Mountain Mercato, Canmore

“I don’t design clothes, I design dreams.” Ralph Lauren 

Mountain Mercato Specialty Food Market in Canmore, Alberta, is an absolutely fabulous store. I wandered up and down the aisles, intrigued by all the different products. But as I looked, I began to wonder. Was I excited about the products – or their packaging?


Is olive oil in a fancy pottery container or box more interesting than olive oil in a glass bottle?


Is bottled water more desirable in a fancy container?


Do I want to taste these biscuits, or just admire the butterflies and flowers?


I definitely covet these Italian tins more than I want to munch on the biscuits.


Is salt in a blue pottery container from Ibiza more flavourful than ordinary table salt?


Will maple syrup taste better when it's poured from a wine bottle?


I would have loved to purchase a jar of ice cream. It looked homemade rather than the product of a factory production line. Of course, they made sure I thought that way by labelling it as "homemade ice cream."


Am I more likely to buy a chocolate bar with a French name and a picture of a pig or one that is unusually tall and narrow? Will people think I'm a "smooth operator" if I eat the bar with that name?


Is it the name that intrigues me and makes me want to buy One Mean Mustard or a Knickerbocker Glory chocolate bar?

 







If you’re in Canmore, be sure to visit Mountain Mercato. And let me know what you purchased – the product or the package?

For more of my ideas on marketing food and drink, check out my Slideshare presentation on Seasoning Your Brand of Food and Wine.

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