Brand Mix

A special edition just for Thanksgiving. Top Thanksgiving-themed stories:

1) Classic Thanksgiving Feast Costs 6% More, Says Farm Bureau: Progressive Grocer
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost of a Thanksgiving Day feast for 10 this year will be $44.61, a $2.35 increase over 2007 . In a related story, McDonalds double cheeseburger, the anchor of the company's dollar menu will now have a recommended price of $1.19 from December 1. It will be replaced on the dollar menu with a "McDouble" with one less slice of cheese.

2) Tofurky offers meat-less choice for Thanksgiving: TCPalm

Thanksgiving feast costs are going up because of the increased price of turkeys. So here's an alternative: new Tofurky! A meatless choice and faster to prepare too (only 1 hour). I'm not a vegetarian but, if I was, I'm not sure I'd want to eat something called: "Giblet and Mushroom gravy."

3) Turbaconducken: Fritinancy

If Tofurky is not doing it for you, how about going the other direction with a Turbaconducken? Turducken wrapped in bacon. As Nancy Friedman describes: "It's not just the turkey sheathed in pig parts. Mais non: Each poultry segment is separately be-baconed before being stuffed into the next-larger animal. It's a real lardapalooza!"

4) Don't Forget The Turkey! Paul Barsch
Will tomorrow be like today? Paul Barsch points to the parable of the turkey as told by Nassim Nicholas Taleb as a reminder to plan for the unexpected – no matter how remote the possibility. Things look great for the turkey and then one day, all of a sudden, not so great. Paul has some suggestions of what business executives can do not to become turkeys themselves.

5) Turkey undercover: Brand Mix
My own post from last year about the mysterious disappearance of the wild turkeys of Fairfax, CA just around Thanksgiving. They came back afterwards so my hypothesis that they have a sixth sense and went into hiding is not disproven. Sadly, the turkey-surrounded swimming pool I used to go to has now closed so I don't know if the turkeys have vanished again this year.

6) Cyber Monday: Can't Trust That Day? Marketing Daily
How about the days after Thanksgiving? Time to shop? According to the National Retail Federation, 83% of online retailers are going to be offering some kind of price promotion in time for Cyber Monday (Last year, it was only 72%). Online sales growth has fallen from 19% in the first quarter to only 9% in the third quarter with many popular categories (like music and books) falling. The cold winds of the recession reaching the cyber world too.

Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back with more stories from the world of brand strategy once I've digest all the food I'm about to eat. It may take a while.