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Brand Building and Communications, Marketing and Sales

Booze Cupcakes – Yummy!

September 9, 2012 No Comments

Prohibition Bakery on the lower eastside of New York City (9 Clinton St) just opened a few weeks ago and is my kind of bakery. They are, according to their website, NYC’s original alcohol cupcake company.

They have a variety of mini cupcakes made with liquor, beer or wine that are just delicious. You taste the alcohol but it is balanced with the rest of the ingredients. Eat enough and you can expect to get a buzz. You may have to show proof of legal drinking age. (For some reason they didn’t ask for mine.)

The store is an entrepreneurial effort by two very smart women, Leslie Feinberg and Brook Siem, with baking, culinary, bartending experience, and with an instinctive understanding of branding and marketing.

Are you ready?

Budweiser vs. Murphy’s – The Irish Beer Ad Battle

August 31, 2012 1 Comment

Ad Age magazine gave the “creativity pick of the day” award (Aug. 30) to Murphy’s Beer for an ad that goes one up on Budweiser.
It seems that Bud released a summer app that lowers the price of beer, as the weather gets hotter. Huh? Obviously Budweiser doesn’t know very much about Irish weather. On our trip there in July, it was cool and raining most of the time. For me at least, that was a wonderful part of being in Ireland.
Murphy’s, on the other hand, knows that summer means lots of rain and, since they are Irish, came up with their own weather-related app. They give you a free pint of stout when it rains.

Southern Comfort Ad – What do you think?

August 4, 2012 48 Comments

The ad below was just released by Brown Forman’s Southern Comfort brand. It’s the first effort by Wieden + Kennedy in New York. The campaign is called “Whatever’s Comfortable” and runs on YouTube and the brand’s Facebook page. It will also run on national TV.
I’ll give you my take on it but first, have a look.

My informal and very unscientific survey revealed a mixed reaction. “I don’t get it,” said one of my participants, “What’s the message… where’s the brand sell?”
On the other hand, there were those who – like myself – thought that it’s excellent on a number of levels. He has an “everyday/everyman look” and the message of whatever is comfortable comes through loud and clear. Whether you like it or not, you have to give it an A+ on the production values – the glasses and shoes he is wearing, the dog, the other people and, above all, the music is well chose.
Oh, and about the brand sell in the ad coming at the very end, all I can say is if you’re watching this on social media, you know the brand because you clicked on it.