that’s a brand?

I wrote a while back about a Hispanic-focused food company called FUD. I said that such a company name looked odd in the Anglo world of business and marketing. That’s because in that context FUD means “fear, uncertainty, and doubt.” It’s what your competitors want to instill in your customers about your products. But in the world of Hispanic food products, FUD = food, and that’s how it’s pronounced.

Similarly, if you live in an area with a large Hispanic population, such as we have here in Southern California, you will see delivery trucks with the label “Bimbo Breads.”

Say what?

The name of the company comes from the combination of the words “bingo” and “Bambi” (at least according to Wikipedia) and the mascot is a cute (I suppose) white bear that slightly resembles the Pillsbury Doughboy. “The English word bimbo, with its negative connotations, has no cognate in Spanish,” says Wikipedia.

Bimbo is now the largest bakery company in the United States. The actual Bimbo brand is only marketed to the Hispanic community. But Bimbo Bakeries USA brands include:

• EarthGrains breads
• Nature’s Harvest breads
• D’ Italiano breads
• Ballpark hot dog buns
• Entenmann’s pastries
• Francisco breads
• Oroweat breads
• Sara Lee breads and products
• Thomas English muffins and bagels

You have to read the fine print on the product Web sites to see that these brands are part of the  Bimbo family. And in fact Bimbo does not manufacture all of those brands in every region. As part of the purchase of Sara Lee in 2011, Bimbo had to sell brands in certain regions. For example, in 2013 Bimbo licensed the Sara Lee and EarthGrains brands in California to Flowers Foods.

It’s a weird, weird world of marketing today.

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