Eggnog: the holiday beverage everyone has an opinion about. In this episode of Can They Brand That?®, watch Semiserious build a full brand strategy for eggnog live and figure out how to make the most divisive drink of the year something people actually want to choose.
We dig into holiday beverage marketing, the nog-lover vs. nog-hater dynamic, how to position eggnog for a modern audience, naming products, and campaign concepts that might actually work in December.
This episode is for beverage marketers, holiday CPG brands, food and drink enthusiasts, and anyone who has a strong nog opinion. You’ll quickly see that we put our noggins to work for this episode as we rebranded the most North Pole-arizing beverage of the holiday season.
And as a holiday bonus akin to Jelly of the Month Club, we stuck around for a few Q&As and got into how we met, how we started Semiserious, and trends we’ve spotted in the biz. Hosted by: Allie LeFevere and Lyndsay Rush Sanders
Timestamps:
00:00 Eggnog: beloved, reviled, marketed? + Intro and rundown of the holiday beverage category landscape
14:36 The Brainstorm Begins!
15:22 Building an Eggnog Brand From Scratch: Discussing Target Audience and Brand Positioning, Ideating a Brand Identity, Brand Names, Taglines, Brand Voice, Messaging, Packaging Design, Visual Identity, Funny Holiday Campaigns, Stunts, Activations, Product Lines, and Marketing Strategies for the most polarizing holiday beverage
44:41 Mascot O’ Clock [Funny Mascot Ideas, Brand Collabs & Spokespeople]
49:36 Funded or Done-ded [Would this idea get funded? Should someone hire us to actually brand it?] 52:28 Q&A: Building a Business Partnership
58:16 Trends in Branding
Key Branding Ideas from This Episode:
- The true power of a product like eggnog lies in transforming its consumption into a cultural ritual that creates a sense of belonging and anticipation, making it indispensable beyond taste.
- Believing this shifts your focus from mere functional advertising to crafting shared cultural moments that become part of people’s identities.
- Elevating simple products through storytelling and ceremonialization creates iconic brands.
- The most memorable brands transcend their categories when they establish a mythos, rituals, or ceremonies that give them a regal, celebratory stature.
- This mental shift transforms a commodity into a cultural icon, commanding loyalty and emotional attachment.
- Brands that resist following the wave and instead create contrasting narratives or experiences stand out and become memorable.
- This counterintuitive approach allows brands to cut through noise and build a strong, distinctive identity.
- Using humor, absurdity, or exaggerated lore (like milking Santa’s reindeer) makes a product memorable and shareable, fueling organic virality.
- This shifts the mental model from traditional marketing to a cultural performance, increasing the likelihood of word-of-mouth spread.
- As digital dominance grows, consumers crave real, sensory interactions (IRL activations, tactile branding, and collectible artifacts), becoming a critical differentiation.
- Re-centering physical, sensory experiences allows brands to stand out and rebuild emotional connection in a noisy digital landscape.
- Secret societies, initiation rituals, or exclusive clubs, such as “Nog Night”, deepen consumer engagement and create aspirational cultural barriers.
- This social-layering turns a product into a badge of identity, boosting loyalty through shared exclusivity.
- Combining limited-edition items, collectible designs, and evolving rituals creates a temporal tradition, fostering ongoing brand relevance.
- This approach ensures sustained engagement across generations by turning consumption into a commemorative act.
Semiserious is a female-founded humor branding agency for CPG brands. Their sweet spot is working with founder-led or venture-backed DTC startups to build brands using comedy as a core strategy to help brands stand out in a crowded market. Their roster includes industry darlings like Clif Bar, Native, Blue Bunny, Waterboy, Pie, Argent, JOI, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Yogi Tea, Choice Organics, GEN Z, The University of Chicago, Alleyoop, Better Than Booze, Backwoods, Bad Rabbit, U Suck at Golf, Hobbyist, and the Dallas Cowboys, but they would never brag about it in their bio. This funny branding agency has offices in Chicago and Nashville, but works with clients globally.
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ICYMI, this show exists 1) to champion originality and creativity in a sea of AI slop, 2) to show potential clients the power and value of fun as a consumer-converting strategy, and 3) to bring some much-needed levity into the world where we can.
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