The Chip Wagon Capitol of Canada: Ottawa

Chips, crisps, french fries, freedom fries, pomme frites, spuds, patat,…you say potatoe, I say potato. Whatever you call them, fried potatoes are served fresh on almost every Ottawa block.

Is it just coincidence that Canada’s western coast claims Canada’s “Outdoor Recreational Capital” while its midwestern capitol claims the prize for the most chip trucks per capita?

What does all this have to do with marketing? Well, I think it may be a defensive marketing strategy developed by Ottawa citizens to block fast food companies, like McDonald’s, from staking a claim in the capitol city. I mean who needs McD’s when you can buy fresh-cut fries on every city block. Either that, or French-Canadians, embroiled over U.S. congressional representatives trying to rename the food “Freedom Fries,” are bitterly trying to reclaim “French Fries” as a national tradition.

Check out my and Jen’s recent Ottawa vacation photos.

Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada?

What is the “Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada?” According to Google, you’ll find it’s Squamish, British Columbia. More than a motto. Squamish has successfully branded itself as a canoeing-fishing-hiking-kayaking-mountain biking-rafting-rock climbing-scuba diving-windsurfing mecca.

Jen and I recently joined our friends Lourdez Olanda and Erin McClelland for a few days of single-pitch trad climbing bliss at Murrin Park, and Smoke Bluffs, just below the Stawamus Chief – one of the largest granite walls in the world.

See our Squamish climbing pictures

DQ: Sweet Treats, Sour Brand Image

Casual Fridays Gone Bad

Marketing is more than branding your image. Take my recent visit to the Cle Elum Dairy Queen. The Heath Bar Blizzard and cherry sundae sure tasted sweet, but our experience was sour…

Good food, good service and good value are what most customers expect from any restaurant. You expect the traditional DQ menu of Cool Treat Deals, DQ Baskets, and Blizzards. You don’t expect the Plus It: Add Plumber’s Buttcrack to every order for no extra charge!

Employees’ slovenly attire impacts how customers recall Dairy Queen’s brand image. Gone are the strawberry red lips, the DQ moniker. What’s left is a memory of unprofessionalism. DQ’s tolerance for indecent dress not only tarnishes its brand image, but it offends customers who still believe belts keep your pants up, not down.

Up and down doesn’t matter when you’re mountain biking and climbing around Leavenworth and Cashmere. It’s all fun. Check out our recent photos of Clamshell Crack, Mountaineers Dome, Devil’s Gulch, and Freund Creek:
www.marketingbymarlow.com/photos/

Lions and Tigers and Whales, Oh My!

My good friend Cheryl Humbert finally finished designing her photography website. I helped her solve some cross-browser display problems by re-coding the home page in CSS. View Native American portraits, including the infamous Makah Nation whale hunt in 1999, at www.CherylHumbertPhoto.com.

Contact me about CSS solutions for your online photo gallery or website.

100% Au Naturel Photography

You can see about a half dozen of my candid action photographs of me and friends on the new GardenBurger.com website.

View some of my other action photography.