Nuggets
What’s in a name? In the 1950s, a food science professor at Cornell University named Bob Baker invented a bite-sized piece of chicken, coated it in batter, then deep fried it. Baker and his colleagues thought the end product was delicious, and the science behind holding ground chicken together without a skin and producing a batter that would stick to it was nothing short of a modern miracle.
The problem: Baker called it a Chicken Crispy. For almost 30 years, very few people ever tried one. Until some unnamed, unknown genius who worked for Tyson Foods’ ad agency in the mid 1970s, rebranded the Chicken Crispy as the Chicken Nugget.
The literal sounding name Chicken Crispy had a negative connotation, but the word Nugget means a small lump of gold or precious metal, and sometimes means a valuable idea or fact. In 1979, Tyson pitched the idea of Chicken Nuggets to McDonald’s. The executives at McDonald’s stole the idea and awarded the contract to a competitor, Keystone Foods, who in turn produced McNuggets. FYI, McNuggets come in 4 basic shapes, “The Bell”, “The Bowtie”, “The Ball”, and “The Boot”. The rest is history, as they say.
This year, 70 million Americans will eat Chicken Nuggets. McDonald’s uses 427 pounds of chicken every second. Somehow, I do not believe that Chicken Nuggets would have become a worldwide phenomenon if they were still known as Chicken Crispies. What’s in a name, you ask? The answer is success. #BoldBrandsWin #BoldNuggets
(This week’s blog is dedicated to our in-house Chicken Nugget Enthusiast, Haleigh “The Boot” Lader)
Monday, Nov. 26 – Friendsgiving
Apparently it’s never too late to celebrate Thanksgiving. Four days following the holiday and fresh out of leftovers, theMadison+Main-iacs decided to throw aFriendsgiving Potluck Lunch. Needless to say, we are all very thankful. Our team prepared for what looked like a miniatureRichmond food festival, bearing homemade dishes, carbs, even more carbs, and not to mention an endless tray of, yes, you guessed it, Chicken Nuggets. But never fear, these nuggets were all-natural and delicious, and made by incredibly polite people at Chick-fil-A. #MyPleasure We were all gathered around the table, like the big family we are, and received our Communications Manager Kent’s brief blessing of food which started with, “Good bread, good meat….”
Tuesday, Nov. 27 – Bold Rock In-Ciders
If you couldn’t tell by now, the Main-iacs love us some Bold Rock Hard Cider, and while we have frequented the Virginia location in Nellysford, I thought it was about time that we scoped out the North Carolina digs. So, on Tuesday morning, our VP of Brand Strategy Kara Forbis volunteered to take the solo trip down to Bold Rock Hard Cider‘s North Carolina operations inAsheville. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Kara had a trip filled with beautiful views, great merchandise, friendly staff, and of course some top-notch cider. Nothing beats a day filled with drinking and awesome client meetings!
Wednesday, Nov. 28 – Media Masterminds
It’s home show time again at Madison+Main because our client Marketplace Events is gearing up for two big upcoming shows — the Virginia Home Show at Meadow Event Park (Jan. 26-27) and the Richmond Home + Garden Show at Richmond Raceway Complex (March 1-3).
On Wednesday, we opened the doors and invited all of our friends from the Richmond media world to give us their best pitch for promoting these awesome events. We’d like to thank everyone individually in the Weekly Report, but Leslie Dolliver from Comcast Spotlight Richmond once again kicked off our full day of meetings by bringing in all the fixings for a vat of Mimosas. Names and faces got a little fuzzy after that…
Thursday, Nov. 29 – Wine and Dine
On Thursday, Kent, Kara, and Leanne took a lovely drive out to Mt. Crawford, Virginia to meet with our friends at CrossKeys Vineyards. They discussed our past year working together and lots of plans for the future. After the meeting (and a few glasses of their award-winning wine), they headed downstairs to attend the Comcast Spotlight Harrisonburg client appreciation party. Hmmm…I’m seeing a trend with our Comcast reps — and I like it!
Friday, Nov. 30 – In The Christmas Spirit
There are a lot of opinions regarding decorating for Christmas floating around our office. Some staff believe that Christmas begins after Halloween. Others believe that Thanksgiving deserves its time in the spotlight. Either way we slice it, we are about to enter December, which even the Main-iacs agree is undoubtedly Christmas time. We’ve picked our Secret Santas, I sent Office Manager Katie Rossberg into the basement to drag up some decorations, and I’ve exchanged my morning coffee for hot cocoa. Come Monday, this place will hopefully look like Santa’s Workshop, except instead of toys, we’ll be knocking out top-notch creative concepts. #DavesElves