Found this amazing antique liquor bottle from prohibition. Sold as medicine!

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This isn’t so much about branding of restaurants as it is looking into the future of the food service industry as seen through the Dekalb Market in Brooklyn, NY. I had the pleasure of experiencing the market this past weekend with my buddy & client, Jason Sinclair of Merrimack & Monitor.

The Dekalb Market is a 3 acre plot of urban parking lot that’s been overrun with shipping containers turned storefronts in an excellent display of the green movement’s vision turned reality.

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It’s not about simply facilitating utility. It’s about taking advantage of opportunities. Figo could’ve had a walking advertisement with an endorsement on both my bag and cup. Instead I walked around with ambiguity.

This is an amazing way to interact with customers and a phenomenal example of the convergence of traditional and new medias. The cup in conjunction with the Starbucks App, launches an augmented reality piece that you can share and send to your friends, family and others. Just a little something extra that goes a long way. VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP! Found on the DieLine.

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This. Is. Awesome. Talk about doing something new. This ad uses the extreme fandom of hockey to promote the product. But the key here is, it was never about Budweiser. It was about love. The love of the sport. Love so deep that people play … just to play. So, Budweiser surprises the rec hockey team with something more than a little documentary.

What I love about this is that it’s completely focused on the people and not the brand. In that gesture, they build loyalists. They create fans of Budweiser and position Budweiser as a brand that cares about more than putting their name in front of potential drinkers. The position themselves as a brand that ALSO LOVES THE SPORT and shows that they “get it.”

Very big “well done.”

PS. I freakin’ LOVE hockey: GO DEVS!!

This is an awesome way of driving home a point of differentiation. Moe’s doesn’t use microwaves because microwaves ruin everything. They figured they’d just show it instead of say it. This is a great way for a restaurant to send home a marketing angle.

Thanks to @ZacCoffman for the tip.

This could have gone so much farther, but it’s still pretty funny and a welcomed break from the restaurant branding reviews. Bon Appetit or something to that effect.

This is just phenomenal. Even though it’s decades ago, the arguments for a new, strong brand identity and image remain the same. Saul Bass makes it impossible to say no to a change in logo for a company who feels they have too much equity to change. It’s a bit long, but super interesting. Thanks to Brand New for the tip.

How to you let people with handicaps know you’ve thought of them and have made it easy to serve them? Why not market your food with Braille for the blind?

Who doesn’t love a great TV spot for your favorite restaurant? Remember the ones from “back in the day?” What about restaurant ads from other countries. Well, i found a few lovely advertisements that’ll make ya laugh and some that will send waves of nostalgia over you. None of them will make you hungry, but one may make you dance. Enjoy.

Be like a snake?

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