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THE GREATEST mutha fuckin BRAND of all time
Dan Pope
April 18, 2025
everyone was drinking blood and vodka when I walked in.
there is no sign outside. nothing. only blackness. total blackness. inside blood and vodka. They looked at us strangely, why are you not drinking blood and vodka FOOL?
we all drink blood and vodka in here FOOL
5 minutes earlier somewhere around Highbury. I can’t remember where exactly. My mind peppered and seasoned with the nightmarishly garish pummelling thoughts of anxiety
“Ohhh fucking hell where, the fucking, fuck are we?”
I brattishly bemoaned like the Little Spoilt Surrey brat I am.
“Ohhh ffs, I need a fucking buy ciggies.. where’s the fucking offy… Mate they haven’t got Golds… only touches.!!?”
“FFS mate. How bloody far to this fucking resto, MATE? ”
“Where on earth is it, MATE?”
The air was warm and possessed that Summa, Summa, Summa sultry strut. Yup, Summer’s arriving soon.
Formerly Known As Black Axe Mangal is a restaurant and BRAND like no other.
KABAM - WHAM - BAM- SLAMS your synapses
Formerly Knowing Your definition of a great restaurants. Formerly Knowing Your very Self.
Step off the pavement. Step through the door. Step in the mind of a PSYCHO. A crazy person. It’s mad. So mad. So wonderfully mad.
FKABAM frightens you to happiness. FKABAM strangles, shocks, snogs you to blissful benediction.
THUNDER- Lightnin’ -Frightenin’ WEIRD. WHACKO. PSYCHO. SICKO. warts n’ all n’ makes you drool. The smell is music. The flavour is the sound. The sight is taste.
Head fuk, Mind fuk, Yum fuk.
Music is mind-splinetringly loud and mind-bendingly irresistible.
Painted on the walls are Ghosts of Hell, cloaked and peering over you as you munch. Egregious Wantons of Hell.
We ordered blood and vodka.
Shot of vodka :: spanking your bones into slushy delirium. Chased down with tomato juice. And a little pepperoni sausage
The Head Chef fastidiously guarded oven like The Gruffalo guards the bridge. Big portenous belly. Trucker cap. A huge beard black with grey marbling.
The tables are so innocent. a Jumping Jungle of Colour. With Japanese artwork. The summation of innocence. a beautiful ripe banana yellow. fluorescent pink flowers the colours of sand buckets. pencil case purple. vanilla ice cream white. pepper pig innocent. so innocent.
Yet, it’s surrounded by Death Metal and Hell and Darkness.
A huge roaring oven, flames jumping and dancing and roaring inside. Flat breads utterly delicious.
The Fried Chicken possessed I Ain’t Fuckin’ abbbbbaaaaaaattttt Swag. Flame-thrower spice sprinkled all over. Sinister and scrumptious and raucous and gorgeous. each dish a gang of stars. Gangstaaaas
After conversing with tonnes of food & drink founders. I believe the best brands possess these 8 pillars.
Pick Your Customers. Pick Your Future.
Pick Your Competitors. Pick Your Future.
A Brand Is Not A Logo
Bastardised-Behavioural Economics: The Toilet Rule
I Can Be Your Hero Babyyyyyyyy: Hero Product Rule
Founders Formidable Foibles Rule
Raymon Loewy’s MAYA Principe: Most Advanced. Yet Acceptable.
Robert Green “Always Enter With BOLDNESS” Rule
Why is Black Axe Mangal one of the THE GREATEST mutha fuckin BRAND of all time?
Everyone Like FKABAM, Except Those That Don’t
Seth Godin.
Pick Your Customers. Pick Your Future.
Pick Your Competitors. Pick Your Future.
Everyone likes FKABAM expect those that don’t.
Always position yourself against something.
People SHOULD HATE YOU.
Instead of asking, who are we for?
Invert the question, who are we not for?
Way easier.
Don’t be afraid to piss a lot of people off.
As Strategist Alex Smith says: whats your point of disagreement? > point of difference?"
Seth Godin: a Brand is Not a Logo
Black Axe Mangal has no logo outside it’s restaurant. This reminded me:
Packaging is not brand.
Logo is not brand.
Brand name is not even brand (though it helps)
Brand is a feeling.
Brand is a friend.
Brand is a word.
Brand is a story shared.
Brand is finding the “Me” in “We”
Some questions to jig your brain:
How does your brand think act if it can’t have a logo or packaging?
What would your brand hotel (or restaurant) look like if you were to open a brand?
Bastardised-Behavioural Economics: The Toilet Rule
This sits in my “Bastardised-Behavioural Economics” bucket.
I talked on the podcast with Jack Rubin: how all restaurants could improve their PERCEIVED VALUE by focusing, disproportionally, on the quality of their toilets.
Think of a Michelin star restaurant.
The bogs are always banging, right?
the toilet is a space that NO ONE focuses on, but a place which can deliver a HUGE amounts of perceived value.
always focus on the thing no ones thinking about.
Value generation isn’t the same as revenue generation - Rory Sutherland.
Your goal is to find something your competition aren’t focusing on. And find impossible to deliver value on.
That’ll unlock huge amounts of value.
I Can Be Your Hero Babyyyyyyyy: Hero Product Rule
Great Brands have hero products.
Great Bands have lead singers.
ManiLife - DeepRoast
Cawston Press - Rhubarb
The Devonshire - Suit Pudding and Guinness
McDonalds - The Big Mac
FKABAM - Cods Roe Flat Bread.
Your hero product should have personality.
Should be talk-able and share-able and remarkable on socials.
Your hero product is the bird and the front of your V formation.
Founders Formidable Foibles Rule
The more I think about it weirdness, eccentricities, strangeness, foibles are the GREATEST brand positioning strategy of all time.
Lean into what makes you weird. Literally every brand and every human and every marketing department is so scared of being weird.
FKABAM is unapologetically weird.
Founders Foibles are an unfair advantage everyone’s sitting on, but is too scared to act on.
Founders Soul Rule:
The brand is an extension of the founders soul.
FKABAM is an extension of Lee Tiernan.
Bold Bean Co. FEELS like an extension of Amelia.
Grenade FEELS like an extention of Al and Jules Barratt.
Raymon Loewy’s MAYA Principe: Most Advanced. Yet Acceptable.
Lee worked for Fergus Henderson at St. John. St John’s. famous dish is Bone Marrow on Toast.
When Lee launches FKABAM he
One foot in the weird.
One foot in the familiar.
Humans need weirdness to excite them, but also familiarity to entice them.
Robert Green “Always Enter With BOLDNESS rule”
Always enter actions with BOLDNESS. FKABAM is always bold. Always
I love FKABAM.
One day HUNGRY will open a studio, I want to serve food there and host sick parties and do wild shit.
If it’s a smidge like the success of FKABAM. I’ll be a very-very-very Happy Bunny.
Peace and blood and vodka drinking fools
Popey xx
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