It’s not about wanting to stand out. It’s about needing to.
Take the supermarket. Any supermarket. From Waitrose to Aldi, every aisle is a war zone. Sauces, cereals, soft drinks, each one fighting for a split-second of your attention. Even ketchup is a masterclass in competition: fifty shades of red, bottles tall and short, glass and plastic, labels engineered to work on your subconscious like a Freud case study. And you can’t taste a thing. You scan. You process. You decide fast. Based on instinct, price, and the brand that feels right.
That’s positioning. Like Twister. Or chess. Or the Kama Sutra. A good logo isn’t enough. A polished brand alone won’t cut through. You need to know what makes you different, not just what you do, but how you do it. Your clarity. Your voice. Your signature. That thing only you can own.
Now forget ketchup. Let’s talk trainers. (The shoes, not the shouty gym people.) You know the interlocking Gs cost more than the three stripes. You know the swoosh means performance. The star-in-a-circle? Style, maybe, but not for running. You’ve internalised this without even thinking. Because those brands have built meaning. Repetition. Recognition. Positioning. That’s the power of a brand that knows where it stands, and stands there consistently.
That’s where we come in. Before we talk visuals, messaging or tone, we figure out where you sit, and where you should be. That’s the strategy. The spine. The thing that holds it all together. Because a burger joint shouldn’t look like a steakhouse that happens to serve burgers. Different audiences need different approaches. Different cues.
Get that right, and everything else flows. From the packaging to the pricing to the reason anyone should care. It’s not just how you show up. It’s why you exist.
I am Simon Carlo, a food blogger, journalist, copywriter and bonafide mild child. The above words are mine. Mostly. The gooder ones anyway.
