We’re headed to The California Sustainable Tourism Summit at the Ritz-Carlton Highlands today and tomorrow.  A great collection of travel and tourism industry leaders and agencies sharing best practices and experiences.  Check out the agenda and California’s Sustainable Tourism manifesto – don’t worry, lots of pictures and bullets so you can get the gist of it pretty quickly.   No, you are not allowed to print it out.

Baby carrots are waging a war against the $18 billion snack food industry. How is this possible? Spending $25 million and trying to beat the junk food industry at its own game. Highlights of the new advertising campaign:

•Packaged in Doritos-like bags. Three different packaging designs are planned.

•Sold out of cool school vending machines.

•Sporting marketing slogans like this on billboards and packs: “The original orange doodles.”

•Touting seasonal tie-ins. Coming this Halloween: scarrots.

•Offering a phone app powered by the sound of folks munching carrots in real time.

•Airing TV ad spots that tout baby carrots as extreme, futuristic and even, yes, sexy.

Sexy baby carrots? Scary thought. This new commercial validates my thoughts.

Ever stay awake at night wondering why your product isn’t selling? Could it be the name? Maybe the name is not conveying a positive marketing message to the consumer. It could be 100 different things but a great product name, even if it is misleading, can greatly help you gain market share. Take Vitamin Water, which is owned by Coca Cola. Their product has been a huge success, but why? Do consumers really believe this “water” is good for them? Do they think they are getting enough vitamins that their systems even notice? The beverage actually has just as much sugar as any other flavored drink on the shelf. Because of this, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has filed a lawsuit against Coke for their misleading claims and false advertising. It is all about the name but the first ingredient has to be honesty.

Munchies, munchies, munchies. How does one cure the cravings of the side effects of smoking pot? Quiznos!? At least that is what their recent television ad would make me believe. Could this TV advertising be catering to any rational minded person? If the ad is directed to the stoner, is it a good move by their ad agency or just a big waste of money? At least this blogger agrees with me and attempts to answer some of my questions. Maybe I will see one of you or you at Quiznos one late Friday night!

The public is passionate about the logos of the brands they use. Look at this example from Seattle’s Best Coffee. They recently changed their logo and their customers revolted. I do agree that certain logos should be updated but the ultimate cost can be your customers loyalty. Pepsi has regularly changed its logo over the years while competitor Coke never has. Should you update your company’s logo? Here are some guidelines when updating your company logo.