Kranz On Copy: Insights and answers on copywriting and writing copy

Where's the patience?

Too many people think the secret to a brand is a winning message. Put one together -- find the right hook -- and shazam, you have a great brand.

But most great brands are built slowly, over a loooong period of time. Time is the crucial element that melds customer interest with the gradual accrual of impressions, emotions, ideas and experience. It's the key ingredient to brand credibility.

That's why branding is a lot like barbecue. The real secret to barbecue isn't the sauce nor (I'm about to commit heresy here) the smoke -- it's about "low and slow": cooking tough, cheap cuts of meat at very low heat for a long period of time, enough time for the connective tissues to melt and make the meats distinctively tender.

Don't believe me? Then try this recipe for barbecued ribs in your own ordinary home oven. I PROMISE you you'll be amazed at the results -- and become a convert to "low and slow."

1) Get yourself a slab or two of ribs.
2) Put the oven rack in the middle and preheat the oven to 225 degrees. That's right -- just 225.
3) Sprinkle and pat down both sides of the ribs with the following mixture:

• 1/4 cup of paprika
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 generous tbs of garlic powder
• A scant 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (or as much as you can handle)
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• optional: onion powder, mustard powder, ground white pepper
  

4) Set aside the remaining spice mixture after you cover the ribs -- you'll need it for the sauce.
5) Place ribs, meaty side up, on a jelly roll pan covered with tinfoil (this'll save a lot of clean up later)
6) Now put these bad boys in the oven and go back to work, or school, or the ball game, or whatever. Expect to cook these for at least 3 hours and no more than 5, depending on the size of the ribs and the thickness of the meat. When they're done, the meat should pull away from the bones, exposing the "handles" on the ends.

Toward "done" time, get your sauce ready:

• Heat a 1/4 cup or so of apple cider vinegar in a saucepan over low heat.
• Stir in the remainder of the spice mixture above. Whisk until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
• Add 1/2 cup or more of either tomato paste, ketchup or chili sauce. (Note the "or" here -- just pick one. You can use less of the paste, as it's denser.) Stir until dissolved.
• Add 2 or 3 tbs of molasses. Yum.
• Add 1 tbs of Worcestershire sauce.
• Add a few dashes of Tobasco or other hot sauce, to taste.
• Optional: A few drops of liquid smoke. This stuff is powerful, so err on the light side.

When your ribs are done, pull them out, move the rack toward the top of the oven and set the beast on broil. Flip the ribs to the bony side and slather with sauce. Broil for just a minute or two, then flip the ribs, cover the meaty side with sauce, and broil for another minute or so. Don't let the sauce burn!

(Here's a real dinner party opportunity: You can fully the cook the ribs just before your guests arrive, then hit 'em -- the ribs, not the guests -- with sauce just before serving.)

Serve with home made cole slaw, baked beans, corn bread and/or collard greens.

Eat, digest, then write me. Was I not right? Are not these ribs wonderful?

It's all about the slow.