Devoted to branding and building and protecting brands

It’s National Cheesecake Day, after all. No one will ever mistake the Cheesecake Factory for a health-food emporium, but in light of America’s obesity epidemic one would think that discretion would “outweigh” a blatant promotional vehicle.  Yeah, right.  Check out CF’s high-calorie exploitation here. Buck-and-a-half for your month’s worth of glorp.

Discounts, freebies, etc., may work for certain commodities and brands.  As a rule, however, discounting is like fine perfume.  A little bit goes a long, long way.  Years ago, consumer brands were tarnished and damaged by brand managers who couldn’t resist hacking and hewing at prices via coupons, carpet-bomb discounts, and other tactics aimed to move merchandise in a hurry.  Results?  Mixed at best.  It’s slightly different when it’s coffee (see Starbuck’s promotion, earlier this year) or dessert, however.  Still, adding incentive for wolfing down more hollow calories gives me heartburn.