Drumsticks in a bag

I just a had a great lunch of chicken drumsticks pre-spiced and ready to go (being psychopaths as we are at Frida Communication, we cook every day, not only because we are hungry, but because we are really interested in the innovative products which a number of brands are beginning to produce and place on our retail shelves). Quite remarkable that for how many years haven’t we eaten, enjoyed and loved a classical and traditional chicken leg, but my, how amazing it is when the traditional chicken leg is transformed into something we have never tasted before? (Good on you, Spar).

Often you will hear the phrase in our industry that ‘nothing is new'. After all, a chicken leg is a chicken, leg isn't it? No, it doesn't have to be so.

People like chicken legs so how can we make them distinctly different? We learn from history and build upon it. If we can learn and understand what our consumers love, we can take these products and brands to an outrageously higher mean. I am reminded of an article I read in "the World of Interiors - March 2009".
Picasso: Challenging the Past (Preparing for a future)

When Pablo Picasso painted himself at the age of 16, he donned an 18th-century powdered wig in the style of a portrait by his compatriot Goya. Picasso's expression seems ironic, even mocking, his attitude to the art of the past was anything but disrespectful. He himself declared: "When I paint I feel that all the artists of the past are behind me" - a remark indicating a certain anxiety as well as admiration.

In the aftermath of World War II Picasso found himself in a more isolated position while abstract expressionalism dominated contempory art, Picasso concentrated on his" variations". These were derived from sources as varied as Poussin, Delacroix and Manet. Critics as the time dismiss his ethics as retrograde, yet now they are recognised as some of the post war periods most vibrant pictures. Picasso famously said that he exploited the art of the past to avoid repeating himself.

So the humble drumstick can be reincarnated, recreated and re-energised. Possibly a lesson that we can learn from all of the adverting, branding and marketing that has come before us. How a subtle shift on history and tradition can completely alter a product's destiny. We can change, we can alter, but ultimately never forget that we can learn from what has come before us. Taking a traditional product and giving it a spin can completely reinvigorate a brand and reenergise that brand's consumers.

The humble drumstick. Just because we as consumers love it (not unlike any brand) doesn't mean we can't get creative and take any product or brand to a completely new level.

All we have to do and to recognise is that what has come before is a learning of what is going to come in the future. What we as an industry are challenged by, is the task of transforming history into something that is highly contemporary and possibly never been done before.

Take that drumstick and beat it really hard!