Shake'n'Bake

The first thing I'd like to teach my boys to cook is chicken. This is not an easy food to prepare.

Cook it too long and it's chewy and dry.

Cook not enough and you're surely to die.

I didn't even know it. Anyway, my first successful chicken was Shake'n'Bake. Why is this a great brand? Many reasons:

1. The name rhymes, it's very memorable, and kids like the sound. When kids like the sound then they pester parents to buy.

2. More importantly, the name is what you do - it covers the whole experience from preparation to the cooking. The actual shaking using the enclosed bag creates an experiential marker that makes people feel powerful. A magical power to make plain chicken delicious.

3. Even more important, the result is phenomenal.. for baked chicken pieces that is. My mouth waters just thinking of biting into a crunchy-on-the-outside-so-juicy-on-the-inside Shake'n'Bake chicken.

4. Finally, I haven't seen a Shake'n'Bake TV spot since the late 1970's, but I think they might have invented food porn. You know, the knife cutting into that crispy chicken shell, only for the sizzling juices to ooze onto the rice below. Like any kind of porn, it made a strong impression on a then-young mind.