How Rachel and Alison Help Make Up for Missing International Pickle Week.

Keeping an advertising blog while traveling is highlighted by happenstance. Today's post is powered by the appearance of a jar of Gedney State Fair Baby Baby Dills in our rooms here in New Prague. I had forgotten that Minnesota is so much of a “pickle state.” Wisconsin gets cranberries; the Land of 10,000 Lakes gets kosher dills.

Among many other varieties and circumstances. You can eat your way through the State Fair on pickles as Baking Junkie blogger Aimee demonstrates, “...a Pickle Dog. A pickle spear wrapped in cream cheese and pastrami. Absolutely fabulous and just like eating a giant pickle roll-up (another typically midwestern appetizer)”

International Pickle Week was last May, according to Minnesota Monthly writer Marie Flanagan, who also offered the classic Deep Fried Pickle Recipe...from Gedney. Which is why it's a pleasure to note that constant exploration and food purchasing by Rachel Baron and Alison Bond is such a great payoff for a marketing blogger like Signalwriter.

Not only didn't I remember the pretty darn famous Gedney Pickle Company from up here, but I didn't know that the...pickle giant...had been marketing a perfect peck of pickle products for this part of the world: its “State Fair” line-up.

Briefly, the first Gedney pickle factory opened in Minneapolis in 1881. A hundred or so years later, as a Minnesota State Fair sponsor, the company began packing and marketing top-prize-winning pickle recipes from ribbon winners there in 1991 with the Kosher Dills of Genevieve Spano and the Bread & Butter Pickles from Nita Schemmel. (The present jar of Baby Baby Dills is a prize-winner from Kathy Earnest, Lindstrom, MN.) And the locally famous jingle, “Get me a Gedney, it's the Minnesota pickle,” created by freelancer Sandy Buckholtz, grabbed hold up here.

Gedney has grown far beyond selling pickles from the back of horse-drawn wagons – it expanded by buying brands like Cain's to capture New England; and produces pickles for both Del Monte and Target's Archer Farms brand lines. Most important: Gedney's State Fair line maintains a resolute local focus, the “pickles here” of grocery marketing and promotion. For a company like this, thinking local continues to pay off, whether local equals Massachusetts or Minnesota.

Travel broadens one's view of advertising and promotion, alongside regional foods and events. Good to pick up a little fresh knowledge (and some pickles) while on the road. We'll be trying out these at the Slavik family reunion. Maybe I can tell you how Kathy's recipe has turned out.

PS: You betcha – that's Kathy right there on the label.

A Tootsie Pop® Role in AMA Deliberations? Try the Banana. No, the Mango!

I didn’t realize: Tootsie Pops come in Wild Mango Berry. The AMAHouston Communications Committee* is sitting around this morning in the Savage conference room, sucking on candy…particularly the headlined Tootsie Pop.

Given our “business” focus today, the fact that some of the confections come from a company called Tootsie Roll Industries is reassuring to those of us who grew up to be captains (or maybe just sergeants) of industry, too.

The source of dentists’ profitability since 1896, you may (or may not) be old enough to remember original Dots and Charms. Or Sugar Daddies – that one drove our parents nuts ‘cause the chewy caramel thing could pull a filling out of your mouth just by taking off its bright yellow wrapper.

There were Tootsie Rolls themselves, naturally (boyhood sniggers continue to this day). Years ago though, the jewels in Tootsie’s crown were the Pops:

What goes into the world’s number #1-selling candy-filled lollipop? Start with a chewy, Tootsie Roll center; cover it with a delicious, hard candy coating; and you’ve got a simple, delicious treat, a Tootsie original that was the first lollipop providing an embedded candy “prize.” And at only 60 calories per fat-free pop, it’s the perfect guilt-free, sweet tooth-pleasing treat that everyone can enjoy.

Like the website says, that chocolaty center was and still is yummy. In my schooldays, the flavors were standard: Orange, Cherry, Grape, Raspberry…and Chocolate, the double whammy of the line-up. Sometime after I stopped being a customer, Tootsie Roll added a “…new sixth flavor that alternates among Pomegranate, Banana, and now Green Apple” but this website bit is misleading because over three or four decades, there were plenty of different flavors added and subtracted from the line-up. (An easy start on Tootsie Pop lore is Wikipedia.)

Like any modern CPG outfit, Tootsie Roll keeps on changing its line-up. Recently I’d heard there’s a Peanut Butter Tootsie Pop – that turns out to be wrong. Tara Johnson told me this morning that there’s a Caramel Pop, which I discover is a “Limited Edition.” I’d like to try one of those.

In the mixed bags on the conference table this morning were also some of the Banana sort plus these bright orange-and-purple Pops titled Wild Mango Berry. It turns out this one’s part of the company’s “Wild” series…currently with five flavors.

I like Mango. It’s amazing what you can learn from a dedicated group of professionals.

*This subset of AMAHouston volunteers must not remain nameless: Marketing Communications VP Johnson I’ve already mentioned. Also out for the workshop this morning were Jen Pearsall, Michelle LeBlanc, Robin Tooms, Tillie Nutter, Tom Richardson, Allyson Bandy, Amy Dionne, Erika Waters, Shanthi Subramanian, Jared Houser…and me. Now somebody please pass the Whoppers.

Cream of Wheat Advertising Proves A Couple of Timeless Truths.

That phenomenal Minnesota snowfall? The one that crushed the 580,000-pound, Teflon-coated, inflatable fiberglass Minneapolis Metrodome roof? My first non-sports-guy thought was, “Where are the Timberwolves going to play?” Then I realized that this stadium was where the Vikings hang out.

Still, I could have sworn I’d seen an ad years ago for…what? Wolves? Cereal? Sure enough, I searched my shelves and found the art work in a superb book. The Nabisco Brands Collection of Cream of Wheat Advertising Art started 30 years ago, when archivist David Stivers discovered that Cream of Wheat (which became part of Nabisco in ’62) had kept detailed records of each and every piece of art, illustration, photo and media schedule.

This led to re-discovering the artworks themselves, 1,600 pieces that “included original oil on canvas, oil on board, watercolors, sketches, premiums and proofs.” It is a superb book that dramatizes just how much “art” went into advertising in the so-called old days.

In one sense, it was one of advertising’s golden ages, when a major company could line up and use work from some of the most accomplished painters of the day – which stretched from 1902, when the Cream of Wheat Company dedicated $10,000 to its first ad budget; to 1962. During the first few decades, EV Brewer, Katherine Richardson Wireman, the incomparable Roy Frederic Spreter and Maud Fangel, among many others, contributed to the Cream of Wheat advertising pool.

Oh, you’re thinking: Nowadays it’s all stock photos and royalty-free illustrations, not much chance to commission and use such superb artists and illustrators on contemporary work. But that’s not the complete case. In fact, some features are kind of...timeless.

There are just as many – if not more – fine artists crossing media today. Perhaps more. The illustrator working right now on her computer is just as accomplished as a Brewer or a Rockwell in his studio. And clients can be persuaded (depending on the company and the market) to go with custom work.

Even going through the Cream of Wheat advertising art collection, you can see how the company used the same images repeatedly in different ad formats and media – even if they were commissioned. Copyrights and usage agreements? Hah! Opportunity and appearances in national magazines and newspapers. You betcha.

Because of the weekend’s Minnesota snow, I picked the wolves as the art appeared in Stivers’s book. It’s “The Yukon Freighter” by NC Wyeth, created in 1908. It was the great artist’s third painting for cereal adverts. The 40” x 35” oil-on-canvas earned Wyeth $500. Truth!

More Packaged Goods: Is Personalizing Your Oatmeal Experience…Better?

This is probably the kind of post that will make the brand marketing people at Malt-o-Meal and Hunter Public Relations cry – or laugh out loud. When they introduced a complete new product line – Better Oats – they did everything “marketing” that could be expected of them. And still, I only noticed the products when Signalwriter’s personal shopper saw a “good deal” on a box at the supermarket.

The Better Oats parent is Malt-O-Meal which has been around since 1919 and it’s pretty well-recognized these days as the value brand in most stores’ breakfast cereal aisles. Now they’ve put their thinking caps on to revolutionize the instant oatmeal category. (Yes, one of the new sub-brands is “Oat Revolution.” Sigh.)

It’s possible they’ve succeeded – and I almost missed it. But I’ve got to say that I’m really happy they didn’t try too hard to position it on the “personalized oatmeal experience” idea. That line’s in the introductory press release:

With 34 different offerings, Better Oats provides consumers with the ability to personalize their oatmeal experience with varieties like traditional Oat Revolution™, Oat Fit™ for the weight-conscious, mmm…Muffins™ for a sweet start to the day, Lavish™ to satisfy chocolate cravings and Oat Revolution™ Thick and Hearty for an old-fashioned oatmeal experience instantly. Varieties of Mom’s Best Naturals® – which include Plain Grain Organic and Dark Chocolate – are found exclusively in the natural food/organic aisle in supermarkets nationwide.

It’s not like America needs more kinds of instant oatmeal (or maybe, right before a contentious election, it really does). But my ad guy’s porkpie hat is raised to the entire Better Oats team because every launch detail is right, in my opinion. There’s fine packaging and an interesting collection of sub-brands, plus some useful waste-reducing ideas. There’s the quite-alright website…clean and simple and attractive.

The Better Oats brand line has gone on the road with a “Grains of Change” tour* and that’s connected to a Facebook fan page and trial stimulator, complete with a coupon (which I have downloaded and used). And I have kitchen-tested the “oatmeal experience” by consuming servings of the mmm…Muffins and Oat Revolution varieties. They are good and there isn’t much in the way of unnatural ingredients in ‘em.

Missing the introduction is a question of noise level. This is a crowded category. And do Americans need another complete line of breakfast cereals? On the other hand…breakfast is good for you. If you eat breakfast, you’re likely to promote healthy eating habits. And oats – oats are good for you, too. So if a company can actually make a successful additional entry into this category, it’s worth a lot for us as consumers to try something healthy and…novel (which the Better Oats lines are). And Malt-O-Meal can take over more of a grocer’s shelf with packaged goods that deliver excellent margins, thank you very much.

Maybe making instant oatmeal more personally tailorable is exactly right for the second decade of the 21^st Century. After all, breakfast cereals are the third most popular grocery story category, I have read. Better products and more comprehensive marketing will always gain new products (like Better Oats) a place at the table. Go for it, oatmeal guys!

*I know it’s tongue-in-cheek but shoot “Otis Wholegrainer – Oatmeal Czar” anyway – that idea is…unrevolutionary.

Sandwich IV: “You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye.”

The world’s greatest sandwich ingredient promotion started in 1960 with just a couple-three ads and some subway posters. The Levy’s Real Jewish Rye campaign was created* by Bill Bernbach of DDB.

Among any group of thoughtful advertising people today, Bernbach is one of our industry’s greats. But everyone has to make a start somewhere. In the beginning of DDB, the little Yiddische bakery in Brooklyn known as Henry S Levy and Sons could get Bernbach for a $40,000 budget. DDB worked for Levy’s for years before giving birth to the “You don’t have to be Jewish” ad campaign, which used photos of people of different ethnicities and cultures enjoying the Jewish rye. The shooter was Howard Zieff.

In one interview, Zeif said, “We wanted normal-looking people, not blond, perfectly proportioned models…I saw the Indian on the street; he was an engineer for the New York Central. The Chinese guy worked in a restaurant near my Midtown Manhattan office. And the kid we found in Harlem. They all had great faces, interesting faces, expressive faces.”

Bernbach, Zieff and DDB were the creators – the 50-years-ago architects – of today’s Hellman’s® ads and Nature’s Pride™ ads and Oscar Mayer ads. Those Zieff photos with their humorous connectivity to real people were fresh in the ‘60s. The copycats don’t have much to say for themselves that’s innovative.

Bernbach has gone to the great deli in the sky. The Levy’s brand (no longer very good according to one review) is now submerged in George Weston Limited. And I have shorthanded a remarkable advertising story.

The Levy's campaign is great sandwich advertising by a great advertising agency. That’s my last word on the subject. But I’ll leave the capper to Jiffynotes:

“Levy’s had its competitors, but their names were largely lost to history simply because none of the competing bakeries in Brooklyn hired ad agencies that immortalized them.”

*The Mirror Makers credits DDB copywriter Judy Protas and art director Bill Taubin for the actual campaign creative (page 254). I will too.

Sandwich III: Our Lady of Grilled Cheeses Offers Prayers for Stronger Ad Creative.

Honest, officer, I didn’t know it was loaded. Having started a look at advertising the sandwich in Signalwriter’s previous two posts, though, it’s a difficult subject to put aside.

Is the sandwich really capable of being turned into a metaphor for advertising creativity? I suppose so. Just how far can the idea be taken? If current ads are too bland and undistinguished, what’s at the opposite end of the spectrum?

My candidate comes from a post by Mike Stanley some six years back. He carefully collected parodies surrounding the woman who, having seen an image of the Virgin Mary in her grilled cheese sandwich, promptly offered it on eBay. Read about Stanley’s entire adventure here.

Executionally, “Our Lady of Grilled Cheeses” could hardly be more of a standout. It’s as though the image’s creator* realized the ultimate power of icons and translated that force directly into his or her visualization. The illustration is artistic. It features a woman (ie, homemaker). It includes the sandwich. No headline required.

Opportunities to offend abound – as if people today need a wider range of options. Consider it something to aim for: just how much breakthrough can be had in a single (potential) print ad, elevating the humble grilled cheese into heavenly fare.

*The person who created this visual is not identified. Who it is? Please let me know so I can credit the outstanding work. For more hours of fun, Google “Virgin Mary, Grilled Cheese Sandwich.”

Sandwich II: the Fashion for Smiley Consumers Here, There and Everywhere.

No sooner written about (below), than more sandwiches are showing up in more ads everywhere. Example: the latest number of Real Simple magazine (which editorially seems now to be equating “body” with grown women who weigh no more than 67 pounds). In its pages, you will not only see another Hellman’s® ad with a different sandwich-stuffed face; you’ll also find the Nature’s Pride™ ad pictured in this post.

Next move on to Woman’s Day. Look at the print ad from Oscar Mayer entitled “Score.” This time, it’s a kid with the sandwich. Sean Marks, Oscar Mayer’s director of marketing, is quoted as saying of the ad campaign launched in January, “Our goal is to capture these spontaneous, real-life moments to demonstrate the relevance our products have in the lives of people today.” It doesn’t look to me like the Kraft brand’s agency broke much of a creative sweat on the sandwich execution.

Maybe all of America’s art directors met and pronounced, “Let’s always show a happy smiley face our product(s).” Maybe it’s the summer cycle, time for casual eating.

On the biz-side, we have called this the “rig-in-the-sunset” problem. A huge number oil and gas-related ad executions shows an oil rig, onshore or offshore; with a sun either rising or setting in the background. For our industry right now, sunset is probably appropriate.

The real question (for both food and energy industry advertisers) is this: can you afford to look just like your broad-image competition? In the cases of Hellman’s, Nature’s Pride and Oscar Mayer, apparently so.

Sometimes It’s the Simplest Headline that Appeals the Most.

It’s possible I’m tired (momentarily) of pretension. More likely, as you look back through this blog, you’ll see that I pay more attention to the ad campaigns with the simplicity of human emotion than with the bombast of high fashion.

Quirky robotesses, like the Svedka models here, lose their appeal in the face of homemade sandwiches, I guess. So this new print ad for Hellman’s® Light Mayonnaise caught my eye – it’s clearly part of the Unilever brand’s Real Food Project. For this ad, the campaign tagline has been extended: “It’s time for real sandwiches.”

The web part of the campaign is overtly commercial, to me. Still, it’s the place one discovers that Hellmann's Light Mayo will be the first recipe in the product line to contain 100% certified cage-free eggs, part of the “real food” emphasis.

More than anything, though, I just like the ad headline: “Not all love notes are written. Some are made.” Pompous has its place but not in this kind of food advertising.