CHASKA, Minnesota – Great brands bring personality to commodities to products like soap. Perhaps the best example of such a brand is Mr. Bubble. If the packaging and marketing were not there, the product would not be interesting at all. But since the packaging and old advertising was so good,MORE HERE

LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS – Back in the early 20th century, there was one brand for women’s problems. It was Lydia Pinkham’s. The Midol of its time, it cured all sorts of ailments for women. Back then with medicines, they often cured MANY ailments. We knew nothing of the brand until weMORE HERE

I recently became aware that a longtime heritage brand, Colgate Shave Cream, has been discontinued. This leaves Colgate-Palmolive with only the Mennen aftershave lines Afta and Skin Bracer. Colgate-Palmolive continues to produce tubes of Palmolive shave cream in several foreign markets.The traditional aerosol shave creams (not the newer gels) have reallyMORE HERE

CHATTANOOGA – Got an itch for Gold Bond? Jim Cramer does. CNBC Mad Money host Cramer likes the maker of Gold Bond powder, the ever-growing consumer products company Chattem, or CHTT. Chattem, founded in 1879 by Zeboim Cartter Patten, takes nearly dead brands or declining brands and rebuilds them. ChattemMORE HERE