Marketing for the 21 st Century:
Brand Name Crossovers
(a quaint 1995 rant on the then relatively new phenomenon of cobranding)


     Pepsico is defining aesthetics way too much in the 90's. A few months after I saw the trailer truck in the above sketch, I was leafing through the Sunday newspapers supermarket circulars (the source for whacked out ad copy). Having clipped out a few interesting tidbits, I came upon the You'd Be Crazy To Cook Meal promotion for KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken is owned by Pepsico) [Update 2005: Pepsico spun off KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut years ago as Tricon Global Restaurants, now known as Yum Brands]. In it there is a photo of the "KFC Oreo Brownie": a big 'family size' brownie in a package which bears the logos of Nabisco, KFC, and "The Colonel" himself. Now, exactly what a big brownie has to do with Oreos or Kentucky Fried Chicken I can't really imagine. I suppose it's just another example of major corporations choosing (almost randomly) a well known icon, to which they might attach some shit in the hopes of selling that shit. [I would have included a photo, only it doesn't wanna xerox well.

     Perhaps even a bit more over the bounds of sanity however, is something I saw along route 414 in the Finger Lakes region of western New York. The area was, until recently, one of those rare American sectors untainted by media culture. That is, you could once drive for miles and see nothing but farms and fields--no Burger Kings or even billboards for Burger King, no malls or psycho-plastic crap--just trees, livestock, tractors, and good of fashioned industrial age structures. Much of the area between Rochester and Ithaca is still as serene and unplasticized as it was 100 years ago. That is, until you get to Seneca Falls.

     When we drove through, corporate America was in the midst of building a zone (as in "suburban hell zone"). Where there had once been a farm there was now a Walmart. Brand new strip malls were everywhere and more were under construction. And of course, the company that welcomed us to this newly defined area was Pepsico. The first business we came across in the Zone was a. "Taco Bell-KFC". The building itself was of neutral design--it looked neither like a Taco Bell nor a KFC, but was simply a white "throw-up" building. The sign consisted merely of the KFC logo atop that of Taco Bell. Later, when we arrived at Ithaca we spied a "Pizza Hut-Taco Bell Express!"

     I noted the date (September 19, 1995) because it was on this great day that my prediction had been realized. I theorized about a year ago that we would soon see such abominations. The truck sighting this past summer indicated that the day would soon come when I would actually see it.

     Now of course, there has existed similar entities for about five years or so: Midtown Manhattan is replete with little pods that house mini Pizza Huts and Roy Rogers and Dunkin Donuts. But it isn't quite the same somehow. First, it seems perfectly logical that the price of retail space in Manhattan would result in rental locations with multiple fast food restaurants. Second, within these pods, the various chains maintain their identity both spatially and aesthetically--once you walk into the building you are confronted with three different counters, behind which will be shitworkers wearing their uniforms. It's understood that it's three restaurants sharing one location. The Taco BellKFC on the other hand is a single entity unto itself--it's a new generation of fast food. I only wish I'd gone in to see what their uniforms look like.

But Wait There's More!

     Yesterday I applied for a job and then went to the library to read advertising and marketing journals. I haven't really anything better to do these days. In Sales and Marketing Management magazine I found a few interesting tidbits:

     First, it appears that much of this "brand name crossover" shit, known to the industry and to me from now on as "Co-branding", is the result of major conglomerates merging the sales forces of their respective divisions: For example, Kraft USA Inc. has already consolidated the marketing staffs of Kraft Foods and Oscar Mayer and plans soon to incorporate General Foods--which I guess they own. Now, of course, Kraft Foods is a subsidiary of Phillip Morris, though I think it's unlikely we'll see Marlboros co-branded with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

     Now this news pretty much solidified my suspicions but I still wanted to know if companies that formally have nothing to do with each other are coming together in the form of product affiliation ad campaigns. Well, a week later while reading Advertising Age, I learned the following: Hershey Foods (the nation's #1 candy marketer) is joining Pepsi and (Pepsico subsidiary) Frito-Lay's Doritos for a fifth year of supermarket and convenient store Halloween promo's. Meanwhile, Starbucks Coffee has developed a "carbonated coffee beverage" for Pepsi, and has joined with the Redhook Ale Brewing Company to produce Double Black Stout, a coffee/beer combination. So there you have it. God; I can't help but wonder if any of my readers care about this at all or if I'm just obsessed.

     Anyway, some big companies are steadfastly maintaining the identities of their individual `offspring.' For example, Quaker Oats merged Snapple with Gatorade to create the Quaker Oats Beverage Division but plan to keep the respective marketing agencies separate (a wise move if you ask me--do not these three companies spark completely different images in your mind?).

     When I hit the "Travel and Entertainment" section of Sales and Marketing Management I was completely blown away to see a writeup of Brooklyn's own Montero Bar & Grill at 73 Atlantic Avenue. One minute I'm reading about Nielsen ratings and the next about the dive bar in my old neighborhood, where I've spent many a time gettin' soused.

     The review said it had "the look and feel of a 40's post war watering hole," and that one can just imagine sailors rushing in from nearby Pier 7 for a drink. Okay, this is tine to a degree. The Montero is a small pub with a clientele, predominantly made up of older Puerto Rican men and women--however your likely to see almost anyone there. There's a big maritime theme, ships and anchors and photos all over the place. Shelves filled with old books that no one seems to read lie on either side of the doorway to the small pool room in back.

     If the bar were seen by itself-devoid of patrons--one could imagine sailors piling in for their ale. But the people themselves seem to have nothing in common with the sea--yet the whole scene works beautifully. It's hard to explain. Below is a sketch Jeff drew of a sign which is mounted on the men's room door: