512 Brewing (from Austin, of course)

A couple of months ago, we went to the Ginger Man Pub to meet up with some friends. It had been a few years since my last Ginger Man visit, and we went during the off-hours, so it wasn't too busy.

The Ginger Man Pubs always have a wide selection of beer on tap. I noticed one of the taps, and instantly knew (or thought I knew) where the brewery was from. This is what the taps looked like:

Image courtesy of thethreadaustin.com

The genius of naming their brewery "(512) Brewing" is that people instantly recognize "512" as an Austin-area area code. My favorite part of their branding process is the parentheses around the area code, to show that it's an area code.

Excellent Video about Melanoma

I recently spoke to someone whose mom is suffering from melanoma, a type of skin cancer. This made me think of one of my good friends, who lost her best friend to this disease over a year ago. I don't think that Laura even made it to her 30th birthday.

This video was created by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund in Canada and it's quite powerful. Please take a few moments to watch this video called "Dear 16-year-old Me." It reminds me of another powerful video about Sex Trafficking.

Oreos for the Chinese Market

I found an article via NPR (National Public Radio) about the Oreo cookie and how they marketed it in China. If companies and businesses plan to bring their products to different markets or countries, they must do research.

People all over the world are driven by different goals and motivators. It's amazing when companies just assume that the American way will be the "right" way, no matter where they sell their products.

This article is a great example of how Oreo's marketing team listened to the Chinese public regarding their tastes and preferences:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/27/145918343/rethinking-the-oreo-for-chinese-consumers