ST. LOUIS – Introduced in 1898, Grape-Nuts was the nation’s first cold cereal, though you can also eat it hot. It’s not grape, nor is it nuts, but instead it is whole wheat, flour, salt and yeast. It is baked, and then ground up and baked again. A glorious processMORE HERE
BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN – Kellogg’s is doing a bit of Andy Warhol (or Peter Max) with a new Pop Tart promotion. Kellogg’s hired artist Burton Morris to design five, special-edition Pop-Tarts boxes that are on shelves now. It’s part of a full Pop Art program, which includes tips from MorrisMORE HERE
Piggly Wiggly is one of those brands that is famous mostly because it is a cool name and a cool mascot. For generations, Americans have loved the concept that you followed a grocery store around like a pig’s tail, and you would pass through ALL the merchandise. Hence, Piggly Wiggly.MORE HERE
There is something very 1970s about The Club pre-mixed martinis. Is it the idea that it is somehow too difficult to mix vermouth and gin? Or that it is too hard to find a cup, and you can use the top to drink it? That’s the question we asked ourselvesMORE HERE
CROSS CREEK, FLORIDA – We happened to be in Cross Creek, the home of the noted American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Just around the corner is an old fish camp and restaurant named after Rawlings’ book, The Yearling. On the front was old sign advertising Southern Stamps. We have toMORE HERE
Bourbon is one of the anti-fashion drinks, and Mattingly & Moore is one of those anti-fashion brands. Rarely advertised and founded in 1876, it lives at liquor stores with an aging core audience and some devoted younger fans who find it hip. From Bardstown, Kentucky, it resides in a landMORE HERE
Yes, it was for Life’s Extra Pleasures, and if you are of a certain age, you will remember the green machines like this that sat at the end of supermarket aisles. Some chains had Gold Bond, but S&H was better. This one is for sale on eBay by seller kwayrbo.MORE HERE
ATLANTA – The Coke bottle will go. After 12 years, more than 1,000 home run celebrations and countless family ballpark memories, the 42-foot-tall Coca-Cola Contour bottle standing high above left field will be retired from Coca-Cola Sky Field at Turner Field on July 2. A new one will replace it.MORE HERE
Kraft ditching Nabisco? Frankly, that’s a bit of a scary headline for us brand fiends here at BrandlandUSA. But it is certainly worrisome that the company was selling this bag of Wheat Thins without Nabisco in the corner. Is Kraft (NYSE: KFT) dropping the Nabisco brand, just like they ditchedMORE HERE
SAVANNAH – Entries are out in the Savannah College of Art & Design’s Phoenix Project. (See a full list of entries here.) At right, one of two concepts for A&P, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (NYSE: GAP). A&P is about to experience its 150th Anniversary, but it hasMORE HERE