Thompson Brand Partners

Creative Cakes

I recently discovered that a friend of mine enjoys baking cakes. What I didn't realise was the attention to detail that went into the cakes. Check out these masterpieces!

Amazing!!

A great brand is not always enough...

Times are tough. We all know that. And as brand experts, one of the best pieces of advice we give is the need to find and occupy a distinctive positioning in your market. Get this right, communicate your point of difference creatively, usually with the help of your own brand personality, and the rest should sort itself out. Right? Well, that's the theory.

This week Oddbins, one of my favourite brands, went into administration. Well, the brand didn't, but the company that owns it did. They have struggled against the supermarkets for years, and when the companies they owed money to decided not to accept 21p in the £ and a voluntary settlement (who can blame them), the administrators were called in. My hope in these situations is that the staff continue to be paid, which the guy in Street Lane said he has been. On Sunday night at least.

Established in 1963, the Oddbins brand has been built around a very distinctive personality. It stands out from the usual crowd of offies (as we used to call them) with its tone of voice. Great messages in the windows, knowledgeable staff with their welcome and sense of humour, Oddbins has always served me very well. Their recommendations have very rarely been anything other than great, and for someone that knows little about wine, its a great help.
So what went wrong? Well the obvious factor has been the power of the supermarkets. Stack it high and the masses will buy. We all love a good deal after all. Everyone moans about supermarket shopping and the convenience of buying everything in one go, but very few manage to avoid it. Oddbins has also made some mistakes too. It has concentrated on a very narrow slice of the market, selling wines of between about £8 and £15 a bottle. Nothing here to really compete in the mass market, which is looking for decent plonk for 6 quid or that ever popular brand of 3for. At the top end, Oddbins also used to look after the connoisseurs, with an excellent range of finer wines for the finer palette. But that went too, as the money men pushed too hard in too narrow a niche. And for all the efforts to create individuality and avoid generic POS, their game has noticeably slipped over the last couple of years, and their performance with it.

In the end, with the familiar tale of strangling debt, the brand has not been able to compete in our evermore competitive markets. So one of the most distinctive brands out there has gone the way of so many. I personally hope the brand lives on and can still be true to the itself. It sounds as if a number of buyers are in the frame, so the name at least will rise from the ashes. For me, there is definitely still room for specialist advice from a trusted advisor, which is what Oddbins is all about, and I for one will be supporting it as much as this moderate drinker can.

  

Starbucks gets BIGGER.

Starbucks. Oh how I love your frothy coffee, your admittedly overpriced but totally tasty muffins, your super Christmassy Red Cups... But I'm not so sure about your 2011 marketing scheme. 

They kicked off 2011 with the grand unveiling of their 'new' logo, from which they've removed both the word 'Starbucks' and the word 'Coffee'.... Whatever, Starbucks. I see what you're going for but I preferred the old one.

Now they've unleashed upon the world their all new coffee size, measuring a whopping PINT AND A HALF. Naturally, they've started with the biggest (!) fans of supersize, the Americans - but where they lead, surely we will follow (Iraq anyone?)...

Rachel.

Fattening up for winter!

Good morning folks! I am in a great mood this morning. Surprisingly so as I am meant to have a day off but am instead in at work. I just love waking up in the winter to a blanket of thick snow covering our lawn. 

I love the cold, crisp winter mornings and I know that most of you will think I am mad but I genuinely love the way the cold makes your face red and how cuddled up and cosy you can get at home watching the snow drift past the window. This of course is helped by the fact that i live in a beautiful converted manor house which looks postcard perfect in the snow and my office is only a short walk away. I also think its because I am a southerner who still finds snow a rare treat instead of a nuisance like my northern colleagues who are used to this disruption, school closures and chaos. Plus not having kids helps! It means i can act like one instead which i inevitably will do at some point.

Anyway.. back to the reason I started this particular post. 

In the winter i get an overwhelming interest in food. Cooking in particular and stock pile various magazines, recipes and blogs from my favourite sources. It must be an innate desire to fatten up for winter... or at least thats my excuse. I also cook our family Xmas dinner so I spend the majority of Nov and Dec planning various meat and vegetarian main course and twists on the traditional spread. 

I use Google Reader as a resource to keep on top of all of my favourite foodie blogs and wanted to share with you one in particular that has continued to impress me with every new post for the past two years. Its called 'Canelle et Vanille' and is seriously one of the most beautiful blogs you can subscribe to. Each new post is not only skillfully written it is also accompanied by beautiful food photography and styling. The imagery in particular is what gives this blog stand out. If you like food and photography you have to check it out!

http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/

Coral

ATV Crashes, Montezumas revenge and the biggest Flag in the World!

Every year or two I’m lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit a new fabulous and exotic destination courtesy of my wonderful father.

Two years ago my sister chose the caribean island of Aruba and this year I chose to explore Mexico. When I say explore, my adventures took me as far as Cancun and Riviera Maya but I experienced some amazing events just the same.

First off, if you have never travelled ‘all inclusive’ then you must do it at least once. Our first destination (after being picked up in a limo by the parentals) was the beautifully remote El Dorado Seaside Suites, an all inclusive adults only resort in Riviera Maya.

I have never quite experienced luxury like it. 3 course meals at any of the six ala carte restaurants on site, all of which were fabulous. Any cocktail or drink you can imagine miraculously being brought to you while you lounge by the aqua coloured ocean on one of their luxury double beach beds! It was simply paradise.

During the week here we also took a trip deeper into the Mayan jungle to ride ATV’s (quad bikes) to a secluded, sacred Cenote. This beautiful cave housed an underwater river which you were encouraged to swim and explore. It really was fasinating if you didn’t mind the pitch black cave pockets, the niggling feeling of terror should one of the walls collapse and entomb you underground or your partner reminding you of all the different scenes from the caving horror film, The Descent.

On our ride back to the initial meeting point I felt invincible. A Mexican Lara Croft Tomb Raider if you will. I was now standing, not sitting on my quad and doing a good job of keeping up with our mental jungle guide while several of the others were lost following our trail of dust. However, all the imaginary enemies chasing us finally got the better of me and during a twisting, narrow and very rocky section of trail I hit a massive tree route and literally flew off the quad head first. 

The second week we spent sunning it up in Cancun. Which despite the beautiful surroundings was not worth the money in comparison to the first location. Overpriced, very busy and manic at times but our amazing hotel suites and the fabulous company made up for it. One tip - If you do ever go to Cancun, you must go to Coco Bongo (the nightclub from the movie, The Mask). It was an experience to say the least.

Now, I know the title of this blog mentioned Montezumas revenge but on second thoughts I'm not going to go into it. Lets just say it wasn't fun and thankfully, three weeks later I am finally recovering.  - Coral

 

Leventhorpe Vineyard

Whilst checking out the talent in the plonk aisle in my local shop, I was very surprised to find a wine called Leventhorpe Seyval, Yorkshire Regional Wine. The big attraction apart from the name was two Leeds owls at opposites on the label, kind of reminded me of the old Leeds Rugby League badge before we became the Rhinos. Anyway I found myself buying a bottle and taking it home. Again to my surprise it was really tasty - I'm no wine expert, so if I say it tasted of honey and lavender with a sharp crisp finish and it was tasty that will have to do.

I enjoyed it so much that at the weekend, after a bit of Google tinkering, I found the address I drove over to the vinyard based just outside Woddlesford in Leeds. To my astionishment I found 5 acres of grape vines and a nice man called George on a red tractor. They do free tastings for the passing public and mostly white wine, which is excellent. They do have a red which if I'm honest is a little weak, but Janet (George's wife) let us try all they had to offer.

It all gets a big thumbs up from me,  a really local company producing award winning, sustainable British produce and that really does taste good.

Asparagus

Asparagus has one of the shortest vegetable seasons. Blink and you'll miss it. There's nothing nicer than snapping up big fat bundles of green joy from a local farm in north Yorkshire for a spring treat. Cheaper and much better tasting than it's supermarket counterparts, the farm spears really are superior. And they make make your pee smell REALLY strong, which brings out the kid in all of us. What could be better?

Dickens' local

Feeling particularly parched after a long day of back to back meetings, we came upon The George Inn just off Borough High Street in London. On recommendation by my good friend Ian, we partook of a pint of the local George ale brew - which for a southern beer was remarkably smooth displaying a full, frothy head.

As you can probably tell, it's a proper old London ale house and was frequented by Dickens and Shakespeare before him. Apparently Churchill drank there and although he brought his own vintage, they charged him 1s 6d corkage!

Worth calling in for if you're in the Bankside vicinity, a reminder how good a proper English boozer can be.

Pancakes

Fresh lemon juice and sugar.

Maple syrup.

Tabasco sauce.

Jif lemon juice (plastic lemon essential)

Chillies.

Reggae reggae sauce.

Strawberries and raspberries.

Chocolate sauce.

Blueberries.

Nutella.

Whatever you put on your pancakes, enjoy.

Two bags

I’m not sure that I agree with the general view on strong tea. 

The serious brown stuff is often referred as builders tea. I don’t know about you, but I know plenty of people who aren’t builders who like strong tea and in fact my experience is most builders like it milky with lots of sugar. Strength isn't usually an issue with these boys, it's sweetness. The more sugars the merrier.

Anyway, when somebody kindly makes me a brew at work, I usually request two tea bags (I know, I know) because tea can potentially be too thin for my liking - I blame my dad - and the amount of milk in it is just another tricky thing to calculate. By and large though, the teas are pretty good special and special mention goes to Ted.

By the by. I'm told by a reliable source that the only other person they know who has two teabags is Sheffield song maestro Richard Hawley. He's a fellow fan of the brown tea. None of that pretentious Earl Grey nonsense. 

Good lad.

Bet he doesn't have a the benefit of a Pantone swatch to check the strength of the brews...OCD anyone?