A logo doesn’t exist in a vacuum

Aug 25, 2025 | Advertising, Branding

Usually, stories about rebranding successes or failures show up in my industry newsletters or LinkedIn feed. You know it’s a major screw up if one also fills Facebook, Instagram and every major news site. Cracker Barrel has suffered the biggest brand black eye since Bud Light.

Cracker Barrel old logo vs. redesigned logo

The redesign of the Cracker Barrel logo has generated a lot of opinions and upset some long-time patrons of the brand. From my perspective as a partner in an agency that designs logos and helps build brands, it’s interesting — and a bit amusing — to hear the range of comments. When a new logo is unveiled, it often receives a mix of praise and some criticism. Everyone suddenly becomes a graphic design expert. Tinkering with an established logo of a popular brand is fraught with peril and requires skillful handling.

There is almost universal consensus that the new Cracker Barrel logo is terrible. So, let’s not pile on with all the reasons why it sucks. Let’s consider the lessons to be learned from Cracker Barrel’s considerable pain and suffering:

  • A brand needs to know its customer base. That lesson was certainly made clear by Bud Light. Part of Cracker Barrel’s brand appeal is nostalgia. They serve comfort food, have rocking chairs available while you wait for a table, and have an old-fashioned country store attached to every location. Their executives must have known that the patrons who are drawn to their restaurants for a nostalgic experience would be especially resistant to change. I suppose a new logo could be fresh, yet equally as charming as the old one. They failed at that attempt.
  • A logo doesn’t define a brand. Its job is to remind people of a brand. Many successful logos have no literal nod to the company’s product. The logo does, however, need to be unique, memorable, professional, and ideally, project a personality. They failed at that, too.
  • No one reading this will be surprised to hear that my opinion is that logos should be taken very seriously and designed by experienced professionals. Hiring talent is a worthwhile investment if — and only if — they are allowed to shine. I have no inside knowledge of the decision making at Cracker Barrel, but my gut feeling is that a group of executives heavily influenced that failed logo, not the deign team.

The single most important lesson from the Cracker Barrel debacle, is understanding that people still create emotional connections with brands. It’s not limited to large national brands, either. Small and medium sized organizations would love to have followers who feel as passionately about their brand as Cracker Barrel’s customers feel about them. It can be done with a solid brand strategy, proper image, and consistent messaging that resonates with the target audience.

Creativity Propels Bedford County Success

Nov 25, 2024 | Advertising, Blog, Branding, Campaigns, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized

Every time we have an initial discussion with a prospective client, we think to ourselves, “how much will we move the needle for them?” Not, “can we?” Or, “is it possible?”

Our expectation is that together, we will achieve some level of advertising or marketing success for the client. That confidence and optimism comes from knowing an undeniable truth — quality creative work inspires people to act and that brings results.

Compelling ads, strategically placed, can generate a lot of inquiries or web clicks. That is definitely an important first step toward success. Turning that response into customers and sustaining it over a long period requires a comprehensive approach. And, creative and consistent brand messaging at each touchpoint.

Here is a fantastic success story of how one brand is making massive strides:

In 2018, Bedford County, Virginia, knew that the tourism marketing world is highly competitive in the mid-Atlantic, and especially in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They invested appropriately in research-backed branding, followed by a unique and professional advertising campaign. The goal of the ads was to steer traffic to the website, which had to be both stunning and inspiring. The website encouraged people to request a brochure, which also had to portray the beauty of the county. So, Bedford wisely invested in strong creative work that consistently communicated the brand and guided prospects from awareness to action.

Bedford Virginia Case Study samples

A balanced media strategy, which included print, online, out-of-home, social media, video pre-roll and broadcast, lead to impressive web stats. Page views are great, but that’s not the ultimate goal in destination marketing. Let’s look at some numbers that don’t lie.

The brand campaign and website launched in mid-2019, so the calendar year 2020 set the benchmark. A year later, website traffic doubled. The next year it grew by nearly 40%. Then another 40% in 2023. The site is on track for more growth as 2024 draws to a close.

Destination Bedford Va Website Traffic 2020-2024

Each year, the Virginia Tourism Corporation releases economic impact data for every county and independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The annual report includes direct visitor spending, resulting state and local tax collections, jobs supported by travel, and much more.

Here is a look at spending by visitors from the year before the brand launched through 2023:
Destination Bedford Va Visitor Spending 2019-2024

In 2023, direct visitor spending in Bedford County increased by 13.9% over the previous year, the highest rate in the Virginia Mountains Region, which averaged 7.7%, and outpacing the state’s overall growth of 9.8%. The 2023 Economic Impact Report takes a close look at spending compared to 2019, the year before the COVID pandemic. Travel and tourism spending in Bedford County surpassed pre-COVID levels by 23.8%, once again eclipsing the state overall average of 14.7%.

The report contains economic data for over 130 counties and independent cities in Virginia. Many of them draw more visitors and have more travel-related spending, but only a handful can match the year-over-year increases and the five year track record of growth. There are numerous reasons for Bedford County’s tourism growth. Surely, a high-performing marketing campaign — because of a strong brand and compelling creative work — is a vital contributing factor.

Reaching its Full Potential or Wasting Space

Sep 18, 2024 | Advertising, Branding, Print, Tourism, Travel

One of my favorite travel magazines arrived in the mail recently. I started to glance through it while I ate lunch. Because of what I do for a living, I enjoy looking at the ads more than most people. A few ads got my attention for different reasons. Note that I will mention the advertiser by name if I love the work and am offering a compliment. If I am using a specific ad for, let’s just say a teachable moment, I will describe it, but not mention the destination.

Today, I saw an ad in a campaign that I had never seen before. It was from the Tennessee state tourism office. For years, Tennessee has been focused on building their brand on music. After all, every region of the state has rich music heritage, from mountain music in the east to Memphis blues in the west and Music City itself, Nashville, in the center. The ad was stunning in its simplicity. It featured a concert photo of a performer on stage seeming to make a connection with a fan in the audience. The image had a Photoshop effect applied so it wasn’t just another concert photo. It was artistic, with a deep red hue. Definitely attention-getting. Then I saw the headline: “Bring your ears to their knees.” The unique look and clever messaging made this ad effective.

Just a few pages later, there was a full-page ad for another destination. This ad featured the destination logo at the top, followed by a grid of small photos. The photos were decent quality. It was not a terrible layout. Below the photos was a paragraph of copy that started with “Visit __…” I’d share more of what it said, but honestly, that is as far as I got. There was no clever concept to the ad. No brand building. Nothing about that page made me think this destination is worth visiting, or even reading to the end of the ad.

Most people would just turn the page and move on to an article or a better ad. Not me. It made me think. To be more accurate, it made me sad and a bit nostalgic. It reminded me of something many of us probably heard every time report cards were issued at school — “not living up to his potential.” To be fair, those nuns who taught at my school were tough and they expected a lot from every student. That ad simply was not living up to its potential, and, as a result, suggests that the destination is doing the same.

Conclusion: Creativity moves the needle. It always has and it always will. It’s an undeniable fact of modern marketing and advertising. Strong brands win. Great advertising in support of strong brands (yes, there is a difference between advertising and branding, which could be the subject of another post) is the difference between success and failure.

Shifting the Focus: A RFP Process Based on Value

Sep 10, 2024 | Advertising, Blog, Branding, Tourism

The government procurement system that issues RFPs, especially when soliciting proposals for creative and other professional services, is completely broken. The system is so riddled with flaws that it is essentially useless. The process rarely results in the best selection for the issuing city, county or state. To make matters worse, it frequently increases the cost of the products and services being sought. There are more thoughts on this in the previous blog. Today, we will focus on solutions.

We are not merely suggesting a few minor tweaks to the system. The process, as it is commonly used, needs to be entirely scrapped and replaced with a better model. The RFP method simply does not work for creative services, and it never will. The inherent problem is that it tries to apply an artificial evaluation/scoring formula — one that overemphasizes pricing — to a situation that requires the judgment of professionals who have some experience in the marketing world. That outdated process needs to be completely eliminated and replaced with a system that allows people to select the a firm best suited to the need, while still safeguarding fairness and competition. When the goal is getting the highest-caliber creative work that the community can afford, instead of choosing the least expensive that is still barely acceptable, the result is maximum value for the taxpayer money.

Here are the highlights of a system that would make it possible for a government department to have the opportunity to choose wisely, while allowing the competitive procurement process to work:
  • The department seeking the creative services would be required to research and reach out to a minimum of three firms or individuals that they think are suited to the project(s). There is no upper limit on the number of firms identified. They can find qualified firms via Google, or confer with colleagues in other cities, or, perhaps, they are aware of firms from trade shows or professional associations. They then communicate with each firm by phone, Zoom or in-person to discuss the details. This step allows the firms to ask questions, and possibly, offer suggestions that the department may not have thought about. The meeting or conversation gives the firm a chance to summarize its expertise, processes, and to share examples. It gives the government department a chance to ask questions and get to know the firms.
  • The budget should always be disclosed. No exceptions. An honest discussion about budget allows potential bidders the chance to see if the project is even a good fit. If it is not, they part on friendly terms, and neither the bidder nor the department will have wasted any more than a few minutes of meeting time. Plus, the give and take with potential bidders might lead to an idea to actually save money. Small businesses genuinely want to be efficient and save their clients money. It can be a learning experience for the department seeking the services.
  • After the initial meeting, potential bidders will have an understanding of the department’s needs and can then submit a detailed price proposal. Any good price proposal will summarize the details of the project, including deliverables and a timetable, to demonstrate their understanding of the project.
  • The department seeking the services can document and report everything to the procurement department to show that fair competition exists without collusion. Otherwise, the judgments and decisions for how to proceed and how to spend their department’s budget most effectively is left up to the people who know best. After a firm is selected, the procurement team can assist in making sure the paperwork is in order, including insurance requirements, SCC registration and other necessities.

This process ensures that the spirit of competitive bidding resulted in the city, county or state selecting the absolute best firm within their budget. The final selection may or may not be the least expensive. But, if it results in the best quality creative work within the budget, that means the government got maximum value for its money. The process does not reward mediocrity by making price a greater factor than excellence, nor does it unwittingly drive up the cost with unneeded steps and processes. Price is only a factor to the extent that all of the bidders have to stay within the budget. Therefore, the department is free to select a firm solely on the merits.

Postscript
:
As long as the old, bloated, inefficient system is used, there should be at least one requirement added. After proposals are reviewed and a decision is made, it should be mandatory and standard operating procedure for the soliciting entity to not only post the decision, but contact in writing or email every bidder informing them of the outcome, and a brief summary explaining the decision. That does not seem to be an undue burden on the procurement department, considering the dozens, or even hundreds, of hours a firm might spend on submitting a proposal.

Time to Reform the RFP Process for Professional Services

Aug 28, 2024 | Advertising, Blog, Branding, Tourism

Over the course of our 30 years as a creative services firm, we have responded to quite a few Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from government procurement offices, and received many more that did not deserve a response. Since some tourism offices are part of local or county governments, it is a necessary process for them and us. We can’t speak for a firm that sells other services or products, especially commodities, like office supplies or fertilizer. But, when it comes to securing creative services, the government RFP process is badly broken. At best, it rewards mediocrity. More often than not, it does a disservice to the community that it claims to protect. At worst, the process contains lies and deceptions that many unwitting bidders don’t even know about.

  • A department of local government usually seeks a creative firm to help them address a marketing need. By definition of the creative process, it is unknown what the end product will be. Yet, most RFPs, in an effort to be thorough, borrow boiler plate language from other communities to describe what they think is needed. The truth is, they have no clue what is needed. The result is that the details of the RFP either add in a lot of unnecessary steps that drive up the price, or limit what a great creative firm could deliver if only they had been allowed to shine. The result is that the community either ends up spending more than is necessary just to comply, or the agency is forced to think small because that’s what was dictated by the terms of the RFP — terms written by the least qualified person in the mix.

  • Most of the government departments we deal with are tourism offices. The destination marketing professionals in those offices know how competitive the market is for travelers. Their mindset is (or ought to be) to work with the creative team that will produce the very best, most impactful work they can possibly afford. As marketing pros, they want brochures, ad campaigns and websites that will inspire people to take action. Their jobs are on the line if they don’t get results. However, the procurement process prioritizes finding the lowest price. An RFP may include an evaluation criteria in which price is supposedly only 15% – 20% of the score, with experience and past performance being the remaining 80% – 85%. It’s a lie. As long as pricing is introduced into the proposals and review process, it will always be the item that matters most. It will be the page that gets dog-eared by reviewers to come back to time and again. “This firm is clearly the best, most experienced choice, and they are within our budget, but maybe it would be OK to go with one of the less impressive, but less expensive firms.”

  • Procurement departments exist to ensure that rules are followed. Often the rule is that projects over a certain dollar value require an RFP, and that recurring projects/contracts require a new RFP every few years. In far too many instances, it is known even before the RFP hits the internet who the chosen firm will be. No department will ever publicly admit this, but we all know it to be true. If that is not deception, I don’t know what is.

  • RFPs set an adversarial tone before a relationship has even begun. We have spent an entire career building relationships with clients and getting them to think of us as partners. Honesty flowing in both directions is the best way to stay on time, on budget and producing the best quality work. RFPs, on the other hand, decline to share budgets, yet fill 20 pages with language about how they are not responsible for anything, make no promises at all, reserve the right to change terms, own the rights to everything that is created, and even claims a right to review our books and record keeping. Seriously?

The greatest irony of the RFP debacle is that a process meant to serve the community so often ends up costing it more. Over the course 30+ years, we have worked with more local, county and state government departments than we can count. They have included not only tourism offices, but also economic development, parks & recreation, public safety and administration. Without exception, every decision maker has always been extremely budget conscious. No department we have dealt with is rolling in cash. They are under pressure to make their budgets go as far as possible, and, as a result, act responsibly. So, the procurement/RFP process is both tying the hands of and driving up the compliance costs of the already cost-conscious professionals in every department.

Now that we have done a thorough examination of how broken the RFP process for professional and creative services is, the next blog will offer some thoughtful proposals to reform the system.

What Do We Know? What Don’t We Know?

Aug 14, 2024 | Blog, Branding

I once saw a clip of a news conference where a high-ranking government official was talking about national security and the intelligence community. While his remarks made perfect sense when it comes to gathering intel, I started thinking about how it really is the secret to being successful at almost anything, including business, career, and in life.

The official explained that in intelligence, there are things that we know that we know. An example is something about which we are well educated and 100% confident, or we have hard proof. That knowledge keeps you a step ahead of adversaries. Then, there are things we know that we don’t know. For example, we may know an adversary is developing a weapon, but we’re not certain of its range, accuracy, capability or their intentions. At least we know this situation exists and requires more effort and resources to find out what is unknown. The final and most worrisome situation is the things we don’t even know that we don’t know. In this case, we are clueless and may be caught off guard or unprepared at any time.

My world of branding, marketing and creative services is pretty far removed from national security, but it seems to me that understanding these concepts can help almost anyone do better in their career.

The most important are the second and third scenarios. They are also the most difficult to recognize and accept. It forces us to realize that we don’t know everything, in spite of the degree hanging on the wall or the months of experience on the job. In some cases, maybe deep down we realize we need someone to help us figure out what we don’t know, but we don’t want to admit it publicly, or just don’t want out boss to find out. No decent boss would fire someone for not knowing something. Instead, the employee’s willingness to admit it and their ability to find answers or bring in outside help is a greater test of that employee’s value.

The three-part philosophy provides a valuable lesson about life in general. Never quit learning and be proud and confident about what you know. At the same time, recognize that it’s OK to need help sometimes. After all, life is complicated. Finally, be humble enough to know that there are going to be things in life that will completely blindside us — the things that we don’t even know that we don’t know. Those will be the things that challenge us the most. Learn from it, and it becomes something you know.

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