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Cracker Barrel’s Risky Rebrand

Episode 13: Cracker Barrel’s Risky Rebrand

Release date: 08/28/2025
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Today our hosts discuss a topic hotter than chicken and dumplings, Cracker Barrel’s recent logo change. Does changing tradition hurt or help a brand. We compare examples like Potbelly, local realtor ads, and nostalgic roadside chains to explore how personality, consistency, and clear messaging define memorable brands.

The episode ends with practical local marketing advice on how to define your business, understand how customers how they see you, and lean into distinct, consistent messaging.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT +

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Music.

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Anything you can do, I can do better. We’re saying these are all Nike things, right?

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That’s right. They did have that. Talking about brand today,

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right? I thought we did that. Biggest brand of all. I thought we were who?

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Nike. Nike did anything you can do, I can do better? Wasn’t that when the girls

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were, they had a campaign a while back where it was the girls saying that to

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the guys in a way? No, I did not see that. Do you know what that’s from?

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I do. I know you do. It’s from a musical. I knew that because I could just tell. You guys lit up.

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It’s for me. Annie, get your gun. Annie, get your gun. Okay.

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One of my favorites. I am an unapologetic lover of cowboy musicals.

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They’re not cool, certainly, and they’re pretty corny and rootin’ tootin’, but I love them.

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Cowboy musicals. Okay, I’ve got a cowboy story, sort of. I’m going to make a

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leap. I’m going to make two leaps to get to our topic today. Are you ready?

00:01:07.401 –> 00:01:12.781
So I saw a news article. Have you guys ever seen the sci-fi series called Firefly? Oh, yeah.

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It’s an awesome, it’s Wheaton with Josh Wheaton. Josh. Right, Josh Wheaton.

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He did Buffy. Correct. Didn’t he do Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

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So it’s an awesome series. It’s really, really good. And they’re talking about

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it because it’s like 20 years old now.

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And they’re talking about it and saying, does it stand the test of time?

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Because there’s, and the article that I was reading was talking about,

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you know, it’s kind of problematic now.

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Now, because it’s got kind of a Southern,

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because everybody kind of has Southern draws and it’s a Confederacy of space,

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you know, and so they’re like, oh, I’m like, look, it’s not a Southern, it’s a Western, right?

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The whole, it’s a Western in space, just like Star Wars was a Western in space. Yeah.

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So it really bothered me that they were trying to draw it to,

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oh, this is some Confederacy thing and blah, blah, blah.

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And as though the show, the actors, Nathan Fillion, you know who that is? He was in The Rookie.

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He’s in The Rookie as the main character. I probably recognize him myself.

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Have you seen Superman yet?

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No. Okay. Sorry, go on. Nor have I.

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Anyway, so they’re trying to like, oh, you can’t be old timey because that’s

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problematic somehow and so forth.

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Which leads me to the Cracker Barrel, which Roger just brought up.

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That’s true. Well, I was, my transition was going to be that I love cowboy musicals.

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I was going to name some and say that I was in the mood for some Southern vittles. Vittles. Yeah.

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But today we want to talk about the concept of being cool or modern in your, in your marketing.

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And what we saw this, like this week coming from Cracker Barrel.

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So for those of you that are not aware, Cracker Barrel is a…

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Southern chain restaurant that I have seen. The logo is iconic.

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I’ve seen it my entire life.

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Although you had never been to a Cracker Barrel until like three weeks ago. What?

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I had never been to Cracker Barrel. Yeah. When was the last time you went to a Cracker Barrel?

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I’ve been going my whole life. You know what? The one thing that comes to mind

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when I think of Cracker Barrel?

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Road trips. You know what I mean? Like you’re driving in the country.

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You know you come in to sit you stop at cracker barrel and

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you eat it’s not a place you eat near your house no that’s why

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i don’t go unless i’m on a road trip man chicken and dumplings and to play the

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little golf tea game on the triangle yes they got oh man i love those yeah and

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so they are they’re kind of going through a transition phase where like like

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we just said they had some very specific,

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brand or let’s let’s name all of the brand things that are associated with them

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number one the guy I lean on the barrel. Yeah.

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To the peg game.

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The store, the general merchandise store in front of the restaurant.

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That’s like, you know, you’re on a long road trip. You want to stretch your

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legs out. You walk around the store. Then you sit down and eat, right?

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And it’s that southern comfort food, right? Yeah.

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And all the store stuff, like it’s some old-timey, Burt’s old timey taffy.

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And you’re like, I would never buy this candy if I hadn’t just been driving

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for three and a half hours. And I loved it as a kid.

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And then when you do, you’re like, oh my God, this is so good.

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It sits in my car. I love it.

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Another big one is what do you always see outside the front door?

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The rocking chairs. Rocking chairs. Yeah. And they’ve got like agricultural

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implements all over tools. Yeah.

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Stuff like that. Now here’s the deal. I have lived in.

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Texas my whole life, pretty much. For a brief period of time,

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I lived in Los Angeles and it was very different.

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But in Texas, you know, I’ve lived in the suburbs. I’ve lived in the city.

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I’ve lived in kind of the rural areas.

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And I had never actually been.

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Because when you’re a kid, I guess you would go if your parents took you along

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or something, you don’t get to choose.

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Then when you become, you know, in your 20s, you’re making your own choices

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about where to go to eat. But rarely are me and my hoodlum friends in our 20s

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going to say, oh, let’s go to the – is that a PC term?

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Hoodlum friends? Hoodlum friends. Sure. Hey, man. Yeah. You’re more in tune

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to that than I am probably. Hoodlum is totally fine. Is that fine? Yeah.

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We were never picking the Cracker Barrel. Then, you know, as you get older –

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You still never picked it. In your 30s. Yeah. And that’s the thing.

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There was a surge of other restaurants. I was living downtown.

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There wasn’t a location so it

00:06:04.207 –> 00:06:06.987
kind of missed it it missed me their

00:06:06.987 –> 00:06:10.067
mark when you’re too you’re too young you don’t do your age

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and young they don’t do road trips we it’s not not as yeah but like that was

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that was our entire summer was road trips but you bucky’s happened the the bucky’s

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probably heard so i’m gonna do i’m gonna do i’m gonna do a throwback do you

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remember stuckies I remember the name.

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They were everywhere, man. It was a big 70s and 80s chain.

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They were at every highway exit all over America. I don’t know how many locations

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they had, but it was a lot.

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And they are gone. And sort of for the same reason, because they were kind of dated.

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Their big thing was saltwater taffy, which I was like, I would never eat saltwater.

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But boy, after driving for three out of half hours, you’re ready for saltwater

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taffy for some reason. Yeah.

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But I guess the thing that I’m getting at is there may have been a time in my

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life that I would have organically started going to Cracker Barrel,

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but I had not hit that point.

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So a lot of people are saying, well, why would you try to rebrand? Why would you…

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Move away from the things that are so ubiquitous for your brand.

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And the answer might be, you’re not getting enough people coming in.

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Yeah. Well, are they actually trying to move away and change your brand?

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Or did they just eliminate portions of the brand?

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Because it sounds like they still have the Southern, I mean,

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their brand is still intact, right? Yeah, I don’t think they’re renovating all their stores.

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Right. They’re probably just kind of, so Fuddruckers did this too. They decluttered.

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And I think that’s a big move for a lot of fast casual is to get all the junk out.

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And Cracker Barrel is pretty full of that. They got, like I said,

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all those farm implements and stuff and just random things.

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I would go as far to say, as far as clutter, nobody beat them for decades.

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The closest was like Chili’s.

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Chili’s used to have like newspaper and stuff and things hanging.

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Cracker Barrel had had things hanging from the ceiling with wire.

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But not like in a cluttered way. I felt like it was. I think it was cluttered.

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My thought every time I went into any restaurant that had that Fuddruckers or

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even Chili’s, you know, with the pictures and all that stuff or Cracker Barrel,

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I thought, hmm, I wonder who’s dusting this.

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Like, is somebody dusting this? If they’re dusting this, is that dust just all

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in the air? How does that dust not get into the kitchen? Those are my thoughts. You’re eating the dust.

00:08:48.765 –> 00:08:53.065
You’re eating dust. But I mean, so, okay, Cracker Barrel isn’t the coolest brand, right?

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Like, obviously, if sales are down, they’re trying to make a change.

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They’re down. Yeah, down and it’s down.

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Right? But if you’re not down, I mean, I think it’s okay to have a brand that’s not cool.

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But can you… So the question becomes, can you swing to nondescript to make money…

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Does that work versus embracing who you are? You can update who you are.

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Sure. But if you leave, take away without adding, it’s a real problem.

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So their new logo, basically, it used to have this old timey guy on a barrel

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and then the word cracker barrel.

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Now they got rid of the old timey guy, got rid of the barrel,

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and it just says crackle barrel in a pretty hideous font with pretty bad spacing

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because there’s a lot of white space around it.

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It’s like they took away. I mean, it looks like something’s missing.

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Yeah, and maybe because we are so familiar with the brand.

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And I have a good eye for graphics, but yeah, keep going. It still looks Southern

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to me, right? Like it still has, but you’re right.

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Yeah, but it’s not an updated Southern. It’s a half-attempted Southern. Right.

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It’s like you could have thought this through and probably done a better job. I don’t know.

00:10:09.021 –> 00:10:13.861
Honestly, y’all, I think time will tell. You know, one thing I always think

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about are local commercials where,

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you know, here we’ve got Mattress Mac and then we’ve got the,

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there’s another one where low prices live.

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I can’t remember the name, but basically, you know, when I was a little kid

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and you’d see these people on TV at three o’clock in the morning and they’d

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be like, come on down to house, house, furniture, we got this furniture,

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we got that furniture, we got this furniture.

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And you’re like, well, this isn’t cool, but you know what is cool is sales coming in.

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So the question is, did that work?

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Did it bring sales coming in? But I think your definition of cool is kind of,

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I don’t know, I’ll challenge your definition of cool.

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The thing that makes somebody cool that, oh God, what was the,

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if you want to be like that person, is that what cool is?

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Like, I want to be, uh, no, I want to be part of that because I can’t,

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I really wish I could remember this quote exactly and where it came from,

00:11:10.660 –> 00:11:15.000
but basically somebody was saying, oh, it was Dr. Who. I know it was Dr. Who.

00:11:15.200 –> 00:11:21.220
Cause he wore a bow tie and well, the Matt Smith, Dr. who wore a bow tie.

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And he was talking to somebody else that he met who also wore a bow tie.

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And he was like, oh, cool bow tie.

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And everybody’s like, your bow tie is not cool. And he’s like, you know what?

00:11:32.820 –> 00:11:38.620
It defined who this person was. It gave them a character, a personality.

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They wore it despite everybody. And that’s what made it cool.

00:11:44.200 –> 00:11:47.500
So having Mattress Mac go out there because he He says, saves,

00:11:47.620 –> 00:11:49.960
you might have had the wad of cash in his hand.

00:11:50.140 –> 00:11:54.200
Oh, my gosh. Have you guys seen the Jeep dealership, the River Oaks Jeep dealership?

00:11:54.340 –> 00:12:00.180
No. The super old guy, he has all these super young, very attractive models,

00:12:00.240 –> 00:12:03.040
and they box with him. You haven’t seen that commercial? Oh,

00:12:03.040 –> 00:12:03.880
my God. I’ve seen that. No.

00:12:04.280 –> 00:12:08.380
It’s so bad. It is so, so bad. But you know what? He’s just doing it.

00:12:08.480 –> 00:12:11.040
No, it’s not cool in the sense of it’s not viral.

00:12:11.220 –> 00:12:15.400
It’s not going to be an influencer thing or so forth. But he’s charting his

00:12:15.400 –> 00:12:17.420
own way and he’s saying something.

00:12:17.680 –> 00:12:22.760
It’s not if you took that guy and said, hey, well, you can’t have these young,

00:12:22.840 –> 00:12:26.340
pretty women here because that’s kind of misogynistic. We’ll take that away.

00:12:26.560 –> 00:12:29.540
Hey, you’re an old guy. You can’t. We’re going to take that.

00:12:29.660 –> 00:12:31.720
You’re left. You’re left with nothing.

00:12:32.340 –> 00:12:37.780
Yeah. Well, I’ll also say this. I’ve been a part of companies or organizations

00:12:37.780 –> 00:12:43.660
where for, let’s say for five years, we have a signature thing.

00:12:44.440 –> 00:12:50.440
After a certain amount of time, we saw the signature thing wasn’t drawing people in anymore.

00:12:50.920 –> 00:12:55.200
So then we go, all right, we got to refresh it. We would see other people take

00:12:55.200 –> 00:12:57.400
market share because they were doing new stuff.

00:12:57.720 –> 00:13:02.160
So we’d go in and we say, all right, so let’s change it. And then we’d get pushback

00:13:02.160 –> 00:13:04.580
from people who say, well, that’s, you know, it’s a tradition.

00:13:04.740 –> 00:13:07.640
Why would you change that? Well, you’re not coming anymore.

00:13:08.040 –> 00:13:11.760
You don’t get a say in this because we have to continue to grow.

00:13:11.760 –> 00:13:14.480
No, we have to pay our rent and our employees.

00:13:15.080 –> 00:13:18.040
Well, you know, all this goes into brand.

00:13:18.220 –> 00:13:21.240
And I think having a brand is so important.

00:13:21.360 –> 00:13:25.340
It’s an identity, right? Because if you’re nondescript, you’re not thought of, right?

00:13:25.460 –> 00:13:30.200
And I’m just thinking about, you know, I’m on the digital team in the digital

00:13:30.200 –> 00:13:33.580
division. And there was one ad that really sticks out to me. It’s a realtor ad.

00:13:33.840 –> 00:13:37.660
And realtors, unfortunately, I look at a lot of realtor ads and they’re all

00:13:37.660 –> 00:13:39.520
very similar, right? They use the same…

00:13:40.847 –> 00:13:43.587
Picture of them, you know, logo,

00:13:44.067 –> 00:13:47.587
you know, some basic stuff and a bunch of contact information. Right.

00:13:47.987 –> 00:13:53.787
And this one guy had one where he he labeled himself as the mustache one and

00:13:53.787 –> 00:13:56.787
he created a cool like mustache icon and he’s got a really cool mustache.

00:13:57.667 –> 00:14:02.227
Man, he wrote a testimony for us of like people see his ad everywhere.

00:14:02.507 –> 00:14:07.287
I think other people see the other people’s ads, but it’s just doesn’t mean this one resonates.

00:14:07.467 –> 00:14:12.887
It stands out. Right. So it’s just latching on to something that- Yeah,

00:14:12.947 –> 00:14:16.047
and it doesn’t have to be your physical appearance. It can really be anything.

00:14:16.227 –> 00:14:20.687
You just have to make- So we talk about code at Indoor Media a lot,

00:14:20.867 –> 00:14:26.027
which is category, offer or obvious message, distance and execution.

00:14:26.247 –> 00:14:29.107
So that obvious message is your brand.

00:14:29.687 –> 00:14:32.747
What is the obvious message? A lot of realtors, I agree with you,

00:14:32.827 –> 00:14:36.007
the layout of their ads look very similar because they’re trying to become a

00:14:36.007 –> 00:14:39.367
local celebrity. They want that recognition for where they are.

00:14:39.607 –> 00:14:46.607
That’s okay to be, hey, I’m just a clean cut person or I’m kind of a hip person

00:14:46.607 –> 00:14:47.947
or whatever my personality is.

00:14:48.047 –> 00:14:51.327
I’m just this person. You can trust me. You’re going to see me a lot.

00:14:51.607 –> 00:14:56.847
But if I just add one thing to it, I’m your realtor in Bel Air.

00:14:57.427 –> 00:15:00.407
Are you a new home buyer?

00:15:00.847 –> 00:15:05.647
Whatever that angle is, that’s the message that starts bringing mustache. Great.

00:15:06.267 –> 00:15:09.307
It’s a mnemonic and a memory hook.

00:15:09.467 –> 00:15:14.947
And that works as well. But your message can be not only who you are, but what you do.

00:15:15.267 –> 00:15:17.967
A hundred percent. I didn’t, I wasn’t. Yeah. Yeah. No, I was just clarifying.

00:15:18.127 –> 00:15:19.527
No, I was just expanding on it.

00:15:19.767 –> 00:15:22.727
Just the physical parents, but you’re right. It was just something that this

00:15:22.727 –> 00:15:26.307
guy leaned into and it was just something that was different that,

00:15:26.847 –> 00:15:29.327
you know, anyways, a lot of small businesses.

00:15:29.987 –> 00:15:33.007
They don’t create a brand i think that they there’s

00:15:33.007 –> 00:15:38.307
two thoughts here that one they they’re not big enough to do it or something

00:15:38.307 –> 00:15:44.127
like or or two they just don’t know what to do right but but and it they their

00:15:44.127 –> 00:15:48.447
perception is maybe it’s oh a big corporation can create a brand but i can’t

00:15:48.447 –> 00:15:52.747
but i think that’s the farthest from the truth i think you know a single location or a.

00:15:57.415 –> 00:16:02.375
Solopreneur can create an amazing brand.

00:16:02.635 –> 00:16:05.495
And it doesn’t take a lot, right? So what does it take?

00:16:06.515 –> 00:16:11.075
So how do you know if you have a brand? And if you feel like you don’t,

00:16:11.135 –> 00:16:12.235
what do you do about it? Great question.

00:16:12.755 –> 00:16:16.395
Well, I think people can start with their own buying activity.

00:16:16.935 –> 00:16:23.115
Like if you are a local business owner, think about the local businesses that you go to.

00:16:23.595 –> 00:16:31.415
Are they hard to find? Do you understand what they do on the first page of their website?

00:16:31.775 –> 00:16:37.675
The tools that you use, you know, look at the tools that others are using to do that.

00:16:38.215 –> 00:16:44.575
What kind of font are they using? When you read their copy, when you read their

00:16:44.575 –> 00:16:49.535
descriptions, what emotional vibe does it have?

00:16:49.535 –> 00:16:55.575
I’m going to try to give a homework assignment to every owner that’s listening.

00:16:56.335 –> 00:17:00.955
Write down what you think your business is. Okay, one sentence,

00:17:01.395 –> 00:17:02.935
right? Just write it down.

00:17:03.275 –> 00:17:08.255
My business is, and write it down, the statement you think your business is.

00:17:08.395 –> 00:17:16.915
Now, go find the next 25 customers that come to your business and ask them, what is my business?

00:17:17.435 –> 00:17:23.015
See what they say. If you’ve written down pizza parlor and they say,

00:17:23.175 –> 00:17:26.615
you know, it’s an awesome New York style pizza,

00:17:26.855 –> 00:17:32.795
you’re not promoting your brand because you are, to them, a New York style pizza.

00:17:32.995 –> 00:17:37.335
If they just come back with something generic that just says what you do,

00:17:37.475 –> 00:17:40.575
but with no personality to it, you don’t have a brand.

00:17:41.035 –> 00:17:45.135
Yeah. If all they come back with is you’re a pizza restaurant,

00:17:45.175 –> 00:17:50.035
that’s not what you are. I mean, it is, but it’s not, right?

00:17:50.235 –> 00:17:53.095
I mean, what do you guys think of something like that? I think that’s a great-

00:17:53.095 –> 00:17:56.575
It’s an easy test. I don’t have to know anything. I think it’s a great.

00:17:57.502 –> 00:18:04.162
Exercise. And also it, it gets to the point of there are, there are some brands

00:18:04.162 –> 00:18:08.102
that like McDonald’s that you’re just going to see that,

00:18:08.362 –> 00:18:11.582
that arch and you’re going to go, all right, I get it there.

00:18:11.582 –> 00:18:13.062
I mean, they’re, they’re global.

00:18:13.582 –> 00:18:20.142
And then there’s the meaty part in the middle where we must get across what our personality is.

00:18:20.262 –> 00:18:24.702
And I think it can be intimidating to be like, well, I don’t want it to look

00:18:24.702 –> 00:18:28.522
amateur, but I want it to look descriptive.

00:18:28.622 –> 00:18:33.002
And so I think there’s probably a sense of hesitation to even get started.

00:18:33.082 –> 00:18:35.962
And I think that exercise is actually a good way to be like,

00:18:36.122 –> 00:18:38.302
well, who does it matter to the most?

00:18:38.742 –> 00:18:40.502
Okay. Now I’m going to completely flip-flop.

00:18:41.262 –> 00:18:46.842
What is Potbelly’s brand? Oh, I know, but y’all go first.

00:18:47.882 –> 00:18:53.482
Potbelly. I asked the question. Yeah, I’m thinking. I mean, I know Potbelly’s really well, right?

00:18:53.862 –> 00:18:56.642
One of the things they used to do, did they used to have someone that would

00:18:56.642 –> 00:18:58.262
perform in their stores?

00:18:58.582 –> 00:19:00.802
Oh, yeah. Well, they used to have, yeah. They used to do that,

00:19:00.862 –> 00:19:04.422
but I don’t think they do it anymore. But I don’t know. What is their brand?

00:19:06.082 –> 00:19:10.822
Potbelly’s brand is they want to look like a vintage.

00:19:12.562 –> 00:19:16.342
Old-fashioned sandwich place, but

00:19:16.342 –> 00:19:19.142
their text like their their

00:19:19.142 –> 00:19:22.422
personality is youthful they are

00:19:22.422 –> 00:19:25.482
essentially i feel like i am their primary

00:19:25.482 –> 00:19:29.122
person because their logo

00:19:29.122 –> 00:19:39.622
looks vintage their layout has a job has a a big old metal oven potbelly stove

00:19:39.622 –> 00:19:45.042
is that that’s what they’re for yeah okay but they’ve they all have bulletin

00:19:45.042 –> 00:19:48.162
boards inside of community happenings.

00:19:48.762 –> 00:19:58.142
And they always have new things on the menu and the tone of their emails is

00:19:58.142 –> 00:19:59.142
a little bit irreverent.

00:19:59.282 –> 00:20:02.262
So I feel like they’re trying to mix those two. That’s my take on it.

00:20:03.022 –> 00:20:07.102
What’s funny is like, I know Potbell is really well, and I can’t put my finger

00:20:07.102 –> 00:20:11.682
on it and tell you exactly what their brand is, but I know they have a brand. Is that a weird?

00:20:11.982 –> 00:20:14.482
Yeah, no, that’s what I’m getting at. What do you think? It’s challenging.

00:20:14.762 –> 00:20:18.282
You know, I think of them as the toasted sandwich place.

00:20:19.042 –> 00:20:25.602
Whoa. Now, this sounds like a whole other episode because the toast pioneers- Quiznos.

00:20:25.842 –> 00:20:29.662
Were Quiznos. Yeah, but they’re hardly around anymore, so I can’t really think

00:20:29.662 –> 00:20:31.662
of them. I used to love Quiznos. I mean, I agree with you there. We’re good.

00:20:32.262 –> 00:20:36.142
But you can have more than one toasted sandwich place. But we digress.

00:20:36.622 –> 00:20:39.502
Hold on. I got one last thing on this because the world we live in,

00:20:39.622 –> 00:20:41.842
like, doing things is easier than ever now.

00:20:42.642 –> 00:20:46.362
Literally if you’re confused or not sure and you need someone to brainstorm with,

00:20:46.961 –> 00:20:51.441
Download ChadGPT or Grok free on your phone and start having a conversation.

00:20:51.921 –> 00:20:54.861
Tell them, hey, I need to create a brand for my business.

00:20:55.221 –> 00:20:59.761
Ask me questions so that you can understand my business and help me come up with a brand.

00:20:59.901 –> 00:21:03.741
It doesn’t mean you have to do it, but it’s going to ask you some good questions and make you think.

00:21:03.901 –> 00:21:08.321
So I think there’s characteristics about, I mean, one thing that a brand has

00:21:08.321 –> 00:21:10.461
is it always has consistency.

00:21:10.861 –> 00:21:17.641
True. So if you had some electric neon font for Potbelly, and then you walk

00:21:17.641 –> 00:21:23.581
in and they have the Potbelly stove there, there’s this disconnect, right?

00:21:23.681 –> 00:21:30.121
You can’t have Futura modern font telling you to go to this kind of old-timey

00:21:30.121 –> 00:21:32.021
sandwich shop. So you got to have consistency.

00:21:32.661 –> 00:21:37.461
It’s got to all relate around a couple characteristics, and there’s got to be

00:21:37.461 –> 00:21:42.281
a differentiator. That’s why when you asked me, like, what is Potbelly’s brand?

00:21:42.321 –> 00:21:44.961
That’s why I said toasted sandwich because it is Subway.

00:21:45.321 –> 00:21:50.401
Yes, they can toast. I know. Yeah. But that’s my difference between Subway and

00:21:50.401 –> 00:21:55.841
Potbelly is Subway’s a regular sandwich shop that just has sandwiches that you

00:21:55.841 –> 00:21:59.881
make and, you know, and so forth. And then Potbelly is the one that toasts them.

00:22:00.201 –> 00:22:02.601
And that’s big for me because I like toasted.

00:22:03.041 –> 00:22:06.141
Completely in their, the way they package it up. And you’re right.

00:22:06.221 –> 00:22:08.981
I remember it’s always hot and they wrap it in that. deal like

00:22:08.981 –> 00:22:12.381
they’re Subway and Potbelly they

00:22:12.381 –> 00:22:16.741
serve sandwiches but they’re so different I’ll say one other thing about Potbelly

00:22:16.741 –> 00:22:21.441
that that I saw in their marketing that I really that stuck with me they did

00:22:21.441 –> 00:22:29.381
these video ads or it was an animated ad where a guy actually took a Potbelly sub.

00:22:30.379 –> 00:22:33.739
Dipped it in a cup of pot belly soup and ate

00:22:33.739 –> 00:22:36.699
it like a sub dipped in soup okay if

00:22:36.699 –> 00:22:39.479
you’re going to be going off about quizness i’m going to go off on pot

00:22:39.479 –> 00:22:42.359
belly no no no i’m going to go off about pot belly because they

00:22:42.359 –> 00:22:45.639
took tomato soup off the freaking menu and i

00:22:45.639 –> 00:22:48.599
would always get a ham and cheese and dip it in the tomato soup and

00:22:48.599 –> 00:22:51.399
i am e-o’d about it eric as

00:22:51.399 –> 00:22:54.219
you should be i i am talking about i know i know you are but

00:22:54.219 –> 00:22:57.079
i was just saying that if you’re going to do your digress i’m going to digress it

00:22:57.079 –> 00:22:59.939
as well and it’s just so makes me mad we’re gonna

00:22:59.939 –> 00:23:03.399
do we’re gonna we’re gonna pull hard to get this change

00:23:03.399 –> 00:23:07.939
pot belly if you’re listening we will do this podcast only if you bring back

00:23:07.939 –> 00:23:12.559
tomato soup i mean they might hey i got what okay what i was gonna say was when

00:23:12.559 –> 00:23:18.379
when i saw that when i saw an ad where someone literally dips a crumbly sandwich

00:23:18.379 –> 00:23:21.379
into some soup and eats it I was like,

00:23:21.619 –> 00:23:27.199
you would never see that in a Subway or a Panera ad.

00:23:27.559 –> 00:23:31.459
And Panera’s whole thing is like soup and bread. I mean, I say that.

00:23:31.579 –> 00:23:36.099
I could be proven wrong. There might be a video somewhere. But whenever I think

00:23:36.099 –> 00:23:40.059
of Panera bread, I think of a perfectly clean plate.

00:23:40.299 –> 00:23:45.319
You know, everything looks neat and portioned. And it looks like Potbelly’s not trying to look neat.

00:23:45.579 –> 00:23:48.659
They’re just saying, do you like, are you a sandwich fan? No.

00:23:50.319 –> 00:23:54.679
Now I’m thinking about the bread bowls at Panera. I’m thinking about Potbelly

00:23:54.679 –> 00:23:55.739
because we’ve got one close by.

00:23:55.899 –> 00:23:59.739
We’ve got a Panera nearby too. Oh, that’s right. We’ve got a Cracker Barrel close by.

00:23:59.919 –> 00:24:03.479
Now, the time that we went for lunch, I don’t know.

00:24:05.279 –> 00:24:11.499
It’s tired. That’s the problem is right now the restaurant itself is tired. It’s not their attire.

00:24:11.899 –> 00:24:13.479
It’s that they are tired, right?

00:24:13.979 –> 00:24:18.319
All the surfaces are scratched just a little too much.

00:24:18.439 –> 00:24:22.859
Yeah. All the, you know, the, everything’s have been used just a little too

00:24:22.859 –> 00:24:28.839
much and it doesn’t have any, you can be old timey, but feel crisp and it doesn’t. There we go.

00:24:28.979 –> 00:24:31.599
So who knows, maybe this is going to work.

00:24:32.099 –> 00:24:35.819
What time will tell. I’m always, I mean, you know, y’all know me.

00:24:35.979 –> 00:24:40.719
I’m always down for trying out menu changes before I. We’re having a hard time

00:24:40.719 –> 00:24:41.819
getting the draft together.

00:24:42.179 –> 00:24:46.519
The sale, our sales team draft, but I, I will lay money on this.

00:24:46.679 –> 00:24:49.999
Isn’t going to save Cracker Barrel. yeah we’ll see yeah

00:24:49.999 –> 00:24:52.999
i i would agree with you on that it’s too little

00:24:52.999 –> 00:24:56.779
and all they’re doing is taking away yeah well

00:24:56.779 –> 00:25:01.879
we’ll we’ll find out and and i should also i’m also gonna take this time to

00:25:01.879 –> 00:25:06.959
plug my upcoming podcast called the never-ending podcast bowl where me and a

00:25:06.959 –> 00:25:11.939
guest sit at the never-ending pasta bowl and see how long we can go who’s the

00:25:11.939 –> 00:25:14.679
guest you’ve never really you’ve Boy, we made that a little mystery.

00:25:15.179 –> 00:25:19.139
Oh, okay. It’s sort of like the hot sauce thing. Exactly.

00:25:19.279 –> 00:25:23.619
So I’m inviting y’all if y’all want to be individual guests with me.

00:25:23.939 –> 00:25:25.899
You’re going to ask about my movie career?

00:25:26.559 –> 00:25:29.599
That’s what they do in the hot sauce challenge. Oh.

00:25:31.519 –> 00:25:35.779
What’s that thing called? Hot Ones. Hot Ones. The best one was with that.

00:25:35.919 –> 00:25:40.539
I don’t watch a lot of them, but it was with, gosh, the Deadpool and Wolverine

00:25:40.539 –> 00:25:41.659
when he had those two on. Oh.

00:25:41.939 –> 00:25:44.639
That was so funny. Ryan Reynolds and Jackman.

00:25:44.939 –> 00:25:47.979
So funny. Jennifer Lawrence is pretty funny. She’s a great interviewer.

00:25:48.199 –> 00:25:52.279
Yeah. Interviewee, I guess. Yeah. Well, we’re going to end this with saying.

00:25:52.879 –> 00:25:57.979
Go try to find a brand. Go define a brand. And leave us your thoughts about

00:25:57.979 –> 00:26:01.959
what you think makes a brand a brand. Absolutely. All right. Have a good one.

00:26:01.840 –> 00:26:09.797
Music.

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