Questioning the thinking behind an advertising campaign

This article from The Atlantic offers an interesting, in depth look at an ad campaign for Panera, the bakery-café restaurant chain. It discusses the esoteric nature of its branding.

This too is a great example of how different branding a corporation with a big ad budget is from marketing a small business. If you’ve got the budget to put the message in front of your audience on many occasions, you can develop this type of nuanced image. Most small businesses simply don’t have that luxury.

From The Atlantic: One Thing Considered: Why Is Panera selling us dirty lettuce? The fast-casual bakery chain’s ad campaign, “Should Be,” navigates the thin line between food marketing and foodsplaining….

And here’s coverage of the campaign when it debuted from AdWeek: Panera gets into lifestyle branding with manifesto about healthy living…

Panera Bread Commercial—Food As It Should Be…

Panera Bread Commercial—Spring Clean Pairings, Lake…

Panera Bread Commercial—Many Ways…

Food as it should be—A Conversation with Panera Bread Founder, Chairman and CEO, Ron Shaich…

The agency is Food As It Should Be…