Can a burger be so good you go out of your way for it? Can a bite become an event? If so, how do you build all of that yumminess into a brand? That was the challenge with Li’l Woody’s.

To define the experience in this new, organic-yet-greasy burger joint in Seattle’s trendy Capitol Hill, we at Zoyo Branding studied the “emotional promise” of the brand. After researching the competition, the market, interviewing the founders, we came up with a guideline for the emotional promise.

By the way, we would have interviewed current, former, and aspiring customers but the work we did was before the restaurant opened, so we didn’t have that opportunity.

Here’s the emotional promise we defined. These are the feelings associated with the brand… what a client will feel during and after a trip to Li’l Woody’s.

• Satisfaction: “I wanted a burger (fries, shake, what-have-you) and Li’l Woody’s hit the spot.”
• Authentic: Li’l Woody’s is “real” so everyone there can be their real selves, too
• Collective: Li’l Woody’s taps into a connection that we all share, our culture’s collective memory of classic burger joints, our collective love for burgers, our collective trend toward local choices. Li’l Woody’s brings out a feeling that everyone is in it together.
• The best possible bad: Food so good, it makes giving in to the craving worth it

Now that the restaurant’s been open month or so, does the emotional promise ring true? Surely they’ve got more than 500 excited fans on Facebook.