I am consistently left with my yapper agape by what our fellow professionals and creative types will do to earn some extra "green" at the cost of their hard-built identity. Brands take serious effort to build, and only through time (and with enough money to help get the name out there), will the client see the fruits of their labor pay off with recognition. Personally, I'm the sort of humanoid that is happy to present myself to the world through the best work possible, and would never stoop to the level of off-shooting a company called "theCheapanism" for example, that would hock pre-made web templates or visual solutions for modest prices.
However, such was the case with a Master Chef that I admired from afar named Wolfgang Puck, who apparently has the free time to create pre-wrapped lunchtime yummies for the masses at the Jacksonville International Airport. Now keep in mind that I'm not foolishly believing that the "Almighty Wolf" Himself prepared these sandwiches for me all by himself (I'm sure spends his free time hocking his knives and spices on The Shopping Network), but he's certainly not shy about plastering his most important asset -- his name and his brand -- on a chilled kiosk, and poorly saran-wrapped sandwiches by which his foul foodstuffs were being pedaled for 9 bucks a piece. While I realize that simply the name "Wolfgang Puck" itself should aurally emphasize the quality of the famous chef, I would expect that with one of the most powerful names in "Chef-Ville," the food would at least be magical if not euphoric in both presentation and flavor. I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that my pre-wrapped feast of a chicken sandwich with mayo, lettuce and focaccia bread tasted no better than a generic sandwich with the same ingredients sold for 4 bucks two kiosks past the airport CD peddler.
It begins to beg the question of what branding really means to someone like Puck and his marketing minions. When you combine tasteless presentation with equally tasteless food, does it defile the very essence of the brand it took years to build? Does it hurt the ambitions of future superstar-turned cash machines like Paris Hilton or Emeril? Or will it simply inspire folks like David Carson and Stefan Sagmeister to pedal pre-made graphic design work to an audience of new time-fearing and hungry clients? If Puck can do it with his reputation firmly etched in our psyche, why not?
In the end, I got a free bag of jalapeño-flavored chips for my 9 bucks wasted. Crunching the spicy treats actually helped eradicate the foul taste of the chicken crapwich from my taste buds. So, things could always be worse...
Published by: davefletcher in The Design Mechanism, The Thinking Mechanism
Tags: wolfgang puck
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