Two Things I Got Completely Wrong About Food and Drink Strategy

One: a Rebrand is often just a Relogo exercise

On Sunday, if you popped to your local CoOp B*LLOCK NAKED to pick up eggs, milk, bacon and bagels 

- would you be the same person?

Of course you would.

Your clothes are PART of you. 
PART of your identity.
But, YOU exist without clothes. 

You’re still the same Jack or Sally or Noah or Pebble or Grettle or Kettle (insert perfunctory Notting Hill-Nause Bag-baby name)

“Most founders get rebrands wrong. Most rebrands are just re-logo exercises and re-packaging exercises” - Seth Godin

A brand is not a logo.
A brand is not packaging.
A brand is not a font. 

Dress Donald Trump in Lous Vuitton’s AW24 clobber - doesn’t change who he is.If you Dress Victoria Beckham in a Pimlico Plumber outfit - doesn’t change who she is.
Dress Gary Neville in a Hawaiian Surfer outfit - doesn’t change who he is

The soul of the human is much deeper.
The soul of the brand is much deeper.

Brand soul comes from strategy and story telling.

Storytelling <> Strategy<> Storytelling Strategy
= soul

Packaging, name and logo
= clothes

Strategy and storytelling are intertwined. They dance and carouse and cuddle and schmooze and groove.

Strategy is a set of hard questions followed by hard choices

Choose your customer, choose your future
Choose your competitors, choose your future

Here is a selection of questions to ask yourself.
Ask these, and you’ll actually have a brand.

1. Who are the customers we’re going to say NO to?

2. Who is this not for?

3. Who are secondary target consumers, that we think we need to target, but actually just dilute our brand? 

4. What is the change we’re seeking to make and who are we trying to change?

5. What in one sentence is our brand promise?

6. What are our customers dreams?

7. What are our customers fears?

8. How do we solve all of them?

9. What is the story we want our customers to tell themselves?

10. What is the story we want customers to tell their friends?

11. If our brand created a hotel what would it look like?

12. What would your brand act like, feel like, be like if you COULDN’T USE packaging and a logo?

13. What are 3 ways you’re completely disagree with your competitors?

14. What is a channel you can 10x your growth in, that your competition will struggle to play in?

15. How do we make our customers feel Status, Affiliation and Freedom from Fear?

16. What one feeling word do you want your brand to own?

17. Who is your brand’s best friend? How do you speak to that person? 

Brand name and logo is sexy clothes you wrap around the soul.

TWO: Storytelling isn’t Once Upon a Time 

Storytelling isn’t Once Upon a Time.
Storytelling doesn’t have to be words.

Imagine, on a biting cold November night in Mayfair you dine at a Michelin Star restaurant.

Table clothes toothpaste white, sparkling cutlery, dark green and bright orange dining room, fizzing chandeliers, smells of opulence and sordid affairs.

After polishing your Champagne and Oysters, you trot to the toilet

cheeky guff as you walk to the bogs*
*calm smile to the Maitre De as you let out said cheeky guff

You wash your hands in the lavender and gooseberry hot-soapy waters. 

Fresh cotton towel is folded prim and perfect to your left.

That is storytelling WITHOUT words.

The story the consumer tells themself (if they’re Welsh) (and called Kieth) “Fuckaaa me Pet, this place is propaaa LUUUUSHHHH ”

Storytelling links to Strategy <> Strategy to Storytelling. 

A symbiotic dance. 

Strategy = create a world class hospitality experience
Storytelling example = find the most expensive hot soap and softest towels for our customers

Starbucks writing on your cup = storytelling

Pret A Manger employees giving you a free coffee or croissant = storytelling

Your company Wifi Password = storytelling

Your out of office email signature (providing it’s on brand) = storytelling

Getting a free chocolate at the end of a curry = storytelling

Getting a free lemoncello shot = storytelling

Storytelling isn’t Once Upon a Time.
Storytelling doesn’t HAVE TO BE words.

Storytelling is everywhere,
Storytelling brings Strategy to Life

Hope you enjoyed reading that you little shag monkey.

P.s.

i’ve got a couple of spots for my Challenger Food and Drink Sales Workshop in October/November

did it with VITA COCO last week

reply to this email if you’re keen to run this for your team

Pretty-pease may you do me a huge favour, mate. This newsletter took me +18 hours to compile + write. It’ll take you literally 10 seconds to forward it on to a friend. Please may you ping it on to someone? We grow one recco at a time. Hugely grateful for you support xx

Still Hungry? Course you are…

Please feel free to gorge on the most downloaded podcast episodes of all time (these are CERTY: BANGERS)

1. Rory Sutherland: Why Challenger Brands Must Never Follow Logic to Truly Disrupt Categories 

2. Waitrose CEO: How Challenger Food & Drink Brands Can Win and Build Profitable Partnerships with Waitrose - James Baile

3. Spencer Matthews: How Spencer Matthews Built Unshakeable Resilience and Raised + £10m to Launch Clean Co. in Sainsbury's, Tesco and the U.S.A. 

4. How Grenade Exited to Mondelez for £200 Million and Lessons in Unapologetic Authenticity- Juliett Baratt

5. Tyrells Tycoon: How William Chase built and sold Tyrells for £50 million and sold Chase Distillery to DIAGEO 

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