Like any good Canadian, I have an appreciation for Kraft Dinner. Otherwise known as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner, it is so important to Canadians that we don’t even have to say “Macaroni and Cheese” anymore. It’s obvious. I’ve loved it for over 30 years. Imagine my concern when I had the pasta portion already […]
Things I am relearning about Canada #57: people love pumpkins. How do I know? Fruit stands around Toronto have been chock-full of small, medium and large pumpkins since late September. Mill Street Brewery is selling “Nightmare on Mill St” which by reports is spicy but not very pumpkinny. Finally, every coffee joint in town is […]
From the Guardian: “The trust concludes that, as things stand, the case has not been made for the closure of 6 Music,” the trust ruled. “The executive should draw up an overarching strategy for digital radio. If the director general wanted to propose a different shape for the BBC’s music radio stations as part of […]
I don’t know if it’s because I’m 40 now, but I suddenly like Old Spice deodorant. In Costa Rica I don’t need deodorant, because I’m constantly in and out of the water; it’s nice to detox from all the aluminum zirconium trichlorohydrex. But when in North America, the smell of a deodorant-less man can be […]
The more things stay the same, the more my perception changes. When I was a kid, the Pop Shoppe was this weird place in town where they made the soft drinks right in the store and bottled it. It cost less than regular soft drinks and was in those inconvenient glass bottles. My dad was […]
Until last year, I didn’t know about High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Like anything in life, you only notice some things when you try them. I never noticed how bad American Coca Cola tasted until I spent 3 months in Costa Rica getting used to original-recipe Coca Cola. Original recipe means the sweetener is real […]
As a big fan of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970’s and 1980’s, I used to collect hockey cards. The company that manufactured them was called O-Pee-Chee, and I loved the photography, having all the players’ stats on the back at my disposal, and I especially remember noticing the visual cues that signalled one year’s […]
The stodgy Daily Telegraph says its journalist was moved to tears. The Guardian says “This has to be the most believable example in advertising of someone ageing 70 years over the course of a minute and half.” Even my friend Ian Sohn who works at an ad agency in Chicago likes it. Here is the commercial. […]
Hi, just a short one today. I’m off to Canada for an Easter Holiday. My Easter brand point: Easter Bunnies are dumb and have much more to do with welcoming Spring rather than celebrating Easter. Bunnies are popular because they’re often chocolate, and also because the story of Jesus dying painfully in sacrifice then rising […]
When I grow up, I’d like to own a beautiful, and great sounding, piano. My favourite for both qualities is Steinway, one of the oldest American piano companies, and the only one left that still makes pianos in the United States. Steinway’s American manufacturing operation survives because the company operates a 3-tier, 3-brand, good-better-best strategy. Steinway […]