Fruitful Holiday Special! 🎄
During the holiday season, families come together to create lifelong memories and partake in meaningful traditions.
The symbols of these special moments—a cozy cup of cocoa with mile-high whipped cream, freshly-baked sugar cookies that somehow never burn—are as powerful now as they were when we experienced them for the first time. Our family recipes may remain shrouded in mystery and lost to time and dementia but their impact is ongoing—even if all I have left from my grandma's kitchen is nostalgia and awe at her perfectly soft sugar cookies.
These symbols are what we in the messaging and design biz refer to as the brand- and no matter what tradition you observe during the holiday season, these recognizable brand elements represent more than just a logo, they are rooted in the timeless celebration of togetherness and love.
On our final show of the year, Raj and Ben are feeling festive! They'll be diving into the iconic symbols that represent this time of celebration. Join them as they take you on a merry journey through popular Christmas traditions—uncovering their history and how each one developed its own unique branding identity over time.
As we wrap up the year, we want to thank you for joining us on Growing a Fruitful Brand!
We hope we have brought value and a little bit of humor to your day and can’t wait to share more with you next year. We would love to hear from you! Drop us an email or drop us a YouTube comment and tell us what you’d like to see here on the blog or on the podcast!
As always, we hope you take this time to rest and start the new year re-energized to grow something good.
Cheers!🥂
Please be sure to subscribe to Growing a Fruitful Brand on the podcast platform of your choice—and drop us a comment or review! (That helps others be able to find our content.)
Ep.12: Fruitful Holiday Special!
Automated Transcript
Raj Lulla:
Parents, if you are listening to this in your car with children, we don't swear or anything on the podcast, but-
Ben Lueders:
There's a parental advisory here.
Raj Lulla:
You might just want to know that we'll acknowledge the magical existence of Santa. You've been warned.
Ben Lueders:
Welcome to the Growing of Fruitful Brand holiday special. I'm Ben Lueders, founder and art director of Fruitful Design and Strategy, and I'm joined by my business partner and brand strategist Raj Lulla. Today we're bringing a little bit of holiday cheer to your home. We decided to give each other Christmas themed gifts and react to the different brands that Christmas brings us. Raj, you got any presents for me?
Raj Lulla:
Always. Here's a giant bag for you.
Ben Lueders:
Oh my gosh, I love the wrapping.
Raj Lulla:
Take the heavy thing out first.
Ben Lueders:
Oh my goodness. Okay, so I just reach in and pull the heavy thing out, you said?
Raj Lulla:
Oh well, the weirdly shaped thing.
Ben Lueders:
Okay. What is this?
Raj Lulla:
There you go.
Ben Lueders:
Oh, you gave me Santa. Let's see. Can we see this?
Raj Lulla:
Yep.
Ben Lueders:
Hold it up here. Little Santa, I'm going to break this, I surely am. I'm going to put this back over there. For those who are listening, I just pulled out this glistening Santa Figurine. Raj, what can you tell us about this character?
Raj Lulla:
I mean, this one I believe is a wood carving and is painted and it's definitely not from Target. I got it from a Amish wood working shop.
Ben Lueders:
Raj made this himself late last night.
Raj Lulla:
I've been whittling.
Ben Lueders:
His own little Santa's workshop.
Raj Lulla:
The reason I got it for you is because Santa is kind of a brand all to himself. There's been many versions of Santa throughout history, including the historical Santa. More than just the gift itself, I wanted to have you react to Santa. What do you think about Santa?
Ben Lueders:
Well, yeah, it's interesting. I grew up, we didn't really do Santa in my family, so bah humbug. It is funny, even just looking at this figurine, there is such a, he's got a uniform, there's colors, just the hat itself to me is so iconic. I know it's morphed over time. It wasn't like originally he looked exactly like this, but I know there were some things along the way that helped him develop into the American version of Santa that we know and love now. There's just something about that, that you see someone walking around with a big white beard of a certain age and the belly jiggling like jelly or whatever in the poem. It's like, you just think Santa. It's just funny how he's such an iconic character that I hope I look like him someday.
Raj Lulla:
I'm well on my way, to be honest. There's a little gray happening here. You didn't do Santa in your home growing up. We did. I find it one of the best ways to lie to children. No.
Ben Lueders:
It's one of the most socially acceptable forms.
Raj Lulla:
Seriously though, for us and our family, when I found out about Santa, I was really touched by the fact that through the years my parents gave the best gifts and didn't take credit for it. To me, that was the real spirit of Christmas, that unvarnished generosity that doesn't take credit. To me, that spoke a lot more of what love actually is, what Christmas actually is and represents. A lot of people, especially in the face circles that we've run into, they'd be like, "Oh, you can't do it, because if they don't think Santa's real, then they won't think God's real." Kind of all that stuff. I had kind of the exact opposite reaction where it was like, wow, that kind of generosity that doesn't need credit is incredible. I'm a big fan, I'm a big fan of Santa.
The modern version of Santa was largely shaped by Coca-Cola starting in 1931 by an artist named Haddon Sundblom. I also, I looked up his full name and it's Hayden Hubbard Sunny Sundblom, and just somebody named Sunny made Santa the way that we know him today. Other depictions of Santa have been tall and thin or sometimes elfish. He's been wearing everything from a bishop's robe that you'd maybe see in a traditional kind of church to animal skins. Kind of like John the Baptist in the Bible.
Ben Lueders:
Eating locusts in the desert.
Raj Lulla:
The legends of Santa kind of range from everything of the jolly saint Nick that we know, but there's also other cultures that have kind of counterparts to Santa like Krampus that punishes naughty children. He's been depicted in movies and television advertisements like we talked about. There's even a new movie with David Harbour from Stranger Things coming out this Christmas where Santa is basically an action hero.
Ben Lueders:
Why not?
Raj Lulla:
I feel like in recent years sort of the gruff hipster Santa image has taken over. Have you seen that?
Ben Lueders:
Oh sure.
Raj Lulla:
With the real angled beard and muscley, maybe some tattoos.
Ben Lueders:
Sexy Santa.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah. I didn't want to say it, but yes. Which is a whole take on it by itself. I personally find that the rotund and bearded is the most attractive looking go for, so I don't know why they're trying to improve on it.
Ben Lueders:
Right. Yeah.
Raj Lulla:
Whatever. Of course, he's based on the historical St. Nicholas who was a bishop from Greece, which is an area of Greece that's now Turkey. He's most famous for, in that time, of preventing three girls from being human trafficked. St. Nicholas was actually a very good man by the accounts that we found. There are some really fun legends about him, including that he may have been at the Council of Nicaea.
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah.
Raj Lulla:
Which if you're not familiar with church world stuff, that's just one of the councils where the basics of the Christian faith were kind of agreed upon.
Ben Lueders:
I just like this idea of an early church council in the 300s and Santa Clause is at the table.
Raj Lulla:
Right. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
I know he probably didn't look like this, but that just makes me happy.
Raj Lulla:
Right.
Ben Lueders:
The Easter bunny's over here. We've got Santa over here.
Raj Lulla:
He's only eating milk and cookies the whole time.
Ben Lueders:
St. Augustine's over here. It's just that everyone's there.
Raj Lulla:
Yes. He is on a list. St. Nicholas is on a list of attendees at the Council of Nicaea, but no one really spoke about him being there, so we're not really sure if he was there. The legend says that if he was there, that he probably got kicked out of the council and imprisoned for a night for punching someone he thought was a heretic.
Ben Lueders:
Classic Santa. That's the hardcore Santa we're talking about.
Raj Lulla:
I mean, that's the action hero.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. That's the action hero Santa.
Raj Lulla:
One of my favorite legends that we came across, and again, I've already given you the children warning in this episode, but one of my favorite legends that I came across that I did not tell you about yet-
Ben Lueders:
Oh boy. True reaction.
Raj Lulla:
Was he was known for doing miraculous things.
Ben Lueders:
Sure.
Raj Lulla:
One of which was calming a storm, kind of like Jesus in the Bible. Another one was that he supposedly resurrected three children who'd been murdered by a butcher and brined.
Ben Lueders:
Oh no.
Raj Lulla:
To be sold as pork during during a famine.
Ben Lueders:
What? Who makes this stuff up?
Raj Lulla:
I have no idea if this is true or not.
Ben Lueders:
Oh my gosh.
Raj Lulla:
I guess-
Ben Lueders:
Was that Krampus?
Raj Lulla:
The butcher might have been. I don't know. Anyway, some real wild stuff about Santa out there.
Ben Lueders:
Oh my goodness.
Raj Lulla:
Overall, good brand, bad brand for Santa.
Ben Lueders:
Kind of a mixed bag, which is actually what he is carrying on his back.
Raj Lulla:
It's an actual mixed bag. Well done, sir.
Ben Lueders:
That's kind of his thing. All right, you ready for a present, Raj?
Raj Lulla:
Sure. I'll take a present.
Ben Lueders:
All right. Here we go. I think this is the one, it's kind of, it dovetails nicely with the Santa.
Raj Lulla:
I think you did a better job wrapping than I did.
Ben Lueders:
I think my wife did a better job wrapping than I did. Yeah. My wife Megan is really into wrapping, so as soon as she heard about this, she...
Raj Lulla:
Next to your's holiday episode, we might do just the brand of Christmas wrapping and get into the fact, did you ever wrap presences with the funny pages from the newspaper?
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah.
Raj Lulla:
There's a year I did that. It was like all duct tape and newspaper. It's like the year your parents, your mom stops wrapping the presents for you and then you have to do it yourself and it's like, all right, well you're going to get what you get. I have a stocking here in Plaid, which I mean very much is on brand for me.
Ben Lueders:
That's right.
Raj Lulla:
The plaid, not the stocking. To be clear.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, no, this is what Raj wears for socks actually is holiday stockings. Now you know.
Raj Lulla:
Yes.
Ben Lueders:
Now you got one. Now I have to get you a matching pair. No, so with this, that had to be pretty weird to unwrap a stocking because you would never actually receive a stocking as a present for Christmas, obviously. We're kind of living a fantasy.
Raj Lulla:
Especially an empty stocking on Christmas.
Ben Lueders:
An empty stocking. This is kind of the worst possible thing. Getting socks for Christmas is the worst thing and just getting an empty Christmas stocking. Yeah. What do you think about, what's your reaction to the brand of the stocking?
Raj Lulla:
Yeah, so the brand of the stocking. That's a good question. The stocking itself, when we were kids, we were always allowed to get anything that was in stocking or on the floor, kind of open, unwrapped, we were allowed to play with. This was a brilliant tactic by my parents to not wake them up at 6:00 AM on Christmas. There was like, anything that's open, anything that's in your stocking you can have. Did not prevent us from getting all sugared up by 7:00 AM, but at least they got asleep a little bit longer. In that regard, the stocking is a good brand. I think it's gotten a little out of control lately.
Ben Lueders:
Oh, tell me more.
Raj Lulla:
People are spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars of just stuff to go in stockings.
Ben Lueders:
Oh sure. There's been a couple years where Meg and I only do stockings for each other. Then we go way over budget. We start getting all these really expensive little things.
Raj Lulla:
An iPhone will fit in the stocking.
Ben Lueders:
That's right. It turns out a lot of the stuff that adults want actually can fit in a stocking.
Raj Lulla:
It's very small. Keys to a Lexus fit in a stocking.
Ben Lueders:
How many diamond earrings fit in one stocking? Keys to a Lexus.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah, I do think it can get kind of wild and overboard lately, but overall I think the heart of it is really good. There's of course the classic scene in the Grinch where he completely robs the stockings is very sad. Some really kind of classic Christmas iconography here in the stocking. What's do you think about the brand of stockings?
Ben Lueders:
I mean, if you think about it as almost like a logo, it's actually pretty great. It's very simple. Almost like a Nike swoosh if you put it on the side. It's very easy to recreate. Even a little kid could draw a picture really accurately of a holiday stocking. Simple shape, simple colors. Then kind of like Santa, it's very easy to evolve and customize. In my family, we'd always get these cheap blank red stockings and then we'd decorate them with glitter glue and put our names on. Every year we'd make a new stocking for ourselves and so it was a fun arts and craft project. They can be very interactive. They can be various sizes and materials as well. Some can stretch to fit more stuff than others. Some stockings are better than others.
Raj Lulla:
That's true.
Ben Lueders:
Even if you don't have the traditional story, of course, this goes back to St. Nicholas who we were just talking about. Back in the 300s, Raj made a comment about these three girls who were about to be trafficked, and the story is that St. Nicholas snuck in and put some gold coins in the stockings of these girls out to dry, I think-
Raj Lulla:
In their actual stockings.
Ben Lueders:
Right. They didn't have target holiday stockings, it's just their socks. Their socks are out drying by the fire, and the money that they received helped them to not have to be sold into slavery basically. Of course, all these stories, who knows if they're true or if they're based in some kind of true historical thing or if it's a legend, but that's kind of where it comes from. You can see that idea of secretly putting some kind of a gift in a sock hanging by a fire is just kind of a really cool tradition. That's what stockings are all about, is that holiday year after year kind of tradition of gift giving. Next up.
Raj Lulla:
Well that actually goes well with my next gift for you.
Ben Lueders:
Oh boy.
Raj Lulla:
How about you take the little one out the bag here.
Ben Lueders:
Okay, let's see. The little one.
Raj Lulla:
The little one.
Ben Lueders:
Very little one. Oh, ooh. Can I eat all of these now?
Raj Lulla:
There's two in there. I mean, you could eat all of them or you can share. It's up to you. You make your own life decisions.
Ben Lueders:
For the listeners, I am holding, oh, and they're white too. The Reese's trees. These are Reese's peanut butter candies that are shaped, kind of shaped like trees. A little blobular, but these are the white chocolate version. Oh man. Raj knows I like white chocolate. Turns out it's not even really chocolate. Can I open this?
Raj Lulla:
Go for it right now. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Do you want one?
Raj Lulla:
Sure. We'll toast.
Ben Lueders:
We should do this. Okay. Thank you, Raj. First of all, I have to admit, I've never actually had one of these before. I've never had the trees.
Raj Lulla:
You didn't have Santa growing up and you've never had a Reese's tree. Did you even celebrate Christmas?
Ben Lueders:
I mean, not really, I guess. Oh, this one got crushed, but that's okay.
Raj Lulla:
Oh, here you can have the blobular one.
Ben Lueders:
No that's fine.
Raj Lulla:
There was a little controversy a few years ago about how they were not exactly tree shaped.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. This doesn't look like super tree shaped. It doesn't really come to the point that you would want.
Raj Lulla:
Cheers.
Ben Lueders:
Oh my goodness. That's an interesting peanut butter to chocolate ratio there.
Raj Lulla:
I'm going to lean back from the microphones so I don't chew in people's ears here.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, people like that. That's that ASMR people are talking about.
Raj Lulla:
I'm actually really sad for you that you've never experienced the holiday shaped Reese's, because I would argue for sure that they have a better peanut butter to kind of chocolate ratio, which is just really strong out of the gate. The white ones in particular, so I actually bought them as on accident, I think it was two Christmases ago.
Ben Lueders:
Wait, how old are these?
Raj Lulla:
Not this package, but for the first time, because normally I just buy the normal chocolate Reese's trees. I bought the white ones for the first time on accident a few years ago. We always put them in kids stockings. I was like, it was like Christmas Eve, I go, oh man, I bought the white ones. I was so mad at myself because normally white chocolate can be a little cloying and a little too sweet. I was just like, ah, I'm not happy about this. I bit into one and it took me back in time.
Ben Lueders:
Really, to what?
Raj Lulla:
Because when I was a kid, my grandma would send us this Tupperware full of cookies that she'd made herself. One of her most famous ones was two Ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle. Then she would dip them in almond bark, and biting into a white Reese's tree just immediately took me back to that. This mistake that I made a couple of Christmases ago ended up being like, oh my gosh, we're getting these every year now because they're just really perfect.
Ben Lueders:
These are really good.
Raj Lulla:
It's not just about this though, because we'll expand it a little bit more to sort all of Christmas candy in general. I think there's some real strong players like the Reese's Trees. I think there's some weak ones too.
Ben Lueders:
Like what?
Raj Lulla:
Oh, that's a good question. I don't really get why Hershey's kisses get kind of billing as a Christmas candy.
Ben Lueders:
Hot take.
Raj Lulla:
First of all, I'm not a huge fan of just a plain Hershey's bar anyway. I like the chocolate and peanut butter, kind of the salty sweet.
Ben Lueders:
With you on the salty and sweet.
Raj Lulla:
Even like a crunch bar with the puff rice inside. That's more of a Halloween thing though for me. I really think that the reason why Hershey's Kisses became a Christmas brand was because of a commercial they did in the nineties where they treated the Hershey's kisses like bells. Then they would animate them going to a Christmas carol.
Ben Lueders:
That's a stretch.
Raj Lulla:
I think they got away with it, because it's kind of in the Christmas aisle, but you could eat a Hershey's kiss any day of the year. Something interesting about the Reese's Trees, they were not introduced until 1993. I think part of the reason they have a strong nostalgia for me is that's sort of peak childhood Christmas years for me. It's weird how some of those things I would've just sort of assumed they've been around forever, but they've been around for most of my forever. Just not everybody's forever.
Ben Lueders:
Not everyone's forever. One bonus Christmas brand that's kind of adjacent to this is just the shape of a Christmas tree too. That's one of the things like here, you're just taking an already existing candy, you're putting it in the shape and now it's Christmas. It's very interesting that that Christmas tree shape, that kind of triangular shape alone, is enough to make something. That's a pretty powerful brand, a very iconic, simple shape. Often in a certain color of green with some lights. It's just like, here you go, you got a Christmas tree. Again, kind of like the stocking, even a little kid can draw it.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
All right. Is it my turn?
Raj Lulla:
I think it is.
Ben Lueders:
Let's see. Oh yeah, we kind of planned this great, and by planned, we didn't really plan it, but this is for you, Raj.
Raj Lulla:
Okay. Thank you.
Ben Lueders:
You can keep this.
Raj Lulla:
Going to destroy Meg's wrapping here on camera.
Ben Lueders:
Isn't that nice?
Raj Lulla:
Well, nice bow Meg. That was wonderful.
Ben Lueders:
She's really good at that.
Raj Lulla:
Normally if I tie a bow, then you basically have to get a pocket knife out. Strong tape here too.
Ben Lueders:
Surprised you didn't shake it to see if it's a Lego set. That's our holiday tradition growing up. What is it?
Raj Lulla:
We have candy canes.
Ben Lueders:
Ooh.
Raj Lulla:
These are the traditional red and white striped candy canes, for those who are listening. We have the solid red stripe, the solid white stripe, and the three thin red stripes next to each other.
Ben Lueders:
Why don't you open one of those up and just eat the whole thing here?
Raj Lulla:
Just crunch it.
Ben Lueders:
Look at the shape of this guy.
Raj Lulla:
I'll do what a lot of kids do, which is suck on it until it forms a very sharp point, then it's like a prison shiv.
Ben Lueders:
I never did that, Raj.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah. The brand of a candy cane goes with the theme of the stocking, the Santa hat, the Christmas tree. Very easily drawable. In fact, it's basically kind of an upside down stocking in some ways. For those playing the eggnog drinking game of how many times we can say the Nike Swoosh in one of our branding podcasts, also the right shape for that as well, if you turn it on its side a little. What's interesting about the candy cane brand?
Ben Lueders:
Well, there's a few different things that stand out to me. Like you said, I mean, it's very, very recognizable. I think for those of you who have companies, brands, logos of your own, I think there's something to be said about the longevity of some of these iconic things. I think simplicity is a huge part of that. Actually, as I was researching the history of candy canes, I was surprised to know that they used to be even simpler. The stripes weren't actually introduced for hundreds of years after they were first invented. If you look at pictures from before the 1800s, in the 1700s or even end of 1600s, they were all white. They're just plain white sugar sticks.
Raj Lulla:
That's disturbing. I don't know, it's like the candy canes are naked. I don't know how to deal with that information.
Ben Lueders:
No, yeah.
Raj Lulla:
Are you sure it wasn't just black and white photos?
Ben Lueders:
No.
Raj Lulla:
I guess not that far back. Paintings?
Ben Lueders:
I guess. Yeah, it was hard. It would be hard to manufacture those, the stripes.
Raj Lulla:
You could have children paint them on. That's what they did back then.
Ben Lueders:
Ironically, they were for kids. The story is that in Germany at the Cologne Cathedral, there was a choir master way back in 1670 and he handed out these little sugar sticks to his singers to try to keep them quiet during this special ceremony. They were bent like that to resemble a shepherd's crook. That's the idea. Of course if you're anything like my family growing up, that meant you could hang them on a tree really easily. I don't know how long it took from them to just be used in this specific choir in Germany to, dang, this will go on a tree really good. It's a very utilitarian thing. It also makes a great handle for your shiv when you get it all pointy. Got out of a lot of scrapes that way back in the nineties. Were you guys a candy cane family?
Raj Lulla:
Love candy canes. Absolutely.
Ben Lueders:
Had on your tree?
Raj Lulla:
I don't think we did them on the tree. We did them in stockings where they get instantly crushed.
Ben Lueders:
Were they hanging outside of the stocking or stick them in the bottom so they get crushed?
Raj Lulla:
I think we've done a few different variations. Now we do them on the tree. The problem with that being that if they get put on the tree any sooner than Christmas Eve, they do not make it to Christmas.
Ben Lueders:
Exactly. My wife does not, Meg does not like the candy canes on the tree idea. Mainly just because kids are going to snitch them. Like I ever stole candy canes off.
Raj Lulla:
Yes, children go to bed.
Ben Lueders:
Apparently 1.76 billion candy canes are produced in just the United States alone every year. I probably ate about half that many any given year.
Raj Lulla:
800 million of those in my house.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, I was big on the candy canes. I really like minty things as well.
Raj Lulla:
Yes.
Ben Lueders:
Another thing with candy canes in particular is, with this Reese's peanut butter cup, they shaped it like a Christmas thing so it's a Christmas thing. This tastes like Christmas too. You know what I mean?
Raj Lulla:
Fair point.
Ben Lueders:
If you taste that peppermint in a toothpaste or in something else and it's like, oh, it's just like a candy cane, it tastes like Christmas. That's the power of some of these traditions is there's more than just the visual aspect of some of these things. It's kind of like a Thanksgiving dinner. There might be these specific things that your family does for Thanksgiving and when you smell them and when you taste them, it's just like you can get transported back to grandma's house when you were eight years old. There's something super magical about that.
Again, for those of you who have brands and companies of your own, of course your company, your reputation, your organization is so much more than just how it looks on a website.Yeah. That's super important. It can also be the way that your office feels if you come in for a meeting or if you give someone a bottle of water, what kind of water is it? Those kind of things. How it smells, if it smells bad, primarily if it smells bad, that's not a good thing. Just kind of expanding the idea of a brand from just being this very small visual element.
Raj Lulla:
Visual.
Ben Lueders:
There can be a whole lot of different. Think of that new car smell or something.
Raj Lulla:
The experience.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. That whole experience. It's all about user experience.
Raj Lulla:
Can we go backwards for just a minute to where you said that brushing your teeth tastes like Christmas? Is it like Christmas every morning for you or do you purposely avoid peppermint toothpaste?
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah, I use that bubble gum flavored stuff that kids use.
Raj Lulla:
It is funny though that spearmint toothpaste, you're not. I'm not even sure there are that many peppermint toothpastes for that reason.
Ben Lueders:
No, and I'm not using one right now.
Raj Lulla:
It would kind of ruin the toothpaste experience
Ben Lueders:
In December, I do brush my teeth with candy canes.
Raj Lulla:
With candy canes.
Ben Lueders:
Then you get them sharp enough, you got a little flosser there.
Raj Lulla:
A flosser, a little pick.
Ben Lueders:
Little toothpick.
Raj Lulla:
We've ruin Christmas for everyone.
Ben Lueders:
These are very versatile candies.
Raj Lulla:
Can I offer a hot take here?
Ben Lueders:
On no. Sure.
Raj Lulla:
Fruit candy canes should not exist.
Ben Lueders:
Oh man. Yeah. It's weird. It's one of those things where you go for it.
Raj Lulla:
My own children are disowning me at this moment because I know that my wife and children like the Starburst candy canes.
Ben Lueders:
Oh no.
Raj Lulla:
I mean, I get it, but my thing is that you can have fruit flavored stuff any time of year. The only fruit that I think belongs in kind of the Christmas candy area, well, that I can think of off the top of my head, is that little orange that you crack.
Ben Lueders:
That's what I almost gave you. I think my wife couldn't fine one.
Raj Lulla:
It's a great brand.
Ben Lueders:
I love this.
Raj Lulla:
I mean, there's probably a few other things. I think we did chocolate covered cherries when we were kids and that kind of stuff. I'm out on fruit candy canes. It's only peppermint candy canes for me.
Ben Lueders:
Yep. I'm with you on that.
Raj Lulla:
Especially too because a lot of the fruit ones come in these zany colors that don't even really look good together, let alone with all of the other Christmas things.
Ben Lueders:
Oh, that's another thing. I'm glad you mentioned color, Because one interesting thing about Christmas is it has a very specific color scheme.
Raj Lulla:
You're wearing it.
Ben Lueders:
I'm trying to wear it, so I've got my green and my red. When you see green, red, and white together, it's just an instant Christmas combination and it's just something about that that's really powerful. It's just like your brand has specific colors and Christmas does too. It's more so that I think and more universally accepted than most other holidays or other things. It has a very somewhat limited color palette.
Raj Lulla:
Would you like something out of a green and white bag?
Ben Lueders:
Let's do it.
Raj Lulla:
Let's do it.
Ben Lueders:
Let's see here. I think it's Legos. It's Legos.
Raj Lulla:
You try building with this. It may have some problems.
Ben Lueders:
Raj, how did you know? Big coffee drinker. A classic Starbucks Christmas blend. Got to practice our unwrapping here, man. This is very well wrapped.
Raj Lulla:
I find that when you tape the paper to the gift, it really...
Ben Lueders:
It's a trap.
Raj Lulla:
Wow. That smells wonderful though. Can you smell that? Neither our video or audio audience can enjoy that smell that just unleashed out of that.
Ben Lueders:
Now that it's free of the wrapping, if you want to listen to some ASMR again.
Raj Lulla:
What Christmas coffee sounds like.
Ben Lueders:
Here you go. The Starbucks Christmas blend, and Starbucks kind of goes all out for Christmas.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah. The Christmas blend, believe it or not, I was surprised when I looked this up, goes all the way back to 1984. It is like 38 years old.
Ben Lueders:
What?
Raj Lulla:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Is Starbucks that old?
Raj Lulla:
Yes. Yeah, in Seattle. It goes back before that. It goes back 38 years here in 1984.
Ben Lueders:
What's special about it?
Raj Lulla:
It's got different notes. I think this year they said it's notes of chocolate and I can't remember what the other-
Ben Lueders:
The packaging is really hard to read this year.
Raj Lulla:
It's maybe not a great-
Ben Lueders:
It's got this gold on red and you really can't read the notes very well there.
Raj Lulla:
It's difficult to read. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
The notes very
Raj Lulla:
I like how we're just sitting here insulting Starbucks.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. Come on Starbucks. They have amazing designers.
Raj Lulla:
Their marketing designers department can feel free to call us at any time. We'll apologize profusely.
Ben Lueders:
Notes of spiced chocolate and spruced tips.
Raj Lulla:
Yes. They cut the spruce tips off directly from the trees. That's
Ben Lueders:
That's my favorite part of the spruce. Got to get those little spruce tips. It's the burnt ends.
Raj Lulla:
Like tri tips. Then of course Starbucks also gets into peppermint mochas. I feel like the drinks get more elaborate every year. The caramel brulee latte, the toasted white chocolate latte. Whenever I try to go get a special coffee treat for my wife around Christmas, I feel like I have to recite Linus's speech from Charlie Brown special.
Ben Lueders:
Lo, there were shepherds in the field watching their flocks by night.
Raj Lulla:
There's a lot of words you have to say to order a coffee around Christmas, but delicious though. Chock-full of sugar and peppermint, which is what Christmas tastes like.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, I'm down for, Raj knows I'm a black coffee drinker, but the seasonal stuff will get me, like the peppermint mocha. Also not necessarily Christmas, but the pumpkin spice and stuff like that. There's a real place for that, even for someone like me who's more of a black coffee drinker.
Raj Lulla:
Okay, I think it's you now.
Ben Lueders:
Oh, it's back on me here. Okay, so this one's a little bit random. I don't have a ton to say about it. I wanted to get you something that was... You mentioned some of the Coca-Cola Santa Claus stuff. I couldn't find the Coca-Cola Santa Claus stuff that I wanted to get, but we found this instead. Raj just gave me some coffee and he's not much of a coffee drinker actually, even though he speaks very eloquently about coffee.
Raj Lulla:
I am not.
Ben Lueders:
This is Raj's drink of choice. We got a little diet coke.
Raj Lulla:
Little tiny diet coke can.
Ben Lueders:
Ornament. It's a Christmas tree ornament and I was hoping to get one with the polar bears or Santa or something.
Raj Lulla:
This is perfectly me though and you know that.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. You might actually use this.
Raj Lulla:
It's even got little, it must be glue or acrylic.
Ben Lueders:
Can they see that?
Raj Lulla:
I wish you could. My arms are very short, but the longer arms-
Ben Lueders:
Here's the zoom lens, right?
Raj Lulla:
It's got little beads of looks like water on the can, but it's acrylic or glue or something. Yes, that's fantastic. It is funny, I do feel like regular Coke tastes more like Christmas, but Diet Coke is definitely my drink of choice.
Ben Lueders:
It's your jam.
Raj Lulla:
Basically if you've ever had anything created by me at Fruitful, it was powered by Diet Coke. That's a pretty easy guarantee there.
Ben Lueders:
That's awesome. Well let's just go to this one and then-
Raj Lulla:
Okay, we're doubling up.
Ben Lueders:
Let's just go. Yeah.
Raj Lulla:
Okay.
Ben Lueders:
Let's go for it.
I don't have too much to say on that one. I just thought it would give you a smile.
Raj Lulla:
All right. I mean, it's DVD shaped, but-
Ben Lueders:
DVD, how old fashioned.
Raj Lulla:
I would not say that it feels like a DVD. It almost feels more like a book, but let's discover.
Ben Lueders:
Let's see.
Raj Lulla:
It is a DVD.
Ben Lueders:
Not one DVD.
Raj Lulla:
It's several. Five timeless holiday specials, it says. I should have tried harder. Oh, it's taped to the package again.
Ben Lueders:
Tapes it to the DVD.
Raj Lulla:
There we go. Okay.
Ben Lueders:
Look at this.
Raj Lulla:
We have the Rankin Bass Christmas Specials Classics in the Christmas universe here. We've got Rudolph, the Red Nose Reindeer. We have Frosty the Snowman. Then we have Santa Claus is coming to town. Actually, I've never seen that one.
Ben Lueders:
You haven't?
Raj Lulla:
No.
Ben Lueders:
I think you have with Winter Warlock and all that.
Raj Lulla:
That's not the one with the heat miser and all that, is it?
Ben Lueders:
No, I think that's Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
Raj Lulla:
No that one's not that. Then Little Drummer Boy and Cricket On the Hearth, which I'm also-
Ben Lueders:
I don't know what that is.
Raj Lulla:
I feel they could have stopped at four.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, they say five holiday favorites, and there's three pictures on the cover. There's a couple in there that shouldn't be.
Raj Lulla:
A little filler.
Ben Lueders:
No. Did you watch The Little Drummer Boy? Did you grow up watching that?
Raj Lulla:
I didn't actually.
Ben Lueders:
There's some good stuff here.
Raj Lulla:
I'm really only on a couple of these. I
Ben Lueders:
I don't know what the heck Cricket on the Hearth is. I'm not interested in that, but Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, those are very iconic for me. You need to educate yourself, man.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah. Santa Claus is coming to town, I will dig the DVD player out of moth balls and watch Santa Claus Is Coming to Town here. Rudolph and Frosty I'm quite familiar with. What's special about these movies as brand?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. I mean, obviously the whole idea with each one of them is they're taking an already existing kind of iconic, classic Christmas song and then just telling the rest of the story and creating their whole own kind of universe. Here's the song, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, this funny, quirky kind of song from, I think the forties or something like that. It's a pretty old song. Here in 1964, they make this thing that goes into just all the backstory, all the characters. There's the little elf who wants to be a dentist and the abominable snowman and Yukon Cornelius and just all these super fun characters. Obviously the animation style I think is super endearing.
Raj Lulla:
Absolutely.
Ben Lueders:
There's something so fun about that. I've always loved Claymation and Stop motion. I used to do fun little stop motion things when I was a kid with our camera growing up. I just think it's so endearing. Of course it inspired kind of the look and feel of parts of Elf, which I was actually watching a documentary about the making of Elf. Apparently, I didn't know this, but the actual stop motion animation, Rankin Bass outsourced it to a Japanese studio that was run by Tadahito Mochinaga. You can kind of tell. Some of the lip syncing and some of that stuff is a little bit off and it's because there was kind of a language barrier and stuff there, but it was much more affordable.
Raj Lulla:
Interesting. I always just assumed it was just because of Claymation being hard. Also, can I just say that I used to think, so you probably can't see this, right at the top above where it says Christmas specials, but it's got the name Rankin and Bass on there. For the longest time I thought it was rank and bass. Rank like smelly and fish, bass. I could not for the life of me figure out why you would name a movie company that or anything.
Ben Lueders:
Two guys' names, Rankin and Bass.
Raj Lulla:
Okay, I'll back you on Rudolph, but Frosty... You know those movies that are a Saturday Night Live skit just gone too long? Frosty to Snowman is basically like that. Rewatch it as an adult.
Ben Lueders:
I haven't actually.
Raj Lulla:
You'll find a number of troubling things. First of all, you-
Ben Lueders:
Have no idea where he's going, guys.
Raj Lulla:
The whole movie is predicated on sort this finders keepers principle of this magician gets frustrated with his hat so he throws it in the garbage and then the kids put it on his snowman and the magician's like, "Oh hey, cool. There's actual magic there. I'd like that back." They're like, "Nope, it's ours. You threw it in the trash forever. It's a binding contract with the universe."
Ben Lueders:
That one's about bullies too, but in the reverse. The children are the bullies.
Raj Lulla:
The man's just trying to make a living there.
Ben Lueders:
The poor magician.
Raj Lulla:
Frosty says happy birthday every time he comes to life, which doesn't really make, I mean, I guess it's maybe his birthday.
Ben Lueders:
It's always his birthday, I guess. Yeah.
Raj Lulla:
Let's talk about a few other things. The little girl in the movie, so the weather starts to turn and Frosty's like, "Oh, I got to get to the North Pole." Okay, that's valid for him. Then he invites the little girl to go along with him and she goes, "Sure, as long as we're back by dinner." This girl, this is outside of a school this conversation is happening. This school is failing this child. No sense of geography whatsoever. The only guy who has really got a sense of the geography is the guy who does the massive amount of train tickets in the little window.
Ben Lueders:
I do need to re-watch this.
Raj Lulla:
It's insane.
Ben Lueders:
I am way more familiar with Rudolph and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Which if you haven't seen that, there's a lot of good stuff. Yeah, frosty I never really quite connected with. Maybe now I know why.
Raj Lulla:
Then they catch up with Santa inexplicably in a greenhouse and the magician and they're kind of this showdown with Frosty. Frosty sacrifices himself, I guess, kind of like Jesus in the greenhouse for the child, I guess, sort of. Then there's just this, "Don't worry, I'll be back on Christmas day."
Ben Lueders:
To haunt your dreams.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah. I mean, but how? Why? What?
Ben Lueders:
Magic. It's the magic of Christmas, Raj.
Raj Lulla:
Is he predicting snow on Christmas? There's nothing like logically tying together Frosty who is a pile of magical snow, which is endearing enough and fine, and Christmas. He's like, "Oh, don't worry. I come back every Christmas." For what reason? Do you help Santa? Are you related to Jesus? I don't really understand.
Ben Lueders:
I feel like this is a standalone episode.
Raj Lulla:
Frosty. You know what's funny though? Is I'll still watch it because of nostalgia, but objectively garbage. It's not a high quality. The plot does not hold up. Not at all.
Ben Lueders:
Let's just say I don't know that I'm looking forward to Cricket in the Hearth. I think there's a reason why we don't have that on the cover.
Raj Lulla:
There's a cricket in the hearth. Is it being roasted?
Ben Lueders:
Cricket of the hearth, on the hearth. He is on hearth.
Raj Lulla:
Cricket on the Hearth.
Ben Lueders:
He is now on the hearth.
Raj Lulla:
Yes, because there's nothing I want on Christmas Eve than to be annoyed by a cricket chirping on top of my fireplace, because the kids aren't going to get up early enough as it is.
Ben Lueders:
The kids find the cricket on the hearth and they throw them in the hearth and that's the end of the cricket. It's shortest Rankin best picture.I t's funny, speaking of snowmen, my daughter Donna is obsessed with Olaf, of course from Frozen, anything Frozen.
Raj Lulla:
Ah yes, Olaf makes a quality Christmas film. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. Olaf's great. This morning we woke up to snow on the ground. First real snowfall, and she's looking out the window and I was like, do you want build a snowman? Kind of quoting frozen. She's looking out and is like, "Yeah, but there's no carrots." She thinks the snow comes down with carrots. We got carrots in the fridge.
Raj Lulla:
I just thought you meant you didn't have any carrots in your house.
Ben Lueders:
No. She was just looking out the window and, "There's no carrots out there. I guess we'll wait until the carrots fall." She thinks we get the-
Raj Lulla:
I didn't get the right ingredients here.
Ben Lueders:
Cloudy with a chance of carrots.
Raj Lulla:
She wasn't as concerned about the coal though.
Ben Lueders:
Later she was like, "And we don't have any black stuff." She didn't know what it was.
Raj Lulla:
I know, man, that's because you only eat white Christmas trees.
Ben Lueders:
On that note.
Raj Lulla:
All right, here is a gift that is very special.
Ben Lueders:
Oh my goodness.
Raj Lulla:
And a huge bag.
Ben Lueders:
Look at this. Stories for Christmas by Charles Dickens. I thought the Christmas Carol was a lot shorter than this. This is like the Dickens Bible.
Raj Lulla:
That's why they had to call it stories for Christmas because the Christmas Carol's the only first maybe quarter of this book.
Ben Lueders:
The type is like 20 point, so that-
Raj Lulla:
Yes, this is how you make novelty books.
Ben Lueders:
You could read this from the lectern or something. Look at this. Cricket on the Hearth.
Raj Lulla:
Oh my goodness.
Ben Lueders:
It's one of the stories.
Raj Lulla:
I'm dragging a Dickens story this whole time. They're going to take away my author card.
Ben Lueders:
I wonder if Cricket on the Hearth is the best Rankin Bass and it's all-
Raj Lulla:
I wonder if it's the best Christmas story. What if it eclipses A Christmas Carol?
Ben Lueders:
What if the cricket becomes the new Santa Claus or something?
Raj Lulla:
The cricket is the ghost of Christmas present. We got to talk about the Christmas Carol. It was written in just six weeks in 1843. For being one of the most iconic Christmas stories of all time, impressive that it was written in just six weeks and also speaks to the power of a deadline and financial straits.
Ben Lueders:
There you go.
Raj Lulla:
Also, Christmas themes. Let's be honest. There are more than 100 movie versions of it. There are two ballets, four operas, and It's A Wonderful Life, another great classic Christmas film is based loosely on A Christmas Carol.
Ben Lueders:
That's my favorite movie, by the way. Not just my favorite Christmas movie. It's A wonderful Life, number one.
Raj Lulla:
He often calls me the old building and loan when we're here in the office.
Ben Lueders:
I thought it was Mr. Potter, but whatever.
Raj Lulla:
It depends on the day. On the count of three, we're going to say the best movie adaptation of this, and I'm guaranteed that we'll be in agreement on this. Okay, so 1, 2, 3. Muppets Christmas Carol. 100%. Obviously the best. No, the funny thing is, so I had seen the Muppet Christmas Carol a lot as a child. Also by the way, thank you Disney for this Christmas returning The Love is Gone, the saddest song in that movie.
Ben Lueders:
Don't make me sing it.
Raj Lulla:
They're returning it. It got cut out because of the theatrical version and the VHS version and all of that. They thought it was going to make kids too sad but it's the best song in the movie and it's-
Ben Lueders:
It does make kids too sad.
Raj Lulla:
Yeah, it's the emotional turning point of the movie though.
Ben Lueders:
I aged three years when I first heard that song.
Raj Lulla:
100%. Solitary tear. A Muppet Christmas Carol is actually one of the most faithful adaptations of the Christmas Carol.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. Very accurate.
Raj Lulla:
There are direct quotes from Dickens in that movie version and it's wonderful. Also, it has the Muppets. Great songs. Really one of the best.
Ben Lueders:
If you're looking for a business partner, you got to find you one that likes the Muppets the way you do. If you don't like The Muppets, what the heck you doing on our podcast?
Raj Lulla:
Yes. You're in the wrong place.
Ben Lueders:
We do happen to be weirdly obsessed with the Muppets.
Raj Lulla:
They're fantastic.
Ben Lueders:
I know so many people that hate the Muppets, but I'm obsessed and I love The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Raj Lulla:
There's also another great movie that's really more about the creation of the Christmas Carol. It's called The Man Who Invented Christmas.
Ben Lueders:
Which I haven't seen.
Raj Lulla:
It came out a few years ago. I think that you should run home tonight and go watch that movie. It's fantastic. One of the things that they show in that movie, especially towards the end, they talk about how the Christmas Carol had an immediate effect on charitable giving. Charitable giving skyrocketed after people read this story. I think it's also one of the best kind of allegories for the Christmas story itself of the redemption and possibility that Christmas creates. I think that's part of the reason its stood the test of time and why people are so enamored with it.
Not only that, it's called The Man Who Invented Christmas, that movie is, because some people would say that Dickens invented Christmas. Now he didn't, of course, but he definitely revived the way that Christmas was celebrated, especially in England and then throughout the world as there were some cultural items that were sort of distributed throughout the world by the politics and social effects at that time. It revived the way that Christmas was celebrated both in England and throughout the world. It's an incredibly powerful story that that's worth revisiting kind of year in, year out to get you in touch with Christmas spirit. I definitely recommend letting Kermit and the other cast of the Muppet's take you there. If it doesn't warm your heart, nothing will.
Ben Lueders:
That's right. Well, thanks so much for joining us for our little holiday special here. Look how festive this place looks. Man, this shaped up pretty quick. We just wanted to say a warm merry Christmas and happy holidays from Raj and myself and the whole Fruitful Design and Strategy team. Looking forward to the new year. Make sure you grow something good in the new year. Ho-ho-ho.
