Even after the hype of the World Cup 2010 is dying down, viewers still find themselves humming that catchy K’Naan song. Renown for its ever-innovative marketing campaigns, Coca-Cola has done it again by turning “Wavin’ Flag,” hitting the scene during the Vancouver Olympics, into a walking, singing Coca-Cola commercial during the World Cup by adjusting the melody ever so slightly.
Reaching #1 on the music charts in over 17 countries, Coke has essentially gotten their signature sonic logo stuck in the heads of millions of consumers worldwide, which will last long after the end of the World Cup. It is their largest ever integrated marketing campaign to date and considered much more effective than merely paying an artist to mention their brand in a song.
So if the K’Naan song happens to be playing while you’re eating meal, it is no coincidence that all you want is a Coke.
I am one of those people who really likes the idea of eating locally grown fruits and veggies. l seek out restaurants and markets that specialize in them. So, I was really excited to catch an article on a new expression of this, in, of all things, an airline magazine. (I know, if I care this much about transporting foods I really should confine my travel to mule or paddle boat or something, but I don’t.)
Farmers’ markets have long been frequented by chefs as a source for amazing local in-season produce. Now, there are restaurants popping up all over the US that actually encourage patrons to share the best of their own backyards. Foraging is not a new idea, my dogs do this all the time. They scour the back yard for the best sticks and bugs my neighborhood has to offer. But, now restaurants are creating their own foraging culture.
Localvore “Foraging” ranges from chef’s literally exploring the land near their restaurants for useful edible items to sending out harvest calls for crops from home gardens. The resulting daily specials with true “just picked” flavors sound positively delightful.
Eating local is a great idea however it comes to fruition, but I must admit the idea of bringing something from my garden to be transformed by a food virtuoso into something both imaginative and delectable sounds absolutely dreamy to me.
HQ recently had the opportunity to leverage our digital marketing and brand design strengths to pitch and ultimately win the agency of record assignment for the Cincinnati based, Buffalo Wings and Rings restaurant chain. What’s even better is the fact that we will continue to leverage our passion for all things food to help build this nation-wide, 54 restaurant business (and who doesn’t like wings?).
For 2010, our efforts will be focused on developing an integrated campaign utilizing social media, loyalty, customer advocacy as well as both traditional and non-traditional media launching later this summer. Our recent return from the Buffalo Wings & Rings annual franchisee meeting in New Orleans, LA gave us a great chance to hear directly from the dedicated front line teams of owners throughout the US.
“Buffalo Wings & Rings is a different kind of restaurant brand centered on catching up and connecting,” says Roger David, CEO of BWR. “Families and friends choose us because of the unique BWR experience. We want our marketing to reflect and build on that experience and sense of engagement. As a leader in experiential marketing, consumer connection and new media technologies, HyperQuake is well positioned to help us.”
Thanks Roger and the entire Buffalo Wings & Rings team. We look forward to helping build your business and our own knowledge of your 45 wing sauce/heat combos in the future.
Always a supporter of diy technology development, I thought it was interesting to see that someone decided eating cupcakes with one’s hands was obviously outdated.
Enter the ‘Cupcake Cannon’ created by the folks over at Kamp Grizzly in Portland.
Apparently they made this for the recent Johnny Cupcakes ‘Suitcase Tour’ stop that rolled through and according to the story on their site the cannon they developed was “a steam-punk style pneumatic cupcake cannon and set the stage for eating frosty delights at 120psi.” The video was captured in HD and is now making its way around the web.
Who know watching people get blasted with cupcakes, in slow motion, with good tunes playing in the background would be so much fun. Nice work guys!
So, apparently despite being an burger lover, I missed the news back in October that to mark the release of Windows 7 in Taiwan, Windows and Burger King were teaming up to help the Taiwanese answer the question “Where’s the beef?” They were doing this through selling 7 patty burgers, for 7 days only, to the first 30 people at Taiwan Burger King, during the release of Windows 7 of course.
Forget your sweet tooth, feed your meat tooth
Apparently, the answer to that question is that all the beef is in this mega burger that I shudder to even write this blog about. I know that the Cattleman’s Beef Board and National Cattleman’s Beef Association have helped remind us that beef is in many ways, “What’s for dinner”, but I think this story makes clear that in this case, beef is what’s for breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner and all your daily snacks…
Thanks to the fine crew @ahamburgertoday on Twitter, I stumbled upon this story last night and my mind still can’t recover.
I get the idea behind the marketing tag-team that Windows and BK came up with here, but I just can’t comprehend why anyone would want to let their body take on this challenge. Again, this coming from a hamburger fan. I am a little bummed though that they didn’t unleash this on the United States.
I think it would do well at those BK Whopper Bars that are coming to South Beach in Miami, that we wrote about a few months back. Don’t you?
I don’t eat Corn Flakes. That being said, I LOVE CORN FLAKES.
Package design circa whenever Huckleberry Hound was popular
The rooster, Cornelius, has been the Corn Flakes mascot since 1958, and C-Flakes have been fairly consistent in their depiction of old Corny throughout the redesigns, the obligatory (unnecessary?) kid-friendly drawings notwithstanding.
Current American Packaging
How lovely is that? How timeless and not-for-kids? I love it. I love always noticing it in the sea of graphic insanity that is the breakfast aisle. I love it all except for the beveling. Why always with the beveling?? You are soooo close, Kellogg’s! So close to meeting a designer’s cereal dreams. Just uncheck that layer effect! It takes like one second!
Then again, considering that this is the same company who is capable of sending this to the shelf, I should probably just shut up and enjoy it while it lasts.
Leave it to bacon and bacon fanatics worldwide to continue pushing the envelope on creating new culinary delights in the bacon food group.
Yes, there is a bacon food group. There is an ad campaign about it right now, helping to increase the knowledge of consumers so they meet their daily minimum, if you don’t believe me:
It's true!
Well, the kind folks at Uncrate.com recently helped inform the world that there is a new innovation in the bacon category: Bacon Moon Pie.
Sweet-Tooth meets Meat-Tooth
Do you like marshmallow, bourbon, maple syrup, dark chocolate and bacon, among other things? Well, this slice of heaven is for you.
We are a company comprised of many foodies (and one member of the United Embassy of Bacon), so it’s always great to see new food evolutions taking place. Connecting your “sweet-tooth’ with your ‘meat-tooth,” it only serves to make it that much better.
Oh, I don’t know, shoot free hot dogs out at the crowds that would inevitably gather, via a Hot Dog Cannon I guess. I’m pretty sure this unexpected delivery of deliciousness would put a smile on all the Oscar Mayer Wieners fans out there.
As far fetched as that might seem, believe it or not, it really isn’t. That even goes for the Hot Dog Cannon part!
Now the term ‘adventure’ is kinda subjective here. That’s my only gripe. I’m sure this Wienermobile isn’t the easiest thing to drive, but an adventure riding in the passenger seat, I don’t know. I think I’d get the hang of it pretty quick. I was really kinda let down when I found this out because I was fully expecting to get the chance to see just what kind of power this thing has in it. I was thinking maybe if I won we could get it set up with some turbos or a supercharger and shoot the prequel to the Fast and Furious movies. One of the guys in the office has a new Mustang so we could easy throw down for pink slips like Paul Walker and Vin Diesel did…
So if you like Hot Dogs, specifically Oscar Mayer Wieners, you should probably go check this out, because I forgot to mention, in addition to the ride in the car, you might win a years supply of hot dogs (26 packages). I’m going to have to check with our resident package meat expert Andy on this count though, I think it’s low based on the recommended daily meat requirements.
You know that feeling where you want some KFC so bad that you’ll do anything to get it? And if anything or anyone gets in your way, you’ll go crazy and start flipping tables/chairs or staging sit-ins right?
Well, imagine you want that KFC, you have a coupon you got off the internet and you go to get your chicken on and the staff at your local fried chicken establishment won’t take your coupon.
What else is there to do but cause a riot, right?
Hard to believe, but it happened in Japan last week. Next time someone has to be a bit more careful to ensure fraudulent digital coupons can’t be made. But hey, it shows digital couponing works if the offer is good enough!
