human nature. We are loyal to our friends, our family, our morals, our integrity and above all, our hearts. Staying true to our heart is the root of all happiness. Think with your soul, not your mind.
This is how company's get us to stay loyal to their brand. They warm our heart. They make our heart feel like its beating with life whenever we see this brand, touch it, feel it...Makes us feel comfortable, at ease, and best of all, makes us feel good about ourselves.
Why do we rely so much on a brand logo, image, personality to reflect our own? Its a comfort zone and it boosts our confidence.
The one thing that I have been loyal to for the longest is now being pushed out of my life. I have decided to step foward, and be independent from this brand, this logo, this lifestyle. I was so hooked that it was killing me if I didn't have it with me. Rather than breathing in life, I felt that when I didn't have it, I was dying inside. In reality, it was killing me. Belmont - by Benson and Hedges played a significant part of my life. Was I addicted to Belmont, the most attractive, sexy, perfect length cigarette, or the high levels of niccotine it contained. Either or, it is difficult letting go of something you have carried in your purse for over 6 years everywhere you went. Belmont made me calm, gave me confidence, I fit in, and felt comfort when I was with Belmont. My best friend, my oral fixation, my niccotine fix.
Fuck it- I am better than Belmont. I am above smoking cigarettes. I can be clean from toxins and I want to live. This is my motivation.. I want to Live. I can live without this brand, this logo, this addictive drug. I can live in peace and happiness without relying on Belmont to be there for me. I have my own back bone. I have pride and I am taking great pride in my temple, my body, my heart. I am staying loyal to my heart. My heart, my number one brand.

-k.l