According to an article in Advertising Age, KFC is planning to try such a tactic:

“Earlier this year, The Company Formerly Known As Kentucky Fried Chicken — which, incidentally, is the world’s most popular chicken-wing marketer — launched a public/private partnership with several cash-strapped U.S. cities that would emblazon the KFC logo and that of its “Fiery Grilled Wings” across fire hydrants and fire extinguishers all over the city, to be used only in case of emergency or for dinner inspiration.” – Advertising Age

There has been some push back from the city of Buffalo, both for it being a potentially “tacky” idea, and also for the confusion that might be caused by plastering a logo on an otherwise off-limits device.

But Buffalo is considering a compromise in which KFC would provide the city with a $2,500 grant to purchase 100 fire extinguishers (newly emblazoned with the spicy promotional decal), that the city would then donate to local businesses and homeowners. Who would receive them remains to be seen, but reports suggest the extinguishers would have to be displayed in commercial settings for at least 30 days, in conjunction with Buffalo’s Fire Prevention Month.

Rick Maynard, spokesperson for KFC, is quoted in the article as saying just getting people talking about fire hydrants is a good thing. He said the company has received a lot of positive feedback about the idea from various cities and citizens.

Maynard said KFC has no immediate plans to unleash any other tongue-in-cheek marketing plans upon the public, but that they’re always looking for new ways to toe the public/private line.

“It has to be the right fit; it has to make sense for the brand,” he said in the article.

We think finding creative ways such as this to market your brand is a great strategy, if it works for your brand. What do you think of KFC’s marketing attempt?

Within the next year and a half, Walkers, the largest potato chip manufacturer in the UK, has plans to unveil packaging created with recycled potato peelings. According to UK publication, the Romsey Advertiser, the company is looking at a number of ways of making more environmentally friendly packaging. The latest – potato peels:

The development of crisp bags made out of cellulose from wood pulp had created “crackly” bags that would potentially put off consumers but the company is looking at using old peelings for packaging.

Mr Evans told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “More interestingly, imagine making it (a crisp packet) out of potato peelings.

“In reality, if you think about starch – and you know how sticky starch is – if you could mass it together you could create a layer of starch and stabilise that.

“We could use the peelings we have, that today go to animal feed and other recycling uses, to be turned into a crisp packets.” – Romsey Advertiser

This idea comes on the heels of an attempt by potato chip manufacturer Frito Lay to offer 100% compostable bags for its SunChips brand. The new packaging was scrapped after complaints from customers about the loud, crackly bags. Frito Lay continues to use the eco-friendly packaging on SunChips Original, but went back to its quieter, traditional—and non-compostable–chip bag for the rest of its flavors while they go back to the drawing board.

Kudos to Walkers for their fresh (and recycled) idea. They plan to roll out the new packaging on some of their smaller brands within the next 18 months. It will be interesting to see if any U.S.-based companies follow their lead—and if eco-friendly packaging makes a difference to the buying public.

One recent trend is bacon, which took off in 2008. Since then, bacon has moved beyond breakfast and into every part of the menu, even drinks and dessert.

But according to the Wall Street Journal, the bacon backlash has begun:

Chef John Currence, owner of four restaurants in Oxford, Miss., adores bacon and proudly wears a pig tattoo on his arm. But even he says that the bacon craze has gone a bit far. Strike that: The man recently received a gift of bacon-flavored lip balm. It’s gone way too far.

“It’s like cussing,” Mr. Currence says of today’s over-use of bacon in restaurants. “It’s easy, it’s effective, it always gets a cocked eyebrow, but it just doesn’t belong in church.” Bacon is a staple of the Southern cuisine he specializes in, but it shouldn’t become a crutch—it’s facile and everything ends up tasting the same, Mr. Currence says – The Wall Street Journal

Food trends can be a food marketing boon, a way to promote new products or gain attention. Just be prepared that if you jump on a particular bandwagon, your audience might get much smaller once the trendinistas move to a new song. It doesn’t mean a core audience won’t still be there—check out this list of 40 years of food trends from the New York Times. After all, people still eat goat cheese, cilantro and kiwi fruit and drink California wines.

To keep going with our musical analogy, it’s like a popular song on the radio. When it’s played too much, people tire of hearing it. But come out with another song (or product) and you can build a loyal audience for your brand, not just a product. And people will eventually remember why they loved the original song in the first place—even if they don’t want to hear it all the time.

Personally, while I might not need a bacon-salt rimmed Bloody Mary, I’m sure going to keep bacon in my repertoire of foods I love.

According to an article on Mashable, brands and marketers are expanding their use of Foursquare for creative location-based campaigns, by employing objects and pop culture products in lieu of real people to facilitate check-ins and challenges.

“Coke Australia is the latest to put their brand name product to work on Foursquare’s mobile gaming platform. The company has manufactured The Coke Machine Fairy to flit and fly around Sydney, leaving behind one winning Coke bottle in a Coke vending machine each day.” – Mashable

The article states that Coke Australia’s decision to use Foursquare for this campaign demonstrates the startup’s ability to continue to attract big brand attention and provide more than just check-ins.

The Coke Fairy will be dropping hints and clues about its whereabouts on Foursquare and Twitter. According to the article, should you follow the clues, check in at the right venue and find the fairy’s Coke droppings, you can shout out on Foursquare about your big score and The Coke Machine Fairy will appear with gifts in tow. Winners will receive prizes ranging in value from flight vouchers to cooking classes.

Are you or your business on Foursquare? Have you successfully launched a campaign or promotion on Foursquare? We’d love to hear about it.

Recent trends in magazine spreads, advertising and recipe listings give food a handmade look that is a far cry from the perfectly manicured images of the past.

“Right now, people like messy,” says Alison Attenborough, a New York-based food stylist who specializes in editorial work for clients, including Food & Wine magazine, New York magazine and cookbook publisher Clarkson Potter. “People are interested in small butchers, artisan producers, farmer’s markets—a more handmade look.” – Wall Street Journal

At S&B, we’ve noticed this trend growing in popularity over the past few years and have incorporated it into our work. The two photos below were from a June Dairy Month brochure we produced for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board several years ago. Notice the heavy use of props, and how the food looks manicured and very stylized.

The photo below was taken for this year’s June Dairy Month brochure. It is much brighter and very minimal in terms of props. We even left crumbs in the shot to give it that “just out of the oven” appeal.

Have you seen a change in the way your food is styled in marketing photography? Do you like this trend, or think it doesn’t show off the food to its best advantage?

“It’s virtually impossible to live anywhere in America without having a fast food chain outlet in the neighborhood. We know that these chains play an important role in feeding our population. That’s the reason why we undertook this survey and why we believe the results are so important,” said Tim Zagat, CEO of Zagat Survey.

The survey dissected the fast-food chains into three categories: large (up to 5,000 U.S. outlets), mega (more than 5,000) and quick-refreshment (focusing on beverages, ice cream, etc.).  The following restaurants took top honors in their categories:

Most popular quick-refreshment chains
1.    Starbucks Coffee
2.    Dunkin’ Donuts
3.    Culver’s
4.    Ben & Jerry’s
5.    Dairy Queen

To view the full results, visit zagat.com/fastfood.

Seeing the “Zagat Rated” stickers and signs in restaurants throughout the country has always served as a verification that I was about to spend my money on a quality dining experience. Including the fast-food category switches things up a bit. Will every McDonald’s in the country now feature a Zagat Rated sticker?

Do you think including fast-food in the Zagat survey decreases the credibility of the survey or does it just make sense considering so much of what we consume comes from a fast-food chain?

The recent recall of more than 550 million eggs linked to salmonella outbreaks has large manufacturers and grocery store chains digging for answers. However, the small egg farmers that cater to localvores are reaping the benefits.

“Sales of eggs at farmers markets, co-operatives and roadside stands reportedly spiked over the weekend as news of the outbreak linked to at least 1,300 illnesses reached shoppers.” – MSNBC

While the percentage of eggs being recalled pales in comparison to the number produced each year in the US (less than one percent), consumers are quick to change their shopping behaviors when their food safety is threatened.

“Anytime something like this happens, people think a lot more about where their food comes from,” said Jackie Dearing of Bloomington, Ill., whose family runs Dearing Country Farms, a small-scale meat and poultry business. 

This situation presents two marketing dilemmas:

• How should the large farms whose eggs are not being recalled react to this situation to reassure consumers that it’s safe to purchase their eggs at the grocery store? Are their marketing efforts strong enough to weather the storm?
• Are small-scale farmers being used as a safe stand-in only when there’s a food crisis at hand? How could they better market themselves to the consumers who only seem to come around when their normal shopping routine is disrupted?

Applications and social games that allow users to spend real-world money to enhance their online experience are the top earners in the virtual numbers game.

“Last year, social games, one of the most popular forms of social application, generated over $500 million in revenue — the majority of which came from social games on Facebook.” – Mashable

This growing trend of virtual shopping presents a huge opportunity for premium food marketers to repurpose their real-world product in an online world.

UK newspaper, The Guardian recently reported that Small Planet Foods, a subsidiary of General Foods, had introduced a new brand of organic blueberries that only exists in the virtual world where it is traded although the money needed to purchase them is quite real. The blueberries represent a “brand extension” of a real-world product which General Foods plans to use to establish a presence in FarmVille.

As consumers continue to spend more time engaging with social gaming tools, how can you integrate your food product into this virtual world? Is there an application or game that currently exists, such as Second Life or FarmVille, where you would like to create a presence? Or, would you create your own virtual world or game to engage customers? 

When Condé Nast shut the pages of Gourmet, some thought the food magazine industry was finished. Almost one year later, the future looks brighter.

According to our PR account supervisor, Megan Bykowski (mbykowski@stephanbrady.com), food magazines are far from endangered. They’re simply reinventing themselves by finding their own niche.

That niche seems to focus more and more on Middle America. “DIY,” “easy,” “quick,” “simple,” and “fast” speak to the new group of food enthusiasts – foodies, moms, working women, stay-at-home dads and the middle class.

“In choosing Bon Appétit over Gourmet, Condé Nast reflected a bigger shift both inside and outside the company: influence, and spending power, now lies with the middle class.” – New York Times, October 5, 2009

Following this trend, some of the new titles that have popped up (or are about to) on magazine stands include:

Ready Made – Focusing primarily on the DIY movement, this pub contains information on every type of home project imaginable, including kitchen projects such as canning, recipes, home grown veggies and more.  

Yum! Food & Fun Magazine – Designed for kids who love to cook and the parents who cook for them. It includes recipes for busy moms who want to feed their kids delicious, healthy, fun food.

Dash – This magazine offers a fun mix of fast and easy recipes blended with some inspiration from best-loved food brands Bon Appétit, Epicurious, Gourmet and PARADE. 

These new publications present advertising opportunities for food marketers who focus their messaging on appealing to Middle America. How can your product fit into the “easy” and “quick” mold?

For those of you still pining for Gourmet, you can visit them online at gourmet.com.

For a mere $4, diners can enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with fried mozzarella sticks complete with a side of French fries and marinara sauce, of course.

I’m all for taking the occasional comfort in food reminiscent of cozy childhood memories, but are we going too far?

It almost seems as if there’s some sort of contest to take comfort food to new heights (or lows) – Krispy Kreme hamburger, anyone? We can thank Paula Deen for that one.

Are we in so much need of comfort that plain ole’ comfort food just doesn’t cut it anymore?