Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Brands are Fun

I'm home with Riley-boy this week while Josh is off traveling around the midwest. By Friday he will have visited ConAgra, Unilever, Kraft, Miller, Oscar-Mayer (which I believe is owned by Kraft), 3M, General Mills (which I like to refer to as the mother-ship, due to the hundreds of bowls of Cheerios Josh consumes each year) and Target. Hopefully he'll come home with lots of samples!

So my brand manager-to-be husband is now fascinated by trips to the grocery store. It doesn't matter which aisle he is in - from shampoo to dog chow to frozen foods - but shopping for mundane household needs has become significantly more interesting to him. Our trips are peppered with questions such as "did you know Hunts (think canned tomatoes) is a ConAgra brand?" or "don't you think this Target brand body wash has unique packaging?" He often stops to read the labels on items such as deodorant, laundry detergent, and peanut butter. It is quite the adventure.

He has kind of gotten me into it, actually!

Did you know that the same company that makes Ragu also produces Lawry's Seasoning Salt and Snuggle? And like a million other things? Unilever. Kraft has Miracle Whip, A1 Steak Sauce, and Maxwell House, among other brands. Miller makes... well, just beer. And I guess they were giving out free samples today at 9:30 am. For some reason 3M products (Scotch Tape, Post-In Notes, etc) get me really jazzed. Those folks do a good job :)

So the next time you're putting creamer into your coffee or opening a bag of chips, turn the bag around and see what company really makes it. Kelloggs? Nestle? There is a good chance that the name you see on the front of the box is not actually the company that produces that product.

1 comment:

Jaimbob said...

Just so you know aren't alone Witte, I thought I would let you know that I LOVE post-it notes too! Something about them, they come in all shapes and sizes and styles... ;)