It has been an interesting couple of weeks where some well-known brands went into a sort of reimagining cycle.
: to imagine again or anew; especially : to form a new conception of : re-create
Hershey does Jerky
The largest chocolate manufacturer in North America, 122-year-old Hershey, has bought Sonoma, CA-basedKrave Jerky, the maker of gourmet meat-based protein bars (USA Today calls the “it” snack for those following the paleo diet which tries to emulate the eating patterns of our caveman ancestors). Betting that dried meat bars are the new chocolate bars, Hershey will start selling Krave protein bars in August, made from dried meats and a combination of other ingredients such as mangos, cranberries and quinoa.
The move makes sense. Per the Wall Street Journal article which got our attention, U.S. chocolate sales growth has slowed each year since 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 4.2% through 2015, according to market-research firm IRI. Plus U.S. sales of meat snacks rose an average of 10.4% annually during the same period, IRI data show.
Since Hershey is “kraving” more shelf space, and this move just might do the trick.
Krave’s general manager, Shane Chambers, said meat snacks hit the top food trends—portability, high protein and low sugar—and they can be made with ingredients people know and understand. The trick, he added, is making them taste good.
Budweiser’s New Ameri-Can
Anheuser-Busch announced that the company is replacing the Budweiser logo with “America” on its 12-oz. cans and bottles this summer.
It was reported the cans of “patriotic nectar” will be available May 23 through the November election and aim “to inspire drinkers to celebrate America and Budweiser’s shared values of freedom and authenticity.” (Source: USA Today).
This story was trending big time. We found this comment from The Atlantic amusing:
The “King of Beers” slogan has been swapped out for “E Pluribus Unum,” or “Out of Many, One,” which is a fitting slogan for the brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, a multinational corporation headquartered in Belgium and named after an American and Brazilian beer company. “We thought nothing was more iconic than Budweiser and nothing was more iconic than America,” said Tosh Hall, creative director at the beer can’s branding firm JKR, eliding the beer’s more cosmopolitan roots.
You can read more reaction here.
AWSI, nothing says “American” to us like good local craft brew. Just saying…
Nintendo of America to sell stake in Seattle Mariners
Okay, this story is from last month, but we couldn’t resist since Nintendo, the parents of Super Mario have been an majority owner of Major League Baseball’s M’s for 24 years. The deal values the club and its stake in a regional sports network at $1.4 billion. Matthew Futterman’s piece in the Wall Street Journal noted M’s Chief Executive Howard Lincoln will retire from day-to-day operations. John Stanton will replace Lincoln as chairman and CEO and serve as the lead owner. Nintendo will retain a 10% stake in the club.
From some Googling around (#SCMF), we found out that Mr. Lincoln apparently “made his name” defending Donkey Kong (DK) . In 1981 he represented Nintendo in a case between the video game giant and Universal Studios, who claimed that DK infringed on Universal’s copyrighted “King Kong” likeness. Nintendo won that case, and Lincoln was hired as Nintendo’s chief counsel, and later became its chairman.
You can read the press announcement here.
Meet You at the Grove — Apple’s Genius Grove…
On May 19, Apple hosted a press preview of their new flagship Apple Store opening in San Francisco’s Union Square on Saturday May 21. The new store features new design elements as well as community programs including the “genius grove” where where customers can get support under a canopy of local trees and “the plaza” a public space that will be open 24 hour a day. Visitors will enter the store through 42-foot tall sliding glass doors.
Per Angela Ahrendts, the former Burberry fashion house CEO lured to Apple in 2014 to oversee its retail and online stores:
We have reimagined what the future of Apple retail will be. This is not just a store. We want people to say, ‘Meet me at Apple.’
So it’ll be a great, good, third place?
We’re guessing not as you most likely won’t be allowed to drink coffee anywhere near all those expensive phones, watches, iPads and Macs.
To learn more, check out this piece from The Verge which has lots of photos.
Starbucks Adapts with Fewer Barista Misspellings
Now to segue to a well-known “third place,” Starbucks. They got “A-Hed” treatment in the Wall Street Journal because they are no longer misspelling names on coffee cups thanks to their mobile app designed to automatically and correctly print out customers’ names, as well as their orders.
Fun read. Tough problem to have, right?
So that’s a wrap for this edition of NVC. Thanks for reading!
We are leaving you with a reimagined song from a film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann.
Enjoy and as always, #SCMF!
—The Gang
Music video by DeBarge performing Rhythm Of The Night. (C) 1985 Motown Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc
Bonus Content:
Super Mario on Ice
This is pretty cool. Gamespot reported
The worlds of sports and video games collided as the Tampa Bay Lightning projected Mario Kart onto the ice during a Game 3 intermission in their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It doesn’t look like any old version of the Nintendo racing game, however, as the one you see below features Lightning mascot ThunderBug and… some purple thing.
And coming full circle, is this piece on Super Mario…
Mario heads to the Cinema
We read that Mario may be heading to the movies as Japanese games maker Nintendo is in talks with film studios about helping it take its characters to the silver screen. Nintendo has in the past licensed its gaming IP for films – think Bob Hoskins as Mario – but now it wants to get its hands dirty and contribute to the filmmaking biz itself. The idea is to release the first title in around two years’ time.
Note: The finance for the movie will come from Nintendo’s planned sale of its majority stake in the Major League Baseball Seattle Mariners team, which the company has held since 1992. The deal is valued at $1.4 billion and Nintendo will have a 10% holding once the transaction has been completed later this year.
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