It goes without saying that 2020 was a nightmare of a year for everyone around the globe. Our industry — the restaurant industry — has been, and continues to be, decimated by the pandemic and political leadership. Just because the calendar popped into a new year, doesn’t mean the challenges…

Why changing the name to “Washington Football Team” was a smart play In response to cultural and political pressures, the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins, decided to finally change their name. And the people cheered. Then a few weeks later, they announced a temporary name for 2020–21 season…

[Case Study] Developing the HipBurger brand from strategy through identity. A full suite of photography and details available on the Vigor website » The better burger boom was well on its way to reaching a boiling point, but while every strived for the most “chef-driven” approach, the bliss that comes…

In working with some of the world’s largest hotel brands (InterContinental, Delta Hotels, Even Hotels, etc) we’ve seen many toolkits and playbooks with varying degrees of effectiveness. These tools are so profoundly critical to brand success, it’s surprising to us how many fall so short of remarkable. It’s almost as…

I was at the Creative South conference last week listening to Bill Gardner give an exhilarating rundown of logo trends. One of the trends really got my attention, “responsive branding.” At first my interest was piqued, so I did some research (read: i googled it) and came across this article…

There is a burning need in restaurant marketing. I hear about it daily. If I distill it down to one word, it’d be “results.” It seems that so many restaurateurs, brand managers, and C-level executives can’t seem to ace effective marketing. And so the conversations I have, or overhear, are…

I was sitting in a restaurant in San Jose not too long ago having a deep discussion about marketing and brand strategies. (Yes, this is my life and you don’t have to think it’s awesome.) Throughout the chat the concept of a audience of focus (aka “target market”) would resurface…

Published on the Vigor restaurant and beverage branding blog One of the biggest causes of brands missing the mark on innovation is loss of bravery from one or all parties involved. What usually starts as bold conviction early in a project wanes to a point of “different enough” by the…

I’m not going to rip apart Pepsi’s now-pulled advertisement. You know, the one that shook the nation with a jolt of “WTF?” That’s been covered plenty in the aftermath. …