Madison Avenue Is Seen Squeezing the Archives
With Hollywood churning out remakes of classic films and television shows, it only follows that Madison Avenue would dig deep into its archives for pitches that also tap into feelings of nostalgia.
And in dusting off icons from yesteryear--some dating from the dawn of television--advertisers are sending subtle messages to consumers that their decades-old brands are durable and authentic.
Indeed, Mr. Whipple, Buddy Lee and other quirky characters now emerging from retirement may be more valuable to their corporate handlers the second time around. In a marketplace cluttered with barely distinguishable products, an icon already familiar to a generation of TV viewers can help set a brand apart.
“Everyone is fighting for brand position,” said Mikio Osaki, advertising department chair at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. “You can create something new, but that is costly and time-consuming. Or you can reprise what you have.”
There’s no guarantee, of course, that old ad pitches will click with today’s consumers. So advertisers are tweaking vintage campaigns: Star-Kist Food Inc.’s Charlie the Tuna, for example, has a thinner waistline, befitting a food touted as healthful.
And store clerk Mr. Whipple--played by actor Dick Wilson, now 14 years older than when he stopped pitching Charmin in 1985--no longer squeezes the Procter & Gamble Co. bath tissue, as he did in the original campaign that spanned 21 years.
“If we duplicated what we did before, it wouldn’t have any life to it,” said Sherry Nemmers, creative director for P&G;’s advertising agency, New York-based D’Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles. And the message about Charmin has moved beyond softness to strength, she said. “The campaign has evolved.”
Before bringing Mr. Whipple out of mothballs, P&G; did research to be sure he’d be accepted by consumers, some of whom were in grade school when the character retreated from the airwaves. A survey showed that 90% of adults remembered the finicky grocer.
The updated ads, which began airing in July, work Mr. Whipple’s comeback into the story line, showing him abandoning fellow retirees on the golf course in order to hawk Charmin, whose market share has stagnated in recent years.
Advertisers say the timing is right for relaunching old campaigns. As the century nears an end, consumers look back with fondness on symbols that, from the vantage point of the 1990s, represent a simpler time, they say. And with the steady influx of Internet companies and technologies unheard of just a few years ago, consumers trying to keep pace with change welcome icons that seem familiar.
“We are moving into the end of the century and there are so many things that are coming at us that are new and different and untried,” Nemmers said. “In that situation, it is really great to see something that is comfortable and familiar.”
Besides polishing up old icons, advertisers are reviving well-worn slogans.
PaineWebber Inc. last November brought back its “Thank you, PaineWebber” line, used from 1975 to 1987. Kraft Foods Inc. is boasting, as it first did in 1959, that its Maxwell House coffee is “good to the last drop.” The TV spots blend images of 1990s coffee drinkers with an old-fashioned percolator. In ads for its 2000 Impala, General Motors Corp. has revived its 1950s jingle, “See the USA in your Chevrolet,” to highlight the pleasure of driving.
And in another twist, advertisers are reworking some classic scripts. In a current American Tourister spot, for example, a gorilla pounds on luggage, reminiscent of famous ads from the 1970s that demonstrated the product’s durability. The new commercial is so successful that sales of the models featured in it are sold out through September, said a representative of American Tourister’s parent Samsonite Corp.
Updating icons can be tricky. Aware that young consumers are not familiar with Buddy Lee, Lee Jeans Co. produced a six-minute video that aired on MTV to reintroduce the cherub-faced doll, which adorned shop windows back in the 1920s. In the video, Buddy is portrayed as a spunky survivor of a threshing machine accident who, like film character Forrest Gump, randomly turns up at historical events. The intent is to show skeptical young consumers that Lee is an authentic and enduring brand.
In the case of KFC, its icon--founder and longtime pitchman Harland Sanders--died in 1980. KFC attempted to resurrect the enigmatic Sanders in 1994 using a look-alike, but consumers didn’t warm to the acting double.
Last October, after reviewing 500 drawings and nearly as many voices, KFC tried again with an animated “colonel”--as Sanders called himself. Careful to avoid creating a second clone, KFC allowed the cartoon colonel to spout youthful expressions and dunk basketballs, while keeping Sanders’ trademark drawl, white suit and string tie. KFC credits the whimsical caricature with helping boost sales at its chicken restaurants by 4% when it debuted last fall.
While KFC’s undertaking demonstrates the importance of icons to advertisers, some might see the trend as a sign that advertisers lack new ideas.
“An icon puts a friendly face on things and gives a product character,” said Jim Morton, co-author of a 1996 book about advertising icons. “If you like the icon, you’re more likely to trust the product and buy it.”
For KFC, a unit of Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., the revived Colonel Sanders serves two purposes. It reminds consumers that KFC has a long history, and it strengthens the chain’s image in a category that already has powerful icons, such as Wendy International Inc.’s Dave Thomas and Tricon unit Taco Bell’s talking Chihuahua, the company said.
“The take-away is [that] KFC does chicken right because everything has his imprint on it,” said Chris Grabenstein, a creative director at Young & Rubicam in New York, KFC’s advertising agency.
For a brand that has lost its edge, vintage advertising is no magic bullet. The picture is mixed at Lee Jeans, a unit of VF Corp. While Buddy Lee regularly receives fan mail from consumers, Lee’s market share has dropped slightly this year, in part because young adults shun the department stores where Lee does a good chunk of its business.
And Philip Morris Cos.’ Miller Brewing Co. last month replaced the advertising agency for Miller Lite beer because commercials patterned after its successful “tastes great, less filling” campaign from the early 1970s failed to improve sales.
