The Park Group

27/08/2026

Jif got it right. . Cracker Barrel not so much.

It’s a reminder that oftentimes the best rebrands are about restraint.

24/08/2026

A great website is only as good as the people that see it.

20/08/2026

Don't sleep on Nostalgia! Here comes another example. .
They say you can't go home again. . Pizza Hut is. And it may be one of the smartest things they've done in years.
They're bringing back the old Pizza Hut. Red cups, checkerboard tables, salad bars, those stained-glass lamps and the whole sit-down Pizza Hut experience a lot of us remember from the 80s and 90s. According to a story I read on Fox News, people are loving it. They're taking pictures, making videos and some of the content from these locations has gone viral.
I find this really interesting, especially after watching Burger King lean back into flame grilling, the Whopper and some of the things that made Burger King distinctive in the first place.
We're constantly told that businesses have to reinvent themselves. New look. New message. New strategy. Keep up with the times.
Maybe not always.
Sometimes people don't want you to become something new. They want back the things they loved about you in the first place.
There's a lot of psychology wrapped up in nostalgia. A red Pizza Hut cup isn't really worth anything, but the memory attached to it might be. It reminds somebody of Friday night pizza with their parents, playing Pac-Man while they waited on the pizza, or cashing in that BOOK IT! certificate they earned at school.
You can't manufacture 30 years of memories with a new logo.
Maybe that's the lesson in all of this. Before completely reinventing a business, it might be worth figuring out what people already love about it.
Sometimes Plan B isn't a completely new idea.
Sometimes it's going back and getting the parts of Plan A that never should have been left behind.
In the end it's about giving people a piece of their past.

Retro appeal has turned a small-town Pizza Hut into a destination for customers seeking a nostalgic dining experience, with its franchise operator planning to add even more throwback touches.

19/08/2026

Saw an interesting article the other day about how Burger King just passed Wendy’s to become the #2 burger chain in America again, and I think there’s a pretty good marketing lesson buried in how they did it.

A few years ago Burger King realized it had lost some of what made Burger King, Burger King. So instead of chasing the next shiny marketing idea, they went back to the thing everybody already knew them for. The Whopper.

They called the turnaround “Reclaim the Flame.” They invested in the restaurants, the advertising, the customer experience and the product itself. I think I recall seeing an ad where the new CEO was actually apologizing for losing sight of what them great in the first place. . They even went back and improved the Whopper based on what customers were telling them.

And then they did something I think a lot of businesses have forgotten how to do.

They consistently marketed the hell out of it.

Now Burger King’s U.S. same-store sales were up 8.5% last quarter and they’ve moved back ahead of Wendy’s.

I love this because there really isn’t anything complicated about it.

Know what you want to be known for. Make sure it’s good. Invest in the brand. Stay visible. Keep reminding people why they should choose you.

Too many businesses keep looking for the next marketing trick when the better answer may be sitting right in front of them.

Sometimes Plan B isn’t starting over.

Sometimes it’s remembering what made people care about Plan A in the first place.

The ball is in Wendy's court now. . it will be interesting to see what they do. I have a couple ideas for them. . .maybe Wendy will reach out. 😊

Article link is in the first comment.

17/08/2026

12/08/2026

Ever feel like you're underwater?

The funny thing is, when you're inside a business every day, you can get used to almost anything.

The website that hasn't changed in 8 years. The advertising nobody questions anymore. The message you've used forever. The things everyone inside the company assumes everyone outside the company knows.

You know who you are.

But do they?

Sometimes it takes somebody standing on the outside to see what you've stopped seeing.

Times have changed. Have you?

Maybe it's time to move to Plan B.

06/08/2026

Good luck with that. . .
https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/linkedin-wants-users-to-lean-less-on-ai-maybe-a-lot-less-8e03b2aa?

The platform recently introduced an anti-slop button and soon will let users know when others think they’re starting to sound like bots.

04/08/2026

Trying to market your own business is like trying to read the label from inside the bottle.