Jun
25

Taking it to the next level: new era at Bridgehead Coffee Shops

By | Consumer product brands, Contains Video, Retail Brands

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Three short years ago I wrote about my favourite coffee shop chain Bridgehead on the occasion of their 10th location in Ottawa. Well, tomorrow, they’ll be opening their 15th shop just off Preston Street. Think it’s a fluke they’ve been so successful? We Beg to Differ. 

More than a store

The bright, spacious new retail store is just the most familiar part of the roastery.

Sorry, when I say “shop”, I’m using the wrong word. The new Bridgehead location, which you can see getting its final tweaks prior to public opening tomorrow, is far more than just another retail coffee shop. It’s going to be the new head office for the Bridgehead chain and the new central warehouse to supply all 15 Bridgeheads across the urban core.

Plus it’s big enough to have space for a community room, and – get this – a coffee education tasting room.

But an even bigger development for the chain: as of tomorrow, all coffee in all Bridgeheads across Ottawa will be roasted by Bridgehead right here in Ottawa. Because the new location marks Bridgehead’s transition from being a retail reseller of other people’s coffee to being a producer and innovator, selling their own coffee. And along with this, they are building an industrial team of experts who have already had to learn to produce large volumes every day.

Bridgehead 2.0

The roastery is filled with gear that looks made for alchemy.

And you can really taste, smell. and see the difference. I tried one of the new Espresso roasts in a tasty, steaming cup of Americano today, and it not only tastes better, it looks better – with a real head of dense foam like you find on your cup in Europe.

One day early, I snuck into the new location and asked Bridgehead’s Coffee Program Manager Ian Clark whether  that was just my imagination. Here’s his geeky-but-fascinating answer, plus a look around the new roastery – including a glimpse of their new “Human Roaster” (in the still grab below – not kidding either).

Brand evolution

What becomes very obvious very quickly is that Bridgehead is evolving into a different kind of brand. Always a savvy purveyor of great coffee, they are now becoming a place where great coffee products are developed and refined.

What does this mean for Bridgehead? Well, this is where I’d love to hear from you. Have you tried the new roasts? Are you excited about visiting? Let me know in the comments!

Jun
05

Labatt: “Our goal was simply to protect our brand.”

By | Consumer product brands, Humour, Social Media

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Twitter to Labatt: “We Beg to Differ!” This quirky and macabre little illustration by pop artist Gary Baseman was used a few years ago in Labatt’s Blue ad campaign: “A lot can happen. Out of the Blue.” Indeed it can… let’s hope the brand magicians at Labatt can put this one back together.

Out of the Blue.

It’s true. A lot can happen like that. 

You can be sitting at your desk working when a strange Tweet appears in your stream about a severed foot being mailed to the headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. Whoa. Weird.

Or next, it can happen that a weird, twisted news story unfolds in all its evil awfulness on every media channel, so you can’t even listen to the news or look at a news site online while your kids are in the room. Weird, and annoying.

Then the story can get worse with tales of kitten killing, serial-killer-dating, and cannibalism. Weird, annoying, and kind of upsetting, because it became clear very quickly that all this was being staged by one narcissistic young slimeball to have exactly the effect it was having.

Then the Internet good guys can rally their troops to try and help find the guy, and the guy can be caught. Because he was Googling himself for hours in a public Internet cafe. A great relief actually (and can we get a clean-up at terminal 7?)

And we hoped, such a capture can signal the end to the stupidity, butchery, and media manipulation.

Seriously. All of that can happen.

But then, you know what else can happen? Out of the Blue?

Someone working at a major Canadian consumer beer brand – let us call that brand “Labatt” - sees that the Montreal Gazette has skimmed a photo of the evil perpetrator  from the (do I even need to say “alleged” any more?) killer’s Web site. The photo is splashed all over their online coverage like so factory-produced beer across a freshman dorm room.

And, horrors! In the photo he is holding their product Labatt Blue!

Board rooms are booked. Meetings are convened. People speak in urgent voices.

There is a BAD man. In a PUBLIC newspaper. Holding OUR BEER!

Suitable horror is expressed by all, minions and executive washroom keyholders alike, and a powerful, simple idea emerges:
we must protect our brand!!!

Now this is where, out of the blue, somebody got the idea. An idea which isn’t a bad idea if you’re the sort of person paid to have such ideas. It just seems that way to the rest of us…

They send a lawyer’s letter ordering the Montreal Gazette to take down the photo.

So what happened then?

There’s a name for all of this, as Dabitch reminds me: “the Streisand Effect”, wherein a brand tries to “protect” itself from a media storm but ends up wading into an even deeper mess. And you’ll note that Labatt has already secured itself a spot on the Wikipedia listing for Ms. Streisand’s eponymous Effect. How’s that for exposure?

But the part that got me was this quote from Labatt’s vice-president of corporate affairs:

“Once the Gazette explained their position, we promptly thanked them for their response, dropped the matter and we will not be following up further,” Charlie Angelakos wrote in a statement. “Our goal was simply to protect our brand.”

Now dear readers, you tell me: is that how brands are protected?

Or is it perhaps how brands are dismembered, cannibalized, and made notorious for all the wrong reasons?

After all, a lot can happen…. Out of the Blue.
May
03

Sorry Ashton Kutcher. That’s a wipe-out.

By | Branding Mistakes, Consumer product brands, Contains Video, Humour

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Yesterday, a friend linked to the video below, wondering why Ashton Kutcher and advertiser popchips would post such a “racist video”. Then an online debate broke out about whether it is racist or not. I won’t paddle into that one, but I will offer this…

(Guitar Riff. Maniacal laughter.) WIPEOUT!!!

Anyone who’s had a joke fall flat knows that  humour is a tricky balance. It’s like surfing a wave. You’ve got to ride the edge between keeping your audience laughing and “sucking water” (so to speak).

But “edgy” humour is an even bigger wave, and humour dealing with controversial topics like gender, race, is the biggest, nastiest wave of all. Only the most skillful comedians can hold themselves on that edge without making people angry.  Peter Sellers did it brilliantly in The Party by creating a character that with stereotypes, but ends up making most of us love him. Will some people be offended? Sure they will. But most will sense the risk, see your skill, and cringing, go along for the ride.

Ashton Kutcher? Sorry my friend. Stick to the small waves.

Or better yet. Stay on the beach.

Update: The ad has been pulled by popchips.

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