The Food Truck Movement

Food trucks are becoming quite a movement in cities around the World. One of my childhood memories, growing up in Virginia and Ohio, was the ice cream truck that showed up in my neighborhood after school. There was something irresistible about the bell ringing and kids lining up to choose their favorite flavors.

It's interesting to see how some brands are riding this new food truck wave. One example is the Oscar Mayer brand which is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Wienermobile vehicle in New York City by unveiling the first Wienermobile Food Truck, in partnership with celebrity chef Tyler Florence to christen the new vehicle and continue the Good Mood Mission by making a $50,000 donation to Feeding America.














People gathered in Times Square for a chance to see the Wienermobile Food Truck, get a free Oscar Mayer Selects Beef Frank and enjoy special toppings created by Tyler. The new Wienermobile Food Truck will be giving consumers a chance to taste Oscar Mayer Selects Beef Franks throughout this summer.

A book was recently published called "Food Trucks - Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels" , written by Heather Shouse, with reviews of the many food trucks that you can find in North America.

I'm very curious to see if gourmet food trucks are starting to show up in Latin American cities.

Software that reduces cyberbullying

Bullying and cyberbullying are important themes being discussed in our daughter's schools. Themes that my wife and I are particularly concerned about, like any parent. So, I was happy to read about a company called Crisp Thinking that has come up with software called Crisp that polices cyberbullying activities and other bad actors online.

Below an interview with Adam Hildreth, a British entrepreneur, one of the company's founders.

Trident campaign nominated for Cannes

I'm very excited that I'm scheduled to go to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity next month. As I look through the work being nominated this year, I was happy to see Trident White campaign called 'Sniper'. This is an awesome example of the use of big screen cinematography techniques to speak about a product benefit in a very subtle and non-conventional way. The suspense is amazing.

Campaign created by JWT Puerto Rico and directed by Luis Gerard and Jaime Costa as Director of Photography.

Congratualtions to the gums & candies team here at Kraft Foods... great work!

Oreo Celebrating Mother's Day

There are a few brands that are able to strike an emotional chord among consumers of all ages. Oreo is certainly one of those brands with its 'twist, lick & dunk' ritual that has sparked child-like delight and family connections for generations. The more I study this brand, the more I become passionate about it.

Here's the Oreo campaign that was the most effective Mother's Day ad to break in the U.S. this year according to Ace Metrix. The ad, which scored an Ace Score of 628, compared to a norm of 522, took a 55-point lead over the next two favorite ads from Procter & Gamble and Verizon.

The beauty is in its simplicity.

Enjoying great packaging work after a perfect weekend in Rio de Janeiro

We spent a wonderful weekend in Rio de Janeiro. Saturday was practically a perfect day: Lounging at the Copacabana Palace pool, running on the sands of Copacabana Beach with my daughters, late lunch at Astor, walking on the Ipanema boardwalk at sunset, ice-cream at Mil Frutas (which I've loved since we lived in Rio in the mid 90's), a stop at a great bookstore called Livraria da Travessa and ending the day with a passionfruit caipirinha with Cachaça Lua Cheia by the pool. If yesterday had a soundtrack it would have been 'Acanjú' by Bebel Gilberto.

At Livraria da Travessa I ended up buying a book called "The Package Design Book". I've always had a passion for packaging, both the power of graphic design and the beauty of great structural packaging. It will certainly be fun reading for the flight back to São Paulo. I'll post some of the highlights in a separate post.