Route 66: The Brand That Keeps Selling

“It would be an amazing roadside attraction. I would love it to be a perfect permanent fixture,” said Nez. “Time will tell.”

When a huge brick of cheese showed up at Americana Motor Hotel in Flagstaff as a pop-up Route 66 roadside attraction, people came out to see it. The oversized replica of Tillamook’s award-winning Medium Cheddar Baby Loaf was hard to miss. At roughly 32,000 times the size of the cheese sold in grocery stores, the roadside attraction gave Route 66 travelers another reason to pull over, snap a photo and – perhaps most importantly for Tillamook – remember the brand.

“Four hundred fifty to 500 people came the first weekend. Some even drove up from the Valley to take their picture with it,” said Dominic Nez, general manager of Flagstaff’s Americana Motor Hotel. “Such a sight to see.”

The collaboration among The Route 66 Cheese Trail, Tillamook and Americana Motor Hotel was designed to celebrate the historic highway’s centennial.

Tillamook, which had reached out to Americana, carried its Route 66 branding beyond the roadside attraction and into the hotel experience. A limited-edition Tillamook menu served through the hotel’s takeout window was a huge success, according to Nez.

The company also created the Tillamook Cheeseside Stay, transforming a hotel suite with Tillamook-inspired décor and custom touches. Together, the promotions turned a Route 66 stop into an immersive brand experience, giving travelers opportunities to eat the product, photograph it, stay surrounded by it and share the experience with others.

Some social media users questioned what an Oregon cheese company was doing on Route 66 in the first place. But from a branding perspective, Tillamook achieved something valuable: attention. A little cheddar, a little controversy and a lot of conversation helped keep the campaign in front of consumers.

National Brands Tap Route 66

Tillamook was not the only national brand to jump on the Route 66 centennial bandwagon.

New Mexico-based Gruet Winery leveraged the centennial with Brut 66, using both phonetic wordplay (you might have to say it out loud) and packaging to associate its sparkling wine with the Mother Road. The broadly distributed wine featured Route 66-inspired imagery designed to make the connection immediately recognizable to consumers.

Gruet also created a second, more locally focused version sold through its tasting rooms. That label featured a 1969 photograph of Route 66 running through Albuquerque, home to the longest continuous urban stretch of the historic highway in the country.

For Gruet, the connection went beyond borrowing a famous road name. The winery has deep New Mexico roots, with its Albuquerque winery opening in 1993, giving the company an authentic regional story to build into the centennial marketing. The campaign allowed Gruet to use Route 66 nostalgia to reinforce its own New Mexico identity while reaching consumers outside the state. Gruet wines are widely available in Flagstaff, including at Fry’s.

General Mills joined the Route 66 centennial marketing push through a partnership with the New Mexico Tourism Department, releasing limited-edition Chex Mix BOLD packaging in convenience stores nationwide. The New Mexico-themed bags were accompanied by Route 66-inspired store displays and signage, putting the state’s Mother Road imagery in front of consumers far beyond the Southwest.

“Route 66 has long represented discovery, exploration and the beauty of the open road,” said Oliver Perez, business unit director for salty snacks at General Mills, in a news release. The campaign connected that road-trip nostalgia with New Mexico tourism, using a familiar snack brand to promote the state’s landscapes, flavors and Route 66 destinations.

Wyndham Rewards also leveraged the centennial with Flavors of the Open Road, a limited-edition candy collection inspired by Route 66 destinations and their regional tastes. For example, Flagstaff was represented by prickly pear, alongside flavors tied to cities such as Chicago and Amarillo. With only 100 boxes available, the campaign was less about selling candy than using a playful, highly shareable product to draw attention to Wyndham hotels along Route 66. The collection sold out within seven minutes of going on sale Aug. 20.

Mother Road Brewing Was There First

Local entrepreneur Michael Marquess was ahead of the trend when naming Mother Road Brewing Co. The Route 66 connection was there from the beginning, rather than added for the centennial.

“I am in love with vintage motoring, road trips and two-lane highways,” Marquess said. “When we discovered the Milum Building was on the 1926 alignment of Route 66, we were delighted. So, we actually purloined the name – if you steal, steal from the best – and took it from Steinbeck’s 1939 ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’” Steinbeck used “Mother Road” to describe Route 66 in the novel, and Marquess said the brewery displays an image of Steinbeck and the selected passage in its taproom.

“We could have named it after ourselves, but I wanted to grow a brewery and hospitality endeavor that could outlast me,” Marquess said. “Mother Road has universal appeal and just seemed right, given the original brewery’s location.”

For the centennial, Mother Road Brewing Co. created Delgadillo Delight, a crisp Arizona lager infused with blood oranges and named in honor of Angel and Vilma Delgadillo.

“They were the first to urge and successfully convince the Arizona Legislature to name Route 66 a Historic Route,” said Marquess. “That action kicked off the preservation movement in the other seven Route 66 states.”

The limited-release beer is available in cans at the Mother Road taproom, giving visitors another Route 66-branded experience they can take home.

Route 66 Branding Close to Home

Mother Road Brewing Co. is hardly alone in tapping into Route 66’s marketing power. Across Flagstaff and Williams, local food and beverage businesses have built products, menu items and even entire identities around the Mother Road.

Historic Brewing Co.’s Last Town American Lager pays tribute to Williams, the last Route 66 community bypassed by Interstate 40. Route 66 Dog Haus extends the theme across its menu by calling its meal packages Route 66 Combos.

At Galaxy Diner, 1950s nostalgia carries through menu items such as Father Knows Best Quesadilla and Hot Mama’s Meatloaf Dinner, while the Route 66 Pile-Up turns the highway name into a shareable appetizer loaded with chicken tenders, jalapeño poppers, onion rings, mozzarella sticks and zucchini sizzlers.

Miz Zip’s Café incorporates the familiar Route 66 shield into both its logo and neon sign and serves Route 66 Street Tacos, while Lucy’s Burgers at Flagstaff Mall leans into a 1950s theme with green chile cheeseburgers and other retro diner fare.

Together, the examples show how deeply Route 66 has become embedded in Northern Arizona’s food and beverage branding – not simply as a historic highway, but as recognizable shorthand for nostalgia, road trips and the Southwest.

And getting back to the giant Tillamook cheese loaf? “It would be an amazing roadside attraction. I would love it to be a perfect permanent fixture,” said Nez. “Time will tell.”

Travelers can download the interactive Route 66 Cheese Trail Map to track permanent farm shops and tasting rooms. FBN

By Stacey Wittig, FBN

Stacey Wittig covers tourism, destination marketing and the business of travel. She writes about travel trends, places and experiences at Unstoppablestaceytravel.com.

Photos by Stacey Wittig: With examples like Gruet Winery’s Brut 66, Chex Mix’s flavors of the Southwest, Mother Road Brewing Co.’s special brews and Tillamook’s giant cheddar pop-up roadside attraction, food and beverage brands are making the most of the historic highway’s centennial.

Route 66: The Brand That Keeps Selling

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