Don and Rob dive into the world of private label brands, revealing the hidden truths behind everyday products. From the surprising origins of Kirkland coffee to the mystery of Girl Scout cookies, they explore how industry insiders view these brands and the impact on consumer perception. Join them as they discuss the art of brand development and the creative journey behind the Atlanta Cup 2025 logo.
Episode Transcript:
Don (00:00)
I am in the significant minority significant minority that doesn’t Yeah, that doesn’t I don’t like the thin mints. I don’t like mint chocolate on any level. It is it is an abomination known to man. But because I want my fresh breath over here and I want my sweet indulgent over here and I do not want them to mix and I get it.
Rob (00:04)
I already know what you’re gonna say.
Not even an ice cream.
Not even an ice cream
in no world should they ever exist.
Don (00:22)
When I build my own universe, will be no such thing, if that makes any sense. The world will shut down and my freezer will be completely full of mint chocolate chip ice cream and I will never touch it.
Rob (00:27)
Mm.
Don (00:56)
Alright, episode 145, we’re back Rob, with some sparkling fresh water. What are we drinking there?
Rob (01:01)
145 says good and gather purified drinking water. believe this is targets. I think this is targets. Targets targets brand.
Don (01:05)
Good and gather that targets brand targets brand couldn’t gather. Yeah, up
and up is CVS, I believe good and gather. There’s all sorts of private label brands. work on a lot of private label brands. It’s fun. So in my Instagram feed recently, I’ve been getting a lot of ⁓ I don’t know how this happened. ⁓ A guy going into Costco and then like busting the Kirkland signature brand.
Rob (01:17)
Yeah.
Don (01:31)
of being that it’s the well-known manufacturer thinking that he’s like, ⁓ surprise, the Kirkland brand of coffee is really Starbucks coffee. And I’m wondering like, A, why is it in my Instagram feed? But also B, do people not realize that? You know what I mean? Like, do people really think that? Is that okay? All I guess it’s just because we’re in the biz and we do so much packaging, we work with so many CPG, like, we just kind of know how manufacturing works and everything, you know?
Rob (01:46)
No, people don’t. Yes, people think that.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I mean, there
absolutely are a percentage of the population that knows that, I would say, I would say the vast majority, I mean, cause remember it always used to be like, I remember first hearing about that when it was like vodka. And I was like, Oh, well Stoli is really Kettle One or I don’t, whatever it was, you know, or the dog food is the dog food. But I think, yeah, we’re, certainly more into.
Don (02:05)
Okay.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s all the same. It’s all the same. Yeah. I don’t know. I mean, do
people think that Girl Scouts make Girl Scout cookies? I mean, I don’t. I’m just jaded, I guess, in that respect, you know? So I do know who makes Girl Scout cookies. And you’re not allowed to reveal that that is like one of the key. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Which, you know,
Rob (02:29)
What, don’t, you’re suggesting they don’t? I don’t.
Scouts honor.
Don (02:43)
So I will not be revealing who manufactures girls girls out cookies, but I will say my data is probably 15 years old at at the soonest. You know what mean? So it could have changed in the last decade or two, you know, so.
Rob (02:52)
Yeah.
Those
girls make a good cookie. What’s your favorite?
Don (02:59)
What’s it called Samoa? Is that the one is that?
Rob (03:02)
That’s a classic.
That’s one of the caramel and the chocolate drizzle and the coconut.
Don (03:05)
Yes, it’s got the coconut coconut. The backup is going to be tag along, which is the peanut. It’s the shortbread, I believe peanut butter and then all dipped in chocolate, right?
Rob (03:10)
Peanut butter.
It’s got a lot of peanut butter in it. It’s a thick cookie.
Don (03:17)
Yeah, it’s not it’s
like I want it to be a Reese’s kind of peanut butter, but it is not a Reese’s peanut butter. It’s its own kind of vibe, you know, so I am in the significant minority significant minority that doesn’t Yeah, that doesn’t I don’t like the thin mints. I don’t like mint chocolate on any level. It is it is an abomination known to man. ⁓ But because I want my fresh breath over here and I want my sweet indulgent over here and I do not want them to mix and I get it.
Rob (03:22)
Mmm.
I already know what you’re gonna say.
Not even an ice cream.
Not even an ice cream
in no world should they ever exist.
Don (03:48)
When I build my own universe, will be no such thing, if that makes any sense. ⁓ The world will shut down and my freezer will be completely full of mint chocolate chip ice cream and I will never touch it. I will probably starve out in the streets.
Rob (03:54)
Mm.
Wow. Now do you
freeze your Samoas? A lot of people do that.
Don (04:06)
No, but that’s an interesting idea. That’s an it’s there’s this there is an interesting trend of freezing a lot of things like you freeze grapes now and you put some like stevia on it and that like you freeze blueberries and those tastes like chocolate chips. Have you seen all this like you freeze a bunch of stuff and it kind of tastes differently? Yeah. Yeah, so you love mint chocolate chip though. That’s a jam for you. You’re okay with that. Yeah, I know that I am in the solid. I don’t know what am I in the?
Rob (04:20)
Yeah, people have been freezing grapes forever. I’m not a big it doesn’t really do anything for me
Yeah, I’m pro mental health chair.
Don (04:34)
the reverse 1%. I mean, everyone loves mint chocolate chip and I am one of the few that does not like, you know, it’s like licorice, like the few the proud, but I’m like the reverse licorice, you know, so anyway, I don’t know how to pivot from here to what today’s topic was, because I believe we were going to ⁓ fire back up our, you know, drive along design, right? Drive along brand development and things like that, right?
Rob (04:38)
Yeah, that is.
Yeah.
do it. Let’s do it. The Atlanta Cup.
We’re talking Atlanta Cup.
Don (05:01)
Yeah, the Atlanta Cup
when last we when last we all gathered together. It was Hey, let’s take a look at some brand platforms. Let’s take a look at some logos. Let’s take a look at some stuff. Did we do recall? Do we reveal which one they went with? No, we didn’t. Okay. All right, I’m gonna share my screen and it is going to reveal reveal which one Yeah, they did pick one. They did pick one. So boom.
Rob (05:14)
We did not.
Yeah.
Foreshadowing, they picked one.
Don (05:30)
They ended up picking the fiery peach. The fiery peach is the one we went with. So yeah, let’s just jump right into it, guess. Atlanta Cup 2025, badass. It’s a good, interesting mix of a very clean, modern, timeless logo file juxtaposed with this really cool aggressive, well, aggressive might not be the right word, but like sort of interesting halftone photography with some woodblock type and some, I think, you
Rob (05:32)
Hey-o!
Yeah, totally.
Don (05:55)
interesting sort of ready to be animated stop motion kind of clunky sort of interesting fun design. It’s very ⁓ different. You know, one of the things they mentioned was they want to build IP. They want to do something different, but it’s also ties into Atlanta with the fiery peach, which is cool. ⁓ So it’s a really, really fun kind of interesting design, right? And design platform, right? ⁓ So from there, you know, we started this is what we’re looking at right now is basically the style guide and then we’ve got some creative examples here we can show you guys at the end, but. ⁓
kind of what the primary mark looks like and then how you can ⁓ sort of work with the crest, right? The crest can be timeless, right? Agnostic of the date or we can put in the year’s tournament, right? In this instance, obviously 2025, right? And then the modular nature of, hey, do tone on tone, do high contrast, do black on peach or white on peach or black, know, like however it works. I think it’s pretty interesting, you know? So, Rob, I’m just gonna keep rocking through this unless you want me to, feel free to jump in some of that.
Rob (06:49)
Yeah. No, just keep going.
Don (06:53)
From there, yeah, I mean, kind of what I just talked about, guess, know, sort of the full logo with the type, know, pretty modular in that it can work, the crest can work with the type or you could just do the type only, right? Or you can just do the crest only. I imagine like kick-ass tennis balls with just the crest on it, you know? So, and like in hats, merch, things like that, right?
from the
Rob (07:13)
Now, do
you prefer, let me ask you a question, do you prefer it with the date or without the date or does it completely depend on the use, right? So like you mentioned merged, like do you want universally, would you pick one of those over the other or by usage?
Don (07:23)
Great question.
Great question. I think that I would probably utilize the dated one on merch on tennis balls on hats on things right because that does create you know, ⁓ limited window specific. Yeah, I was trying to I was trying to be kind you know it’s like it’s like you know the ⁓ the Peachtree Road Race t shirt changes every year right it’s a badge of honor to have that different design everything I mean they could do a generic you know shirt that is
Rob (07:44)
I drive sales is what it does.
Don (07:59)
you know, for all of, you all races or whatever that but it’s more interesting to have it have it dated, you know. ⁓
Rob (08:05)
Well, I mean, think
part of our job is to help drive merch sales. Let’s call it what it is. I’m yeah, I like it with the date. I like it with the date on it.
Don (08:08)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah, I the data is cool. ⁓ I think there are instances there may be timeless needs for potentially signage or things that you might invest significant money into where you would use just the crest only, right? ⁓ But to me, I think you’re using it with the date repeatedly.
Rob (08:28)
I’m, yeah, yeah.
I think, yeah, I think there’s use for both, right? So like if I were to buy a hat.
I would want it without the date. Because it’s, you know, I’m not gonna wear a hat for a year and then update my hat. It’s kind of like Atlanta, like I think about Atlanta United. Like I’m gonna wear the same Atlanta United hat, but then I’m gonna buy the jersey every year, right? That’s got the star, well, I just got the star every year, that’s funny. No, but it’s got the new kit every year and things like that. So I think it’s a good balance.
Don (08:46)
Yeah, yeah, Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree. So from their color breakdowns, know, sometimes it’s nice from a design perspective to sort of give the colors a name, right? Just as we’re sending around brand guidelines and different vendors and things like that, right? So light peach, peach, fiery peach, ⁓ and then stone in there, which is kind of fun. So sort of that tone on tone, sort of like gray. ⁓
Always good to show people how you build the different graph. I mean, this is going to be sent to different vendors to build different pieces of signage or social media advertising or whatever the case may be, right? So just kind of a quick breakdown on, you know, different graphic elements and you know, and then from their typography, right? So we do have this very interesting Adobe font, HVD Rowdy, and you know, using that as kind of headlines, but.
Definitely need mission critical information to be legible to a certain extent, right? So nice, some nice bold, ⁓ simplified sans serif type below. ⁓ And then inside the brand guidelines, did ⁓ share, again, we’re running at this thing as fast as possible. So some of the in development concept creative, right? Just to show how some of these things can be compiled, right? ⁓
different messaging, you know, with the date for tickets, you know, one night only call to action, things like that. I think the one on the left is a little bit more appropriate for ⁓ external utilization. And maybe the one on the right is more like in arena kind of utilization, right? It’s because there’s less information, things like that. But again, this, this is kind of just the purpose here is just to kind of show texturally graphically how this brand can kind of come together the mix of the clean and the modern ⁓ with kind of the little wacky, crazy, zany stuff, which is fun. So
And that’s it. So super quick ⁓ brand standards, which I think is pretty fun. ⁓ Then because we were rocking and rolling, I’d pull up some additional pieces of creative that was done after the brand standards were developed, right? ⁓ So sort of some event posters. These have been repurposed into ⁓ email blasts, To specific, to ALTA members, USTA members, ⁓ different sort of existing tennis groups and things like that, right? So we developed a whole series of ⁓ pieces of creative for that.
So tennis is back in the A, which is pretty cool. ⁓ From there, again, you can see kind of pulled from what the brand standards were developed for, you know, just kind of leaning in on the date, which is kind of interesting and the players, right? And then a little game set Atlanta, having some fun with some tennis terminology, right? ⁓ And then we also did, again, just for part of the media kit development, we did player specific, just sort of pieces of creative, right? So we’ve got Ben Shelton, Nick Curios here, which is pretty fun.
⁓ Sabalenka who just won the US Open, believe. So back to back defending ⁓ champion, world’s number one, which is pretty badass that she’s coming to Atlanta. And then Naomi Osaka is piece of creative. that is literally where we’re at. I mean, podcasting and designing at the same time, right? I mean, taking the ride with us, which is pretty fun. So.
Rob (11:59)
Yeah, I think also a couple things to note given the ⁓ given the the short timeline. ⁓ This is what we would call brand guidelines light, right? I mean, right? So this that’s brand guidelines. While it’s very informative, it’s a pretty ⁓ succinct ⁓ document, right? It’s pretty succinct. ⁓ Oftentimes when we do brand guidelines for other clients, Mars is the one.
Don (12:17)
Yeah. Agreed.
my lord.
Rob (12:24)
that I think
of, I mean, they can get to be over 100 pages, right? With super just intense, intense. So this was kind of a style guide light, we’ll call it also. I think, yeah.
Don (12:33)
Yeah, I mean, this is kind of sorry to interrupt, but it’s really
more it’s got the mechanical needs for vendors for colors for embroidery for printing for things like that. But then the rest of it’s just kind of a go buy for hey, here’s kind of how you build the know, I mean, and sort of have fun with it. But to your point, like when we build packaging brand guidelines, I mean, it is a full front panel back panel. And then depending you mentioned Mars, you know, ⁓ I mean, there were over 200 skews for that brand, right. So
It’s 50 pound bags all the way down to teeny little, little, little packages, right? And everything in between, right? So the breakdown on how that brand is applied to all the different manufacturers was tremendously detailed. And then also too, that went all over the world. I mean, they’re manufacturing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
Rob (13:16)
Well, yeah, that’s a global, mean, it’s a massive global project. I think the
design of this one also too, what’s smart about it is the design and kind of that ⁓ aggressive sort of rough type nature in the layer. It allows people a little bit of flexibility to have fun with it and kind of color outside the lines, right? And I think that’s fine. So I think the design allows for that. The other thing too, that’s interesting, Pete, behind the curtain is, you know,
Don (13:36)
Yeah, I agree.
Rob (13:43)
All this again was done in such a such a quick time frame. That we were only given a couple of images. Was it two one or two images of each star? One image.
Don (13:51)
We have one image of each
player that is officially licensed and sanctioned for use.
Rob (13:56)
Right,
right. And I don’t obviously we’re not in ins and outs of that deal, but why we only got one image. I don’t know. But one one image of each. So again, it’s kind of you have to you have to work with what you’re given in this case. Not a lot. I think I think we did a really good job of utilizing those images to the best of anyone’s ability, really, because there’s really only one where he’s actually swinging a racket. I think three of them are just.
Don (14:00)
Yeah. Yeah. Correct.
Yeah.
Yes, I believe
is holding a racket, but Nick is actually kind of getting ready to do something. other three of them are kind of pumping their fist and one of them’s got a racket to a certain extent. You know, so ⁓ and then, yeah, for all the designers and other art directors and creatives out there listening, you know, it’s like you can’t flip this stuff either. I mean, sometimes you can flip it and get away with it. Right. In terms of like, you know, the actual image itself is what I by flipping. like I believe has got a very specific tattoo on a very specific arm.
Rob (14:28)
Yeah, yeah.
Don (14:48)
Right? So you can’t go, my tattoo suddenly jumped to my other arm, that type of thing. Right? Or you’re wearing a Nike hat. I mean, I guess you could flip the Nike logo, but like the Nike logo is not flipped, you know, or we’d have to Photoshop it back and things like that. Right? So there is an art to compositionally to if everybody’s looking one way or looking the other way, or how do we kind of make it? I think to your point about the design, you know,
you can you have a little bit more freedom right to be able to get them in the corners of layouts are all composited together and things like that right. ⁓ We ended up having to do I mean, ticketmaster graphics building the Atlanta Cup website things like that right. ⁓ You have to show all four players together right so creating that halftone image of the four players that are all photographed differently all photographed from different angles differently you know like
I think that the design platform that has been created allows for a little bit more flexibility. was surprising, even though it’s only four people, it actually is surprisingly challenging to get that collage to work. But yeah, it’s been an interesting challenge, been an interesting ride.
Rob (15:46)
Yeah.
And
worth noting, ⁓ the atlanticup.com is live. I mean, we got the site up and actually selling tickets or pre-sale, think it is right now.
Don (15:58)
Yeah, so I think by the time. Yeah,
I think it’s reasonable to say by the time this podcast is out, I mean the website will have been live for awhile and the events on Ticketmaster right now. I mean you can definitely buy tickets, you know, so that’s pretty interesting so pretty cool.
Rob (16:12)
Yeah, that’s I think from
from start to live website selling tickets was like. 10 day 10 day it was attending.
Don (16:19)
Don’t say it out
loud, Rob, because we don’t want clients to have this level of expectation. Yeah. mean, it’s basically Project Start to website launch in 10 days. Yeah. yeah, buy tickets. You buy tickets. Use promo code, blah, blah, blah, blah, from your email blog. Yeah.
Rob (16:23)
Was it 10 days? no, this comes with a price. Let’s let’s make that. Let’s make that clear. There are charges, but is that 10 days right?
Yeah, yeah. ⁓
Yeah, it’s a very simple basic site, but
it literally drives the ticket master. But that said, pretty impressive to get it up and up and rocking that life. So maybe we’ll have a ticket update, ticket sale update next next podcast. We’ll see.
Don (16:50)
Yeah, it’s beautiful.
Yeah,
yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, hey, hopefully this baby sells out quick, you know? But yeah, I’d be curious to get everybody, you know, I mean, when this thing hits the YouTubes and everything else, I’d be wondering what the comments might be like or what solicitations we might get in regards to like, oh, I should have picked number three or I like the fiery peach or what, you know what I mean? Or things like that. So it’s kind of fun to share in an open forum kind of where we’re at with everything. It’s terrifying, but also pretty cool.
Rob (17:00)
Right out.
And what do we do? Tell our fans what we’re doing next. What are we doing next on the project? What comes next?
Don (17:28)
Well,
we mentioned merchandise, right? So merch is right around the corner because the lead times the events in December the lead times on merch, you know, I mean that’s contingent by vendor right and how you’re Doing it. Also, there’s no time for drop shipping from foreign countries and the state of the world aside You know forget about that. It’s just the timing right? So we’re gonna have to figure out what the merch situation will be and you know, I think from there we might go to
in arena event signage and things like that. mean, yeah, and then as sponsors come, mean, needs are going to keep kind of happening and adding and things like that. You know what I mean? So, ⁓ so yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see where this takes us next. So it’s going to be interesting to say the least. So it’s been fun. Yeah. Yeah.
Rob (17:58)
in venue in venue tarnished.
snowball.
All right, awesome. Well, good stuff. Good stuff.
We better stop this podcast so we can get back to work on it and.
Don (18:22)
Yeah, seriously, if they’re watching, they’re like, why aren’t you working on our stuff right now? all
right, well, where can everybody find us, Rob?
Rob (18:28)
⁓ You can find us of course at marktheagency.com and track us down on the socials. It’s pretty easy.
Don (18:35)
Alright, thanks. Alright, we’ll see you for 146. Where does TAC take us next, right?
Rob (18:39)
One, two, three,
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