Book Review: Brands, Trademarks and Good Will: The Story of the Quaker Oats Company

Book Review: Brands, Trademarks and Good Will: The Story of the Quaker Oats Company

BRANDS TRADEMARKS AND GOOD WILL

Author: Arthur F. Marquette
ISBN-13:  First Edition 

Topic:  Early American Brand Marketing

Format:  Hard Cover Book
Language:  English
Publication Year:  1967

REVIEW:

The story of the Quaker Oats company.  Easy to read recounting of how Quaker Oats came to be what it is. Marks one of the first attempts to explore and study brands and the good will associated with them. 

It is amazing how far we have come.  In 1875 a branded approach was rare except for Bon Ami or Bull Durham, now everything seems to be branded.  This book puts together how a vast network of independent mills and distributors were put together in an empire that achieved global dominance.  An excellent foundation of knowledge book if you are involved in marketing or branding.

CONTROVERSY:  The sometimes disturbing look into how brands like "Aunt Jemima" came into being.  The history is, St. Joseph Gazette editor Chris L. Rutt of St. Joseph, Missouri and his friend Charles G. Underwood bought a flour mill in 1888. Rutt and Underwood's Pearl Milling Company faced a glutted flour market, so they sold their excess flour as a ready-made pancake mix in white paper sacks with a trade name (which Arthur F. Marquette dubbed the "last ready-mix"). 

Photographs from the History of Quaker Oats

Rutt reportedly saw a minstrel show featuring the "Old Jemima" song in the fall of 1889 presented by blackface performers identified by Marquette as "Baker & Farrell". However, Doris Witt was unable to confirm Marquette's account. Witt suggests that Rutt might have witnessed a vaudeville performance byPete F. Baker, who played a character described in newspapers of that era as "Aunt Jemima". If this is correct, the original inspiration for the Aunt Jemima character was a white male in whiten face, who some have described as a German immigrant.

Marquette recounts that the actor playing Aunt Jemima wore an apron and kerchief, and Rutt appropriated this Aunt Jemima character to market the Pearl Milling Company pancake mix in late 1889 after viewing a minstrel show. However, Rutt and Underwood were unable to make the project work, so they sold their company to the R.T. Davis Milling Company in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1890.

BUY IT NOW - RARE First Edition.

Book Review: GET SLIGHTLY FAMOUS

GET SLIGHTLY FAMOUS

Get Slightly Famous

Author:  Steven Van Yoder
ISBN-13: 9780972002172

Topic:  Business & Economics

Format:  Softcover
Language:  English
Publication Year:  2007

REVIEW:

With practical marketing help for the small business owner or independent professional on every page, Get Slightly Famous shows how to build visibility and credibility by making yourself a thought leader and indispensable resource to your potential clients and customers.

This expanded new edition provides a toolbox of strategies for:

* Getting consistent media attention

* Using speaking engagements to cultivate your target market

* Becoming a center of influence within your industry

* Leveraging the Internet and Web 2.0 to its full potential

* Creating ancillary "info-products" that supplement your income and build public awareness

Slightly Famous Media Strategies that Work: 

The public values the media, and so should you. In one way or another, the media reach and influence everyone who has a direct impact on your business. When properly pursued, media strategies establish your reputation and build your brand, reaching far more prospects than you ever could in person.

* How to position your business as a media resource.

* How to identify magazines, trade publications, newspapers and broadcast media and reach your target.

* How to position yourself as the media "go-to" person for your industry.

* How to get quoted in media stories about your industry.

* How to publish articles that attract prospects.

* How to land radio and television interviews.

* How to use previous media coverage to develop marketing materials that easily replace expensive brochures, mailers, and newsletters.

About the Author

Steven Van Yoder   http://www.getslightlyfamous.com/  is a public relations consultant and freelance journalist specializing in client positioning and reputation marketing. Yoder has published hundreds of articles, given numerous media interviews, and landed hundreds of thousands of dollars in free media coverage for his clients in consumer and business publications. This talk will leave attendees with a clear understanding and action plan of how to get "slightly" famous in media that reach their target markets.  His articles (both bylines and ghosted for clients) have appeared in the Washington Post, Industry Week, Boardwatch, Home Office Computing, Financial Executive, Epicurean Magazine, ASTA Journal, Beauty

Lesson Learned

Get Slightly Famous provides hands-on, step-by-step insights for developing a comprehensive thought leadership marketing program, making company executives irresistible to the media, writing effective press releases, getting articles into print, developing an effective Internet presence, using Web 2.0 marketing tools, including blogs, podcasts and online networking, speaking strategies and tele-classes, developing strategic alliances and embracing social responsibility with cause marketing.

I found it a very good blueprint for setting up a strategy.  The book is easy to read and has many humorous examples.  Whenever Yoder makes a point, he always backs it up with an example.  However, some of the examples are for large established corporations and are not relevant for smaller companies.

If you are in the marketing department or a business owner, this is a must read.  A word of caution, some of the activity levels are unrealistic for the business owner juggling multiple priorities.