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I ran across a terrific little 96-page book called Joys of JELL-O published by General Foods Corporation.

It features dozens of recipes, tips and tricks for molding, flaking, and cubing, and ideas for party planning all using JELL-O BRAND Gelatin Dessert. Based on the images in the book my guess is that it is from the late 1960s.

Turn on some Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, we're having a party! Let's play Twister!

It's very interesting to me that companies have been marketing via brand journalism for many decades before the Web made it so darned easy to do.

In the case of JELL-O, interested people would send in a quarter and some proof of purchase and receive the book.

Okay, so let's talk about the recipes for a sec. Some look rather tasty indeed.

But others are downright revolting…

Ring-Around-the-Tuna anyone?

While the book is clearly a publication of General Foods, and does mention JELL-O BRAND throughout, it is no hard sell.

By providing information of value, JELL-O becomes a trusted brand. General Foods helps people solve problems: "What shall I serve on Saturday night?"

The same thing is true about brand journalism today – 40 years later. But today it is much easier to create valuable information and publish it on the Web (for free).

• Brand Journalism at Monster.com
• Brand Journalism at Boeing
• Brand journalism in the U.S. Military

Many companies are jumping into brand journalism. Are you?

See comments.

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