Will  your grandchild know what an OREO is, or was?  How about a Reese’s?  Our experience is that a brand has one single pivot foot and that it can move one step from the pivot foot only, much like a power forward in basketball.  Take the second step or pivot on the second foot and you are walking.

In the case of both OREO and Reese’s, their individual brand pivot foot was a form factor, not a taste.  In my opinion, both brands are walking.  OREO has so many form factors on the market now that the next generation will not know the original brand from which they were extended.  And OREO even has line extensions that are vanilla and vanilla, not even consistent with the black and white taste combo.  Makes no brand sense.   There are Reese’s now that bear neither taste nor form relation to the parent brand which is for those of you who might have never known is the peanut butter cup.   Note that I did not say “a” peanut butter cup.  Reese’s was “the” peanut butter cup.  Will it be in twenty years?

I predict that this may not end well.

If it is possible to overdo branding for a city, Columbus may have done it.  The reason for the differentiation is real.  The logo is just downright cool.  The slogan, “Unexpected, Unforgettable” is really good, (except that I forgot it and had to look it up while I was writing this blog.)

The idea exceeds the reality in my estimation.  At least a dozen of the world’s most famous architects are represented, Meier, Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Kevin Roche, etc.  There are some neat buildings and the parks and landscaping is exceptional for a town of 40,000 people, but a vast majority of those people have houses and yards and businesses that detract from the town’s brand image.  And  of course, many of the town’s modern buildings did not age well.  They look out of date now.

I found myself deeply enjoying the town’s reputation for the first hour, being ho hum for the next hour, and finally deciding, “what’s the big deal?” in the third hour.

Today, let’s look at a different destination that was re-branded closer to home.

In the late 1970′s The Herschend family purchased a small, Smoky Mountain theme park called Gold Rush Junction. It had a steam train ride, a few general store type shops and a saloon with a family oriented saloon show and that was about it. The brothers already owned a very successful theme park in Branson, Missouri called Silver Dollar City. When they bought the TN park they re-named it Silver Dollar City, TN. They added a few rides and 1880′s craftsmen and attendance grew to several hundred thousand per season. Not bad for the little tourist town of Pigeon Forge.  But wait.

In the fall of 1985, it was announced that the Herschends had done a “Joint Venture” with Dolly Parton (the details of the JV were never made public). The park was going to receive an extensive makeover and open the next season as Dollywood. Because Dolly is a living legend and folk hero in the East Tennessee area, the park’s fame spread like wildfire and within a very short time annual attendance reached the millions.   All they really did was re-brand a current park and re-open. Quite a success story of what a great brand can do.

In fact, if  you go to the website of The Chief Story Teller, you will note that he does not use his name one time.  He might be a one man shop.  He might have a staff of hundreds.  I am very impressed with his use of branding principles to create his own story.  Focus is clear.  Alignment is solid.  And Linkage is right there in his name.

I am not endorsing his work.  I know nothing of whether he is good or not, but he has done an admirable job for himself and I find him compelling.  And thus suspect that he has something to offer.  I am going to find out.   Watts Wacker the futurist once told me that he consulted by “dominant anecdote.”    I have always remembered that phrase.  I read once about a one person company where the founder made herself the Executive VP, automatically suggesting that she was part of something larger.

Point is that branding, and the principles that are involved are not just for big companies.

That brings me to the Edge™ brownie pan, where an entrepreneur figured out how to make a pan that would bake brownies all of which had at least two edges, some three.  Google this one.  It is a perfect example of creating your own brand.  Find a need, solve it, invent it, protect it, align it, name it and introduce it.

May or may not be a big idea, but the first step is a brilliant one.

Stinky Kids always make the right choice.  Stinky Kids do the good thing.

Britt was wearing a Stinky Kids t-shirt while shopping at Nordstrom’s.  A sales person saw it, fell it love with it and the Stinky Kids story, took Britt to her manager, and now Nordstrom is Britt’s main account.  Yes they tested awhile in a few stores, but things went well.  Britt is expanding the line to books, etc.  And has very big plans.  She will do well.

It’s not just Stinky Kids.  Britt herself is making the right choices.  She is staying tight on strategy.  As is Nordstom’s.  Kudos to them both.

Lesson:  Be an evangelist for your own brand.  If you have something you can wear, wear it everywhere.  If you have something to say, say it everywhere.

A friend of mine once asked Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s at a Christmas cocktail party if all he ever thought about was hamburgers.  His answer, “Yes Ma’am.  Hamburgers are my life.”

I have a heath nuisance that might force me use a cane, and I don’t just want any old cane so I have been on the Internet.  I found the one I want for starters, but I don’t want to buy a personal thing like a cane online, so I finally decided to call the parent company out in Estes Park to see where I might find one of his Sumac Root Walking canes.  Well, it’s a small company, so George answered the phone.  He’s been in business for 25 years having sold his first company to AT&T.  He explained that he had about 2500 retailers across the country.

Georgia went through retailers in GA.  He knew exactly who had what, and finally gave me four numbers within three hours of my house that he knew for certain should have the exact cane I was looking for, the Atlanta Zoo, a hiking shop in Helen, Ga, another in Newnan, Ga, and one over in Rome, Georgia.

If I go to giant retailer, I can rarely find an employee who knows what they have, much less the specific name to ask for in the next aisle.

George, on the other hand told me about each of the four stores, something about the owners, their phone numbers, and what they ordered last time.  What an absolute pleasure.  Finally he offered to send me three or four canes, and let me send back the ones I did not want.  How nice it was to be treated like an adult.

I am of course speaking of Topsy Turvy, the new tomato plant that grows upside down out of the bottom of a hanging basket.  Everything about this product fits the principles of Killer Branding;  Focus, Alignment and Linkage. I know you must have seen it on TV.  And now I am getting emails about it to follow up the TV awareness.

The only thing that keeps me from buying this brand is the same thing that keeps me from having a vegetable garden in the first place.  I have very little sun, and frankly vegetable gardens are ugly and defeat the purpose of gardening to me, which is to envision, create and grow beauty.

Topsy Turvy is ugly also.  It did not have to be, but it is.   I cannot see one hanging on my patio.

This is a great example of focus.  The Montgomery Inn is a full-service full-menu restaurant.  Very upscale, in a very nice part of town.  But they know that one thing on their menu is special, the ribs, and that is all they ever advertise.  The Rib Place.

Focus on a compelling differentiation and deliver.  For longer than I can remember that is exactly what the Montgomery Inn has done.   I went there deliberately because when I think of that part of the country, I think of the Montgomery Inn.

In 1902, Nabisco created a special package of Barnum’s Animal Crackers, the circus wagon box as a one-time Christmas promotion.  The box had a string so that when empty it could be hung on a Christmas tree.

Up until then the crackers were sold only in bulk in barrels in store.  You bought them by weight.

The circus wagon package was so popular, and the string became popular because kids carried the box by the string, that over time Nabisco came to own this category with its Barnum Animal Crackers, which clearly are a KILLER BRAND.