Press & Media Coverage

Cracker Barrel’s new logo and visual identity was supposed to signal modernization, but instead, the world saw a brand that had traded eccentricity for sameness. A restaurant that once owned cozy, maximalist Americana is now dressed up like an HGTV farmhouse. It’s safe. It’s beige. It’s boring.

Has Cracker Barrel lost its way? Sadly, yes. Much like many heritage American roadside brands, Cracker Barrel thrived for decades on its familiarity. But over the past 20 years, it has been caught in a slow decline. Procurement pressures shifted the focus from investing in the guest experience to cutting costs. Marketing spend has been dialed down to near invisibility. And rather than evolving with culture, the brand has either stood still or tried to play catch-up with competitors in ways that miss the mark.

This moment is also Cracker Barrel’s best opportunity to evolve.

Cracker Barrel’s new logo and visual identity was supposed to signal modernization, but instead, the world saw a brand that had traded eccentricity for sameness. A restaurant that once owned cozy, maximalist Americana is now dressed up like an HGTV farmhouse. It’s safe. It’s beige. It’s boring.

Nostalgia is everywhere in marketing today. Legacy fonts, throwback packaging, retro tech revivals, all deployed with the hope that sentimentality alone can stir emotion and move product.

But here’s the problem: nostalgia is novelty, and novelty, by definition, doesn’t last.

It’s seductive. It gets clicks. It’s emotionally charged, delivering a quick dopamine hit. And let’s be real, it’s easy. But slapping an old label on a can isn’t strategy. When brands engage nostalgia at a surface level, they often do more harm than good.

Take Coca-Cola’s recent Diet Cherry Coke revival. It was cool for a week, but, for me, it lacked any meaningful connection to what the brand has stood for across decades. It missed the opportunity to ask: What did this product mean to people then? What d

A 700-lb pigeon delighted New York City this week. (@newyorkcityfc)

This week’s marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Even though City Football Group’s flagship team, Manchester City, didn’t make it back to the New York metro area for the FIFA Club World Cup semifinals, the organization, New York City FC (NYCFC), and their creative partners still found a way to soar.

With the Club World Cup semifinals beginning today at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., NYCFC and Brooklyn-based creative studio Tavern put a five-story, 700-pound inflatable pigeon in the Hudson River and have spent the day tugging it around the city’s waterways during the tournament.

The stunt was made to reach out to fans of English Premier League club Chelsea FC and Brazilian Serie A side Fluminense FC, who are in town for today’s matchup, but it’s also a reminder to local fans that NYCFC’s Etihad Park is still slated to open in Queens’ Willets Point in 2027.

New York City FC is set to launch a five-story-high inflatable pigeon on Tuesday, July 8 that will float down the Hudson River and through New York Harbor in a guerrilla-style activation.

New York City FC is set to launch a five-story-high inflatable pigeon on Tuesday, July 8 that will float down the Hudson River and through New York Harbor in a guerrilla-style activation.

Timed to coincide with the FIFA Club World Cup taking place across the river at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the installation – a.k.a. “The Five Borough Flight” – is New York City FC’s way of representing the city.