17 Facts About Bacon

Mmm, pork bellies, aka "Natures Candy." Here are 17 delicious facts about bacon.[Via: Online Schools]

PHEW- What a week, finally over

Yes it has really been crazy this week.......................

Honiton Agricultural Show on Thursday - my first really big show, in the craft tent with my two wonderful helpers Nigel (From the Bridge Inn and my fantastic photographer) and Dot my friend from Poland,  both were so great, I could not have done it without them.  After 12 hours Dot and I dismantled the stall and hotfooted it to Taunton to set up in the New Riverside Craft Tents for the best and biggest flower show in the South West.  We had to get out of Honiton show and up to Taunton, then set up before 9pm when they closed the show site......

We did it!  then back home to sleep.  Taunton on Friday was great, I had my new soap slave working with me - my lovely, ever supportive boyfriend Rik

       My Lovely Soap Slave!                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The stall looked great except for the backgound tent - I didn't know it would be an ugly marquee, but when it rained the second day I was very pleased to have it!!

The cupcakes, soapcake and new range of Kiss Me and Jasmine sold really well but the best was 'Dirty Dog' it really flew off the stall.  I met so many lovely people and had a really brilliant two days at this show - this is just one comment I came home to via email:-

Hello

Happy to have met you and your lovely assistant today at the Taunton Flower Show.

Your website looks great! I have bookmarked it for future purchases.

In the meantime, we had a laugh giving a 'piece a cake' as a present!

Wishing you all the best,

Ron (chap in the wheelchair) and Maggie (his carer)

 

How lovely is that?  It makes it all worthwhile for me.

 

Today I was at Sandy Bay just outside Exmouth.  Its a huge caravan park but they are very happy for local Farmers Market traders to come along every Sunday and I do really well there.  Everyone is so happy, they are on holiday and really pleased to be in such a beautiful part of the world.  I had my good friend Lindsay helping on the stall and there were lots of my Farmers Market colleagues there too, we had a really great and fun day - its such a nice place, I have to thank Brian and the management at the park for organising it.  I really have to add a special word for the entertainments team at the park who spent quite a while mixing up a horrid concoction (they called it gunk) full of soup, custard, mushy peas and lots of other stuff, then they gunked the guy from their team who had made the least money for their children's charity and the half marathon they are running.  they are such an enthusiastic lot, make Butlins Red Coats look like amateurs!!

Then - maybe best of all - Rik came back from flying (to a Belgium fly in) and we went to the Bridge Inn - probably the best pub in the world, my beer for the Bridge Inn Beer Bar comes from here, along with my Honiton Show helper and photographer Nigel, I already knew that they had tapped one of our favourite beers - Firebox, then the evening just got better - the light was beautiful and I took a couple of pics to show you all why we love this place so much

 

Now that's why I live in Devon!!













 

Kitty Wuvs A Wittle Baby Wabbit

Have you ever seen something so cute it made you want to vomit rainbows and unicorn glitter? Well, this is one of those things. It's so sweet, your great grandchildren will get diabetes from you watching it.

Via

I'm Finally in Ohio

So I hauled my family and all my worldly possessions across the country this week. It took three days (35 or so hours on the road), but we are finally here. I love our country, but driving on 1-80 through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio has taught me several things. First, we eat way too much corn. Seriously, there is a lot of it growing out there. Second, I do not want to

Marketing Strategy : How to Craft Your Brand's Vision

How to Craft Your Brand's Vision

Originally Published here in Adclubbombay.com

Creating a vision for the brand is the most important primary step in the brand management process. Brand Vision can be defined as the long term strategic position that the brand will take in the market as well as in the consumer mind-space. Brand vision offers a strategic intent which will act as a long term goal for the brand.

Creating brand vision is a strategic process which requires the involvement of top management. The vision dictates the future course of action for the brand with regard to its growth and future course of action.

Most of the time marketers are faced with critical decisions regarding the future growth path for the brand. There is a dilemma whether the brand should be extended to cater to new opportunities in the market or to be focused on the current category. Some times marketers tend to extend the brand too much that the entire brand equity gets diluted. Without the guidance of a clear vision, brands tend to lose focus and extend into unchartered unrelated categories. Lack of vision also creates the problem of discontinuity for the brand’s strategies. There are chances that the brand compromises its equity for the sake of short-term growth unless guided by a long-term vision.

Having a brand vision will help marketers make decisions regarding the growth of the brand. The vision also helps marketers to tap into opportunities which are in line with the vision and reject others that contradict the vision. Vision helps the brand to create a brand charter which will act as a rule book for the managers. It will also help the managers to shape the brand strategies during the time of crisis.

Brand vision also helps to develop consistency with regard to brand communication. The messages derived from the brand vision will be consistent across all media. Even when the advertising & creative agencies change, the brand message will remain constant. In the absence of brand vision, the communication messages will not be connected by a common thread.

Brand vision also motivates the employees to perform better. Employees feel motivated and inspired when they are aware of the brand vision. More importantly, employees should feel that they are contributing to the realization of that vision.

Typically brand vision statements should be simple and easy to remember. The golden rule is that every employee should be able to remember the brand vision especially in the case of a corporate brand or service brand.

While drafting the brand vision, the marketers has to keep the following facts into mind

Think Big

While drafting a brand vision, marketers need to have big plans for the brand. The vision should not restrict to the category or even the industry. Instead the brand vision should aim at addressing some critical issues faced by the consumer. The vision should inspire both the consumers and employees alike.

Encourage growth

Brand vision should encourage the growth of the brand beyond product categories. The marketers should be looking at a 10 year time horizon while drafting the brand vision. The marketers should be asking the following questions while drafting the vision.

1. In 10 years, what will be the position of the brand in the industry/category?
2. What is the core need that this brand is going to satisfy?
3. Is that need sustainable over a period of time?
4. What needs do this brand satisfy in future?
5. Will the vision of the brand appeal to the consumers?
6. Does the brand vision excite the employees?
7. Does the vision encourage growth and pursuit of opportunities?
8. Is the vision easy to understand and communicate?

Synergy with corporate strategy

It is important for the brand to maintain synergy with the corporate strategy. That is why the top management should play a key role to in drafting the vision. When the brand’s vision is aligned with corporate vision, a sustained investment and support can be ensured for the brand’s growth.

Customer Focus

Brand visions should be created with customer as the focal point. Many a time brands focus too much on the product rather than the customer need. Having a strong focus on customer will help brands to create visions which are practical. Customers will also be able to relate to the brand vision since the vision is created with the customer in mind.

Periodic Revision

Although brand vision is crafted for a long term, it is important for the marketers to revise the vision from time to time. Brands operate in a dynamic environment. There are chances that the brand’s vision may become irrelevant for the consumers in the changed environment. Hence visions need to be revised in line with the changing consumer environment.

The BIGGEST EVER Rock n Roll Bride Giveaway and Readers Survey 2010

 Hi everyone, sorry I have been so lax with the blog lately, just been super crazy selling and making soap.  Don't forget that I am appearing at both Honiton Show and Taunton Flower Show this week, check out my blog a couple of weeks ago for details.  It would be so nice to see you there, come and say hello.

I just wanted to pass on this information from Rock n Roll Brides latest blog http://www.rocknrollbride.com/2010/08/the-biggest-ever-rock-n-roll-bride-giveaway-readers-survey-2010/#more-48041

Have a look and take part in her survey if you can - £900 worth of fantastic goodies as first prize!!

Kat said.......

I’ve been meaning to do a new readers survey for like, aaaaages and after the crazy few weeks months I’ve had, I’ve finally found the time to put one together so pwwwease won’t you take 5 minutes (and it probably won’t even take that you long!) to fill it in for me? The questions are super simple and not that personal (I promise) but your answers will really really help me make Rock n Roll Bride even bigger and even better!
The survey is open to all my readers – brides to be, grooms to be, photographers, other wedding professionals, bloggers – I want to know about all of you and what all of you think and want. PLUS as an added incentive I’ve called in a favour with some of the best (and some of my utter favourite) wedding suppliers to collate a Rock n Roll sack fit to bursting with prizey goodness. Seriously…check out what I’ve managed to blag  for youVERY lucky readers!

And guess what, 6 of my cupcakes are included!!  So go on give it a go!!  check out item number 23 on her prize list...............

Marketing Q&A : Frame of Reference and Points of Parity

A Marketing Practice reader asks this very pertinent question " What is frame of reference and points of parity and their role in branding ?"

Frame of reference is the framework used by the consumers to make sense of the product in question. Humans understand and remember new things by linking it to existing (known) objects. Frame of reference is that evaluative criterion which is used by consumers to make a better understanding of the product/services. Frame of reference also explains the context in which consumers tend to evaluate /place the product. For example , the frame of reference used to evaluate Frooti is that it is a mango drink. Coca Cola = Cola, Ace = Mini Truck, Dettol = Antiseptic etc. If Frooti launches an Apple Drink, the consumers will find it difficult to accept the product since it is out of the frame of reference used to evaluate/understand Frooti

Since consumers use a frame of reference in understanding a product, the concept has a very important place in the positioning of the product. Positioning is defined as the act of designing the company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market ( Kotler). The first task of the marketer is to identify the frame of reference used by the target market in evaluating the product/service. Once the frame of reference is identified, the marketer will position the product in line with the frame of reference. In case of products that lack a frame of reference, marketers should create a frame of reference for the consumers.

The concept of Points of Parity helps marketers to place the product in line with the consumer's frame of reference. Points of parity are those associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands. There are two forms of Points of Parity - Category POP and Competitive POP. Category POP are those associations that consumers view as being necessary to be a legitimate and credible offering with a certain product or service category.Competitive POP are those associations designed to negate competitor's Points of Parity ( Kevin Keller).

In simple terms , when a product is launched, the marketer should tell the customer about the category in which the product belongs ( category POP). This task is important for products which belong to a new category. For example , hand sanitizer is a new category and consumers are not aware of such a category. So when a brand is being launched in such a new category, brand managers should first establish a category POP. For that , the consumers should be made aware of such a category. Right now marketers are using infomercials to educate the consumers about hand sanitizer, its advantages and uses. Once the frame of reference is established ,then the brand should be placed in the category. Usually marketers use packaging, product form and labels to establish category points of parity.

Competitor POP is where marketers tell the consumers that their brand have all the properties/qualities of their competing brands. For example Lifebuoy soap will establish competitive POP with Dettol soap by claiming that it has germ killing qualities and vice versa.

These strategies will fail if the marketers did not understand the frame of reference used by consumers in evaluating the product. This lack of understanding can lead to positioning failures that eventually lead to product failure.