Though the food at Tavern on the Green was at best mediocre, the high menu prices, unique location and building, and [...]]]> Reuters reported yesterday that investors have offered Tavern on the Green bankruptcy trustees $1.3 million to buy the shuttered restaurant’s name. The investors want to market food items such as salad dressing under the brand.

Though the food at Tavern on the Green was at best mediocre, the high menu prices, unique location and building, and romantic lore imbue the name with real value. During a dispute between the restaurant’s owners and the City of New York in 2009, the Tavern on the Green trademark was appraised at $19 million.  Should the investors’ $1.3 million offer be accepted, will they be getting a bargain?

Tavern on the Green closed three years ago, the building has been renovated, its famous Crystal Room demolished, and its contents auctioned off. Last year, the structure reopened as a visitor’s center. Tavern on the Green’s fame as a restaurant and the value of its name will dim with the years. The $19 million value of the Tavern on the Green name will shrink to zero if nothing is done.

Investing in building the brand around grocery items will not only keep the brand alive, it may make it more valuable. Lawry’s licensed condiments are a bigger money maker than the steak restaurant that spawned them. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s frozen pizzas make more money than his restaurant Spago. Should the investors be successful, their $1.3 million bargain will exponentially surpass the 2009 $19 million appraisal of the name’s brand value.

Consumr is working with publisher Rodale to import Yelp-style product reviews for some 50,000 products you can find on grocery store, [...]]]> Advertising Age reports the launch today of Consumr, a new social media ratings site. It’s meant to be Yelp-meets-Foursquare to rate consumer packaged goods like Cheerios and Tide. This is a service without a need.

Consumr is working with publisher Rodale to import Yelp-style product reviews for some 50,000 products you can find on grocery store, drug store, and mass merchandiser shelves. Also, like Foursquare, consumers can “check in” with brands they like and earn badges, called “flair.” With enough “flair,” participants can earn the distinction, for example, of being named a “flavor fiend,” exclusive for connoisseurs of Chobani yogurt. Wow! We’ve written about pointless social media activity before (i.e. people taking the time out of their busy lives to “like” Ziploc bag on Facebook), but building a business around pointless social media activity seems a bit much.

Sites like Yelp work because the businesses, services, and products they review are relative high stakes. Here are the five key high stakes consumer motivations that make review sites like Yelp work:

1)      Expense:  You might look at car reviews because buying a car is a high stakes financial investment.

2)      Longevity: Using the car example again, you are buying a product with a long life—the high stakes are you’ll own it and use the product for years and will have to live with the decision, good or bad.

3)      Time Consuming: You might turn to Yelp to find a plumber, because of the high stakes involved in taking the time and effort to search for a reputable service provider.

4)      Pain: Again, using the plumber example, making the wrong choice could wreak havoc in your home and to your bank account. The high stakes of choosing the wrong dentist or leg wax service could also be extremely painful.

5)      Information Scarcity: Choosing a restaurant in a new town is a gamble without services like Yelp. The high stakes are if you choose the wrong place to eat, your evening is ruined.

The problem with a consumer goods rating site like Consumr, is that these high stakes motivations are totally missing. Buy the wrong yogurt and you waste a few dollars. It takes little effort to return to the store and buy another brand. A yogurt mistake just doesn’t have major implications. Furthermore, most people already know what yogurt they like. They don’t need to invest time in doing research. And how many people in our over-scheduled world are going to carve out time to earn “flair” so they can be known as a yogurt connoisseur  on some random Web site?  Those people are probably already too busy friending Ziploc bags on Facebook.

Disney is just the latest company to try to trademark a SEAL brand, reserving “SEAL Team 6,” for entertainment uses, toys (including snow globes!) and clothing.

The other Tier One counter-terrorism unit, Delta Force, has not attained the same [...]]]> Are the SEALs the best? They sure have the best brand–especially after the bin Laden raid.

Disney is just the latest company to try to trademark a SEAL brand, reserving “SEAL Team 6,” for entertainment uses, toys (including snow globes!) and clothing.

The other Tier One counter-terrorism unit, Delta Force, has not attained the same power as a brand. While there are some 30+ trademarks for Delta Foce, they are for things like vacuum cleaners, flash lights, waste effluent filters, and even a floor polish.

SEAL Team 6 is technically no longer in existence. The unit was renamed DEVGRU in 1987. It doesn’t quite have the same swagger; there are no trademarks of that name. And word has it that the unit has been renamed again–and the new name is classified. Makes it extra difficult to trademark it that way.

UPDATE:  The U.S. Navy has wasted no time in countering the Disney applications with competing claims. Disney quickly backed down–probably a safer course of action than trying to take on the SEALs.  More: The Mouse Surrenders

In the 1970′s retailers tried plain white cans emblazoned with the word “BEER”. Thirty years later, they are taking a slightly more sophisticated approach. Last year, 7-Eleven  launched [...]]]> Anyone watching a minute or two of the Super Bowl knows how important brands are in the beer category. Yet some retailers are trying the generic angle again.

In the 1970′s retailers tried plain white cans emblazoned with the word “BEER”. Thirty years later, they are taking a slightly more sophisticated approach. Last year, 7-Eleven  launched “Game Day” beer. Early this year, Supervalu and Walgreens each launched brands of their own.  The Walgreens naming approach doesn’t hold much promise: a beer named Big Flats does not hold much appeal. Flat beer, even cheap flat beer at $2.99 a six pack seems like a tough sell.

How big is the bargain beer market segment? Tapped out college students may be the main target. I remember Blatz, the beer brand that sounds like a burp. Another friend remembers the “Schmidt-heads,” frat boys on an eternal quest for the cheapest six pack. Can a brand be built on customers such as these? I predict these latest store brand beers to fall flat.

UPDATE:  Piggly Wiggly has just announced their own line of cheap beer: Pig Swig. Really? Who thinks this could possibly work?  By the way, Pig Swig is already trademarked for veterinary usage as a “one-day piperazine water wormer treatment for the removal of large roundworms and nodular worms from swine”–works on chickens and turkeys, too!

It’s not unusual [...]]]> We’ve covered political brands and the subject of brands who are people or with value closely tied to a real person, but today, the web site Mediaite has broken the story of the trademarking of the name Sarah Palin. Pretty soon, that “R” next to her name won’t mean “Republican,” but “Registered Trademark.”

It’s not unusual for to trademark a name. Jennifer Lopez has done it, as has Paul Newman, Michael Jackson, and Martha Stewart–even Ronald Reagan. Still, trademarked names of politicians is rare. Barack Obama hasn’t done it yet. Neither has Nancy Pelosi.

That said, I suspect Sarah is in early on a new trend. Every brand should take every step to “own” their name. For people, owning your own trademark is an inexpensive way to protect your persona, whether you are a celebrity selling salad dressing or a politician turned opinion leader.  If you don’t trademark your name, someone else will.

What is interesting about the Sarah Palin trademark application is what it reveals about Palin’s future plans. The left seems fixated on Palin’s political future, but it seems Palin is more focused on “information about political elections” and “providing a website featuring information about political issues”-in other words, a pundit brand, and the other for “educational and entertainment services … providing motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values”–could more reality television be in Sarah’s future?

More on brands and real people:
Steve Jobs and Apple’s Future Brand Value
Michael Vick’s Potential as a Brand: Lessons from Martha Stewart and Tiger Woods
When a Brand is a Person