The situation of a wife catching a husband on line with his insurance agent and thinking he is talking with a woman leads one’s mind so far away from any kind of Expectation related to insurance, that the commercial never resolves itself into a real message.   The slogan of “Get to a better state,” is a nice try for Linkage to State Farm, but nothing in this spot leads me to even consider switching insurance.   In fact, the spot leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth for the Brand.

He is a State Farm agent and I have had one or more cars insured with him steadily since 1985 (26 years).   When I called them, I found that State Farm had canceled my auto insurance on August 10, 2010, over nine months ago.   That would explain no bills.  I do not recall ever having received a notice or anything.  I have registered my car since then and lack of insurance didn’t come up on the computer.

IMPORTANTLY, my agent of 26 years did not call me.    WORSE, the person at this office that I did talk to informed me that State Farm could not begin the coverage again because they did not take new customers who had been uninsured for over three months, that I could apply with Progressive for six months, then come back to State Farm if I wanted.  This is despite the fact that I had spent over $70,000 in car insurance with State Farm over the 26 years just through this agent.   FAT CHANCE.

I went on line with GEICO.  Not only did they know what my existing car was automatically, they even had a car listed with me that was acquired by my ex-wife since our divorce.   I applied for insurance with GEICO, paid on line, got a certificate of insurance on line, and did it all in about 10 minutes.   I did have to wait until midnight of the day I applied (yesterday) to have the insurance in effect, but what a different experience.

“Who has time to slim slowly?”  Slimfast.  WOW!

Perhaps all ideas already exist, and we merely need to discover them?

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.

Since when did “tricking”  the prospect become a valid technique for advertising?

The same principle can be found violated in revolving banners and headlines on Internet sites.   Far too many of them change too quickly to be read, at least by me.  What is going on?

Margot first made waves back in the late 60′s inventing Warm Fuzzies, the very first sheepskin bedroom slipper with the wool inside.  Yes, all the fuzzy  footwear since then, including fuzzy versions of Crocs, owe their heritage to Margot’s original idea.

She and her sister Leslie then opened the Chapman Sisters Calorie Counter on Michigan avenue in the Wrigley building, the first restaurant to ever price their food by calorie and let you know what you were really eating.  It was 1977.  It was a Monday-Friday lunch-only concept that did over $1 million a year in revenue.  Today, restaurants like Seasons owe their heritage to Margot.

In between Margot helped hundreds of CPG companies come up with innovative new products.

Most recently, Margot and her partner Pam Rose created Swirls near the zoo in Chicago, and literally started the trend toward cup-cake bakeries.

Goodbye Margot.  No matter how desperate things must have seemed to you, the business will remember you through your many innovations.

I personally think that Waffle House is best on service.  I can never remember a bad Waffle House waitress although I once had a bad waiter at a Waffle House in Springfield, Missouri.  But never a bad Waffle House waitress.

I have had good Huddle House waitresses, but the staff is not predictably good. And some locations can be woeful.

As for food, Huddle House is much better in my opinion with the exception of the cheese scrambled eggs at Waffle House which as as good as scrambled eggs can get.

Waffle House has many more and better locations.  Which is your favorite?   What is most important to you?  Food, service or location?

For me, it’s Waffle House for breakfast and Huddle House for any other meal.  But that’s just me.

First of all, this is the most functional dust pan I have ever used, and nothing else is close.  You set it on the floor and sweep into it.  You do not have to bend over.  It grips the floor.

Secondly, the industrial design is so differentiating and sleek that it could be award winning architecture were it a monument.  It stands up for storage and to make it easy to use as a waste pan.  It definitely should make the MOMA.   Today after the photos, I am just leaving it out because I enjoy looking at it.  Similar to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, it is pleasing from every angle and perspective.

Where did they miss out?  Well, if it has a name, I cannot find it.  I think it may have been part of the Oxo line which has many great industrial designs, but nothing is stamped into the plastic so I cannot tell you.  No name, no patent filing number.  Easy enough to have molded in, but nothing.  What a wasted opportunity.

And wow, would this respond to advertising.  I think that every home in America should have this dust pan.  It is awesome in every way.  I may try using it as a piece of functional sculpture.

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.