Living with Willy Wonka

It's Sunday morning.  It just so happens that I am in Wisconsin this Sunday and that means Chef Dave will be busy in the kitchen creating a breakfast extraordinaire.

In the almost 20 years I have been with Dave I have never known this man to not passionately love food.  Food is Dave's art.

Some people just know what they want to be when they grow up.  Perhaps a doctor, lawyer or engineer.  My Dave knew he wanted to be a foodie.  Not only did he know he wanted to be a foodie, he knew he wanted to market and trend food.  It's no surprise that his favorite movie to this day is Willy Wonka.

20 years ago Dave started his career in the beverage industry.  He began as an intern for Coca-Cola, traveling the country doing event marketing.  It was a dream job, traveling, eating and meeting interesting people. 

Not long after his internship he was recruited to a full-time position with Coors Brewing Company to do marketing on the East Coast.  We packed our bags and moved to Washington, D.C. 

Dave spent years with Coors but it wasn't until after the completion of his M.B.A. that his true calling would come to fruition.  He was recruited to a large, Swiss flavor and fragrance company.  The world of flavor and fragrance was a completely different spectrum from the beverage industry.  Dave was intrigued. 

Dave is a full blown foodie.  Entrenched in the flavor world he has a trained palette and describes food as if he is describing a work of art.

People ask me what my husband does for a living and I typically say I'm married to Willy Wonka.  He is responsible for tasting and trending flavors, much like people trend colors for the fashion industry.  He has introduced the girls and I to foodie terminology that we never knew existed and Saturday evenings regularly include our own version of chopped.

As the Director of Consumer Insights for a flavor and fragrance company Dave is pretty brilliant at what he does.  He traveled to Brazil this past December to do a chef tour and trend Brazilian foods for the up and coming year.  When I asked him what he did in Brazil he replied "I ate a lot of food and watched a lot of people."  He consistently tells me that it's not so much about the food as it is the people.  He is fascinated with the how, why, where and what of people when it comes to food and how that translates to trends.

Not only does he pay close attention to the foodie details and habits of others his own personal dedication to food is apparent as well.  He is believer in the organic culture, a supporter of local suppliers and gardener in his own right. 

What I love most about Dave's knowledge of the food world is his ability to share it with others.  When he isn't traveling and dining with chefs around the world he can be found cooking in the kitchen with Ava and Cate or entertaining friends and family.

Not many people in the world can say that they wake up every morning and work their dream job.  Fortunately for Dave, his dream came true.  Fortunately for me, I live with Willy Wonka.

Generation Brand ME

If you can't beat 'em...join 'em.  That's my new motto. 

"I must be getting old, because I don't understand these kids today. The world today."  I've found myself recently using this famous line I've heard my parents and grandparents proclaim too many times to count. 

What I'm realizing, however is that I don't have to understand much of anything (although in all honesty I make every attempt to try).  What I've learned to do is join in. Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and the list goes on and on.  Embracing the future regardless of the generation I belong to.

I started my career in technology.  Technology was the key.  I came out of college in the 90's when everything was booming.  Getting a job required picking which job you wanted not fearing unemployment after 4 years of investment and dedication.  My official degree was Scientific Technical Writing with an emphasis in Environmental Science.  At the time of graduation few knew what to do with a scientific tech writer.  At one point I served coffee to my boss and filed paperwork, but my title was a technical writer.  I want to thank that boss for allowing me to pour his coffee because it made me want to explore other avenues.

I dabbled in programming, marketing and sales.  Technology was fresh and raw when I got into it and was moving fast.  I wasn't sure I could keep up.  No, I didn't want to keep up.  Janus, IBM, Motorola the brands I was working with were big but I was small.  They had a brand identity but what was mine?

Brand Identity was the hot topic when I worked in advertising and still is.  The branding strategies and titles change, but the consistent theme is you can take a product to market but if you don't have an identity to create a loyal customer following it's going to be short lived.  I live with a marketer. My husband identifies trends in the flavor and fragrance world.  The consensus we've come to is that with the advent of technology a brand that wasn't possible before without huge media budgets and large marketing departments is now feasible with an idea, a computer and one person. 

We call it Generation Brand ME.  I look around at the generation that's becoming and I see a lot of self- promotion.  Websites, blogs, app developers, athletes and this list goes on and on.  I read about a 14-year- old girl yesterday who started her own company due to her parents encouragement because she wanted to buy a car.  Now she's running a corporation.  Technology is allowing the individual with the idea to become a brand.  Scary, but brilliant.

When I decided to start Lapis&Moss online my girls were immediately intrigued.  They love technology, art and writing so it seemed like a good introduction to the world of business and branding.  While a kid needs to be a kid, there's also nothing wrong with using fun techniques to introduce concepts that are going to help them to identify and grow there personal brand down the long road. 

We decided to start with a basic branding concept: the business card.  It's your calling card, your signature.  It's such a basic tool, but if done well it can draw people in and tell them who you are and where to find you.  I had just created mine and they wanted in on the action. 

At first I told them to just use what I had designed.  They immediately protested telling me that my picture and fonts and didn't represent who they were.  Really got me thinking, maybe these kids are smarter than I'm giving them credit for.  They haven't been tainted by a world that revokes individuality and they want to embrace the Brand ME.  So I said, "Go for it."  The images were designed and created by them, however as a team we decided that the fonts would stay the same, as consistency can be a really good thing when developing an overall brand. 

Cate's design. Her card reads:
Cate Banks
Fashionista, Photographer and Future Broadway Star
Co-Founder of Lapis&Moss
www.lapisandmoss.blogspot.com

Ava's Design. Her card reads:
Ava Banks
Doodler, Dreamer and Future Animator
Co-Founder of Lapis&Moss
www.lapisandmoss.blogspot.com

I was impressed with what they came up with.  Their images and words certainly represent their personal brand, but they were consistent with the overall theme. 

Generation Brand ME can be a positive.  Individuality is a good thing as long as it is accompanied by accountability and responsibility.  We can teach our youth and ourselves how to self-promote.  Always remember, however, to throw in some humility and compassion.  That's the key to a great brand.