Thursday, August 12, 2010
The 2010 Wisconsin State Fair kicked off last week in Milwaukee and with it came a food extravaganza – funnel cakes, corn dogs and cotton candy, oh my!
From drive-thru cream puff stations to Crazy Grazin’ Day, the Wisconsin State Fair loves to celebrate food. However, fair food just isn’t fair food unless it’s being served on a stick. This year, the State Fair is offering 65 (!) food items on a stick – 21 of them new from last year.
Some of the more common items include caramel apples, corn dogs, cotton candy and shish-kabobs. But, with 65 options, there are bound to be a few that make you scratch your head in wonder: spaghetti & meatballs, chocolate-covered bacon, deep-fried apple pie and more!
For a complete listing of food-on-a-stick items, visit the Wisconsin State Fair website.
Last year, the Taste of Home blog , powered by Yahoo!, provided readers with a breakdown of the best state fair food items on a stick:
- Best Food-On-A-Stick: Cookie Dough
- Messiest Food-On-A-Stick: Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly
- Better than Ice Cream: Chocolate Covered Banana
- Most Overrated Food-On-A-Stick: Cherry Pie and Chocolate Covered Bacon
- Classic Food-On-A-Stick: Corn Dog
What’s the most outrageous food-on-a-stick that you’ve tried? Could any of your food products be served on a stick?
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Labels: Escape to Wisconsin, food trends, food-on-a-stick, marketing premium food, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Wisconsin State Fair
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
There’s a lot of hubbub about Wisconsin Tourism’s new logo and tagline, “Live Like You Mean It.” Usually marketers love to hear people talking about their work – but not when the talk is negative. When it comes to criticism, Ad/PR agency staffers eventually develop thick skin, typically to deal with negative client reactions. Even when solid consumer research and focus groups back up the creative work, there will always be dissenting opinions.
As we watch and listen to this story unfold, we happily note that many Wisconsinites and radio personalities fondly remember the slogan our agency created nearly 30 years ago – Escape To Wisconsin.
For its time (1980-1985), Escape To Wisconsin was a powerful message that was promoted within Wisconsin and to our bordering states; reminding Illinoisans, Michiganders and Minnesotans to visit all of the great destinations Wisconsin offers. (Note: The Tourism Department continued to use the slogan beyond S&B’s involvement.)
To be fair, Escape To Wisconsin received its share of jabs and giggles such as the modified bumper stickers “Escape Wisconsin” or “Escape to SIN.” But the bumper stickers were popular, and there was a lot of talk value for the phrase.
Our version of the Escape to Wisconsin bumper sticker.
We opened the Stephan & Brady archives and found a few historical tourism gems. Agency vet George Whitely remembers creating a TV spot featuring a cow wearing pink sunglasses on a pier with the Wisconsin Travel Guide around its neck.
Looking back, it’s interesting to see how far we’ve come with the advertising medium – just imagine what we could have achieved with Twitter and Social Media at our disposal!
Even though Escape To Wisconsin clearly has “staying power,” we’ll take the current tagline to heart and Live Like We Mean It as tourists in our own state.
Click here to read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s reporting on the new slogan (and see the numerous reader suggestions). If you’re interested in checking out other state slogans, visit the Wikipedia entry here.
- Kristina
Posted by Stephan & Brady 1 Comment
Labels: Advertising Agency, Escape to Wisconsin, Live Like You Mean It, state slogan, tourism, Wisconsin
