Rally's's incredible human truth

I'm not sure if Rally's was ever in the southern states, but I remember it being a fairly strong fast food contender in Kentucky.
Gotta Eat! was their tagline.  What else needs to be said?  It's fast food.  It's not a reward for good behavior.  It's a quick relief of hunger and childhood junk food addiction.  You have to get the grease into your system to get it out of your system (does that make any sense?).  But the point is, they owned that phrase.  They bombarded every tv channel with very quick spots showing people stuff their faces in the spicy chicken sandwich and concluded with the announcer reminding us, "Gotta eat!"

It was only 99¢ too.  I miss that place.

skittles riddles

Problem statement: too many factory defects.  Flavors with the wrong color shell.
Solution: mystery flavors!!

It hadn't struck me until recently why they do this in the candy industry.  It's a pretty brilliant solution to the problem of wasting defects.

The only problem is people like me who absolutely hate certain flavors.  Color means everything to me.  In Jolly Ranchers, pink and green are "overheated blender" and "copper", respectively.  Red and blue are
"roll that shit around the inside of my cheeks so that the juices ooze at a more savory rate".  And purple is just purple.  The colors mean everything.  If some fuck were to hand me a blue that tasted like pink, I would lick it into a shank and stab said fuck.

Brand Personality

Maria's guest lecture was very informative.  It was cold, refreshing splash of advertising theory that has laid dormant in my head for 2 semesters.  One of the things she told us, "develop a brand personality."  It should be distinct and recognizable from across the room.

It struck me that my Arby's campaign has ZERO brand personality.  Was Arby's really to be the spokesperson for the imaginary plight of "first world hunger" when they currently partner with an organization called "No Kid Hungry"?  I spent the whole time crafting punchlines that poked fun at our overpriveleged stomachs when all that does in the end is advertise for the category leader, McDonalds. 

When it comes down to it, Arby's is below the threshold of awareness because they've always lacked personality.  I've got 3 weeks left and am just now understanding such a critical factor.  It's back to the Creative Brief, the adjectives, brainstorming mode...

In the meanwhile, I've always admired Blue Bell's off-beat personality for their boxed ice cream: slightly creepy, yet nostalgic target consumer-y faces
You never miss them in the ice cream aisle.

:D

Wii would like to play (-_-) (-_-)

With the upcoming launch of Wii U, I was reminded of the original Wii launch campaign.  It was such a simple idea, associating "we" with "wii".  But it captured the Nintendo playful brand personality, and more importantly it communicated the Wii's universal appeal.  If what appeared to be the Japanese Nintendo execs want to come to YOUR house to play their system, it's gotta be fun right?

Huh, whaddiya know?  It was an 'Effie Award' winner made by the Leo Burnett agency: http://wii.ign.com/articles/879/879595p1.html