Branding, Loyalty, Cheerwine And My Mom

Been drinking quite a bit of Cheerwine lately. And we've been working on a little oddball project for 'em. So I've been thinking about its whole brand personality thing.

First of all, I just plain like it. It goes really good with hot dogs (and crinkle-cut french fries) and I drank a ton of it as a kid, riding my bike up to the 7-11 to buy Planet Of The Apes gum cards.

Next, it's a cool little regional brand you can feel good about, a fairly hip alternative to the big mammoth things like Coke and Pepsi. According to our research, that's the way a lotta people think about it. Some folks seem to wear their taste for Cheerwine as a badge of honor. I like that.

Me, I have a personal relationship with Cheerwine, a weird experience we share.

When my Mom was going through her cancer treatment, I used to drive to Winston-Salem every Monday to sit with her while she got her chemotherapy. Little visits I wouldn't trade anything for.

On my way back to Raleigh, about an hour-and-a-half drive, I'd stop at a certain convenience store in Greensboro to fill up, use the bathroom and snag a Cheerwine in a real glass bottle (as seen in the photo I stole from Jenny). It became a ritual of sorts, part of this whole process with my Mom. I knew these visits were gonna come to an end -- a heavy thought -- and a nice cold Cheerwine helped that last leg of the trip go a little bit better.

Mom's gone. But I can't pass that store without stopping for a Cheerwine.

And a few of those bottles, I hung onto 'em, and they still sit in the window of my office. Empties that'll never be recycled.