2. I’m a screenwriter, comedian & keynote speaker, and most recently, a brand creator.
3. What do those three things have in common? Storytelling. Why is storytelling
important to your brand? Let me tell how I created my brand, The Jewish Zodiac,
which is a deli food parody of the Chinese zodiac.
4. Where did I come up with such a crazy idea? At a place where good things always
happen to Jews….
6. I was sitting there looking at the Chinese Zodiac placemat and then I looked up and
realized everyone in the restaurant was Jewish. It was NOT Christmas Day.
7. And God spoke to me and he said two words: Jewish Zodiac. But what would a
Jewish Zodiac be? It wouldn’t be Year of the Dragon or Year of the Ox. It would be
Year of the Bagel and Year of the Lox.
8. But how do you personify a pickle for instance? You start by brainstorming.
9. The words meant nothing until I could figure out a persona for the pickle. Then it
struck me.
GREEN
SNAPPY
BUMPY
SALTY
CRUNCHY
CUCUMBER
BRINE
SEASONING
SPICES
AGING
GARLIC
DILL
SANDWICH
PASTRAMI
BARREL
PREGNANT
PICKLE ON SIDE
PHALLIC SYMBOL
WATERLOGGED
10. When you order a pastrami sandwich, you always get a pickle on the side. The pickle
is a SIDEKICK, the funny best friend to the handsome leading man, the pastrami. I
had my first line: “You’re the perfect sidekick.” Now I could use the words I
brainstormed to create the copy.
11. SNAPPY
SALTY
CUCUMBER
SEASONING
PASTRAMI
SIDEKICK
YEAR OF THE PICKLE
You’re the perfect SIDEKICK:
Friends love your SALTY wit and
SNAPPY banter but you never
overshadow them. That shows
genuine SEASONING from when
you were a CUCUMBER. Marry a
PASTRAMI later in life.
12. Soon I had text for the 12 deli food signs and I worked with one graphic artist to create
a laminated placemat…
13. …and another to design our retro images which we put on t-shirts and other products.
14. I always thought it was the humor of the Jewish Zodiac that sold my products. But it
wasn’t. It was something much deeper. I was flying to New York for the Gift Show, and
I decided to see a friend of mine while I was there. Her grandfather had passed away
about a month earlier, and it was also her birthday so I wanted to bring her a little
present.
15. Turns out she was born in the Year of the Egg Cream, which is a chocolate soda, so I
boxed up an Egg Cream t-shirt for her. When she opened it and saw the shirt, she
looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said “How did you know?”
“Know what?” I replied.
“How did you know when I was growing up, every Sunday morning my grandfather
would take me to the deli for an Egg Cream?”
16. People connect with products in so many ways. Humor may be a starting point, but it’s
the emotional connection that will have consumers falling in love with your brand.
