Marketers sure are brilliant! Just when you thought you’d begun to really identify with a brand you’ve loved and faithfully used since childhood, Philip Morris became Altria, and Time Warner became AOL Time Warner, before becoming Time Warner again…so exciting!
7up “flipped it and reversed it” to become dnL, and next thing you know, twenty-somethings felt like skateboarding and reading “Thrasher” for the first time since junior high (and it surely didn’t hurt that 7up, I mean, dnL, tastes way cooler than yesterday’s extreme-sports soda, Mountain Dew).
Now, according to Adweek, the branding wizards at Mendelsohn/Zien are giving us another rechristening. Beloved second-tier fast-food chain Carl’s Jr. is pandering to its Los Angeles base:
“With a simple display of the fast-food chain’s smiling-star logo, a voiceover announces, “Carl’s Jr. would like to extend a special welcome to the L.A. Lakers’ Karl Malone,” at which point a super comes up under the Laker-gold star, reading “Karl’s Jr.” The sound of a bouncing basketball concludes the spot.”
Phew. Seeing that revised logo the first time, and given chain founder Carl Karcher’s notorious background as an avid Southern California Republican, I initially feared far more insidious influences were at work.
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4 replies on “Be thankful Carl’s Jr. isn’t based out of Washington, D.C.”
Should we also mock-up an ad for Captain Morgan’s Rumsfeld with Rummy in an eye patch and ambiguously gay outfit?
When I lived in salt Lake City a couple of years ago, Karl told a story about how his toddler son once asked him if he owned Carl’s Jr. (as they drove past one of the restaurants). The son was bitterly disappointed to find out his dad wasn’t the “Carl Jr.” He must be so proud now…
7up “flipped it and reversed it” to become dnL, and next thing you know, twenty-somethings felt like skateboarding and reading “Thrasher” for the first sime
time?
(sorry – I can’t find an e-mail contact)
yeah, thanks for taking note of that spelling error.
however, good thing i at least had the sense to edit/correct my anti-semitic hollywood diatribe before posting.