• by John Gaffney , April 21, 2003

Reese's Pieces: I am somewhat ashamed of what I did this weekend. In short I allowed, wait a minute, I paid for my family to go to a brand boot camp. The boot camp was actually called Hershey Park. Great place. Very friendly people. Nice rides. Great smoked bologna sandwiches. But, I am ashamed that I spent money so my two year old could shake the hand of a giant Hershey's Kiss. I'm professionally dishonored that my eight-year old daughter, who is very cool and sophisticated for eight years old, actually wanted to get her picture taken with a giant walking Reese's double pack. That didn't happen. Faith Popcorn has never been to Hershey Park, I can promise you that. What I saw in my brief reach out to Middle America this weekend, is that people will take their brands as living breathing things. Faith, in case, you missed it, is predicting hyper-patriotism in the wake of the Iraqi conflict. I saw very little of that. Most of the caps and t-shirts I saw had a swoosh, or a team logo. And when my day ended at Hershey Park, I considered the amazing power that this company and these brands could have. My integrity (what was left) saved me from going on the History of Hershey Chocolates tour. But my daughter though it was pretty cool. In fact, she probably will shun Nestle and M&Ms for a while.

Goin' Micro: Seems to me that the news media is going to use the post-war period to go micro. What I mean by that is the return of the everyman. Everybody has a story; sometimes those stories rate big news. Look at the Laci and Scott Peterson coverage. It has taken a murder right down to the people involved, not the crime itself. Look at the Iraqi post-war coverage. It's down to the hometown. I think will draw viewers for a while. Good solid strategy after being force-fed months of the "watch-and-wait" game that trapped the news as the Iraqi crisis drew near.

The Write Stuff: I'm trying to make a Friday feature out of reader responses, but you guys won't play. Come up with your own top ten list, and we'll consider it as we do every week for the Friday column. So far we've had Top Ten Things I Hate About The Media from Fallon's Lisa Seward and a brilliant Top Ten list from Court TV's Evan Shapiro. Let's see yours. Send them to me at john@mediapost.com.