Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S10E09 - The Future Is Furry: Animals In Advertising

Episode Date: March 4, 2021

This week, we look at famous animals in advertising. The ad industry has a long history of using animals in commercials. From Spuds MacKenzie the original party animal to the majestic Budweiser Clydesdales to Morris the finicky cat, they all have fascinating stories to tell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM.

And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk, and authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns

about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is an apostrophe podcast production. You're so king in it.

You're so king in it. Your teeth look whiter than no nose You're not you when you're hungry You're a good ham with all the teeth You're under the influence of Terry O'Reilly. House of the Rising Sun was recorded by The Animals in 1964. But the song was not written by the band members. As a matter of fact, nobody knows who wrote it. Musicologists believe it was an old folk song from the 1800s.

The first time it was recorded was in 1932. Many artists recorded it long before the Animals took a swing at it, including Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, and Nina Simone. Bob Dylan recorded a folk version of House of the Rising Sun on his very first album. It is said when he heard the Animals version of it on the radio one day in 1964, he pulled his car off the road, jumped out, and banged on the hood. They say it was the moment Dylan decided to go electric.

House of the Rising Sun was a huge hit for the animals and like the story in the lyric, it was also their undoing. Remarkably, the song was recorded by the animals in one single take, in just 15 minutes. House of the Rising Sun went to number one in Britain

and stayed at the top of the charts for three weeks in North America. Because no one knows who wrote the song, there was no traditional writing credit on the Animals' single. Instead, it just said arrangement colon A. Price. Alan Price was the keyboardist for the band. When the Animals recorded the song, they were told they couldn't list all the band members' individual names on the single. So Price's name was put on it,

mostly because Alan started with an A alphabetically. The band was told they could sort out the credits later. As it turned out, only Alan Price got any royalties from the huge hit record as a result of that credit. The other band members never saw a penny. That decision, and the friction it created, helped tear

the band apart. The original Animals broke up in 1966. Even though they were only together for a few short years, the Animals had a string of hit singles

and are considered one of the great bands of the British Invasion. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. There is quite a bit of zoology in the Advertising Hall of Fame, by the way.

A wide variety of animals have been featured in some of the most well-known advertising campaigns over the years. While a lot less musical and definitely less hummable, some of them are very famous.

From cats and dogs to horses and bulls, along with the odd duck, animals nearly ruined many a poor ad writer, and alas, I know, I'm one. You're under the influence. Many creatures, great and small, have been used to sell products over the history of modern advertising.

Back when Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, it made a lot of beer companies very happy, including Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewery in North America. To commemorate the end of Prohibition, August Bush Jr. surprised his father with a gift. It was a Budweiser wagon pulled by six magnificent Clydesdale horses. Clydesdales are big 2,000-pound draft horses

named after a district in Scotland where they were first bred. One historian called them the bulldozers of their time. Whenever the massive Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales made a public appearance, they always drew a crowd. It didn't take long for the brewery to realize the marketing potential of a horse-drawn beer wagon.

So the company purchased a second Clydesdale team from a brewer in Winnipeg, Manitoba, named Patrick Shea. Back then, beer was delivered by wagon. Every brewery had its own preferred breed of horses. Patrick Shea liked Clydesdales. He invested a lot of money breeding his Clydesdales, and his horses won top prizes in shows across North America. So when Anheuser-Busch decided to invest in Clydesdales for its company, it purchased the second team from Patrick Shea. Since then, the descendants of those Manitoba Clydesdales have become one of Budweiser's most recognizable symbols. They have come to represent tradition and heritage.

Here's the first Super Bowl commercial the Clydesdales appeared in. The year was 1986, and if my ears are correct, that's Ed McMahon supplying the voiceover. Strength. Pride.

Tradition. For centuries, the Clydesdale has been known as a special breed. Today, the Clydesdales symbolize Budweiser's dedication to quality, superior ingredients, exclusive beechwood aging, and a distinctively clean, crisp taste that only Budweiser can offer. Quality taste. Because this Bud's for you.

The company owns about 250 Clydesdales and breeds over 40 foals a year. And not just any Clydesdale can become a Budweiser Clydesdale. They must be 6 feet tall, have a white blaze down the middle of their face, a black mane, black tail, a dark brown body color, and must have four furry white feet, or stocking feet as they're called. The top 30 Budweiser Clydesdales appear at roughly 120 events every year.

Of the many famous Clydesdale Super Bowl commercials, maybe one of the most memorable aired only once during Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. The commercial begins with the Clydesdales undertaking a solemn journey. They pull the wagon through the snow and leave their small town behind as townsfolk watch through their windows. Time passes, and the Clydesdales eventually cross a bridge into Manhattan. Soon, they come to a stop and look out to where the Twin Towers once stood. Then, all eight horses slowly kneel and bow their heads.

No words are spoken. Only the Budweiser logo appeared in the final seconds. The Budweiser advertising agency had to move heaven and earth to make that commercial. First, they had to get approval from members of Congress. Then, they needed special approval from the mayor of New York to film from a helicopter. It was the only film crew allowed into the New York airspace directly after 9-11. The Budweiser Clydesdales have now appeared

in over 30 Super Bowl commercials. One of the most famous and longest-running campaigns featuring animals began in 1970. It was for investment firm Merrill Lynch. The company's advertising agency came up with an idea of filming a giant herd of bulls that start out as a speck on the horizon. Then that speck grows and grows in size until the giant herd charges past the camera as a voiceover says, At Merrill Lynch, we spot the trends. As it turns out, the only place the ad agency could find a thousand black bulls was in Mexico. So, they flew to Mexico, hired a thousand bulls and twenty Mexican cowboys.

The film crew dug a big foxhole. The writer, art director, film director and cameraman jumped in as the cowboys chased the herd towards them. A few prayers were said, then a steel hatch was slammed shut at the last moment and the camera filmed the herd, periscope style, as they charged by. The footage was dramatic and the ad agency folks marched back to New York triumphantly,

only to discover their boss had been frantically trying to reach them to say the client had cancelled the commercial. Apparently, some VP high up at Merrill Lynch suddenly didn't like the line We spot the trends, saying all investment firms spot trends, and that any broker who couldn't spot trends should be fired. With that, the ad agency found itself sitting on very expensive footage of charging

bulls and no reason to use it. Then, inspiration hit. The writer came up with a line that made it all work. He wrote, Merrill Lynch is bullish on America. It was perfect.

A bull market is the term for a booming economy, and the line suggested Merrill Lynch was aggressively optimistic about the country. The television commercial with the charging herd of bulls was saved, the new slogan was inserted, and it was launched during the 1970 World Series. America. Merrill Lynch is bullish on America.

Two nights later, President Richard Nixon declared in a nationally televised speech that, like Merrill Lynch, he too was bullish on America. With that, the slogan became famous. That led to another memorable commercial titled Bull in a China Shop. The idea was to have a massive bull carefully navigate its way through a shop filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crystal without disturbing one single thing.

A metaphor for the unique way Merrill Lynch can use its power, yet tailor sensitive investment plans for its clients without missteps. A bull was specially trained for the commercial by going through a maze of crates and hay bales over and over again to simulate what he would face on the set of the commercial. Then came the actual film day. Amazingly, the bull actually navigated the china shop so deftly, he didn't break a single piece of crystal.

The set decorator was so relieved, he jumped into the air in glee and knocked over a candelabra worth $30,000. Bull 1, Man 0. And we'll be right back. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you.

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If you're enjoying this episode, you might also like The Elephant in the Room, Humane Marketing vs. Profit, Season 6, Episode 9. You'll find it in our archives wherever you download your pods. Back in 1968, Nine Lives Cat Food asked the Leo Burnett Advertising Agency to come up with a new television campaign. Burnett, famous for creating the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Doughboy and Tony the Tiger, wanted to personify the brand. The agency pitched an idea of creating a spokescat named Morris, who was the most finicky cat in the world. He was so finicky, he would only eat nine lives cat food. The next step was to find just the right cat.

Burnett hired an animal specialist named Bob Martwick to search for the perfect feline. He called the Humane Society and asked if they had any cats there with personality. The Humane Society said, as a matter of fact, they had a very charismatic tabby named Lucky. Martwick went to the shelter, liked Lucky, and adopted him. At the actual casting session, various shy cats were paraded out one by one before the advertising agency, as they tried to find one with just the right look and personality. When it came to Lucky's turn,

the tabby jumped up on the table, walked over to the art director, and gave him a friendly head bump. The art director looked at Lucky and said, he's the Clark Gable of cats. Lucky got the job, was rechristened Morris, and the first commercial was filmed. Ready for din-din? Ready to act finicky. Some nine lives, dear. Uh-oh. Tuna, chicken, liver.

And creamed gravy. Nine lives. Nutritious foods cats really like. Even Morris. If I acted finicky now, I'd win an Oscar. Between 1969 and 1978, Morris shot 58 commercials. Morris the Cat became so popular, he was assigned a personal secretary to answer all the fan mail. When he flew to events, he was put in an unmarked cage

so fans wouldn't mob him at airports. The day he visited the Washington Post in 1973, he sat patiently on a desk while hardened journalists stood in line to pet him. He wrote, air quotes,

three books and was the subject of another titled Morris, an intimate biography. He even made a couple of movies, air quotes, three books, and was the subject of another titled Morris, An Intimate Biography. He even made a couple of movies, including one with Burt Reynolds titled Seamus. Morris played the part of a cat.

When Morris died at the age of 17 in 1978, newspapers ran obituaries worldwide, including the New York Times. People called Nine Lives to ask where to send flowers. A funeral home asked if it could donate a tiny coffin. Morris was voted one of the ten greatest mascots of all time. And a Morris Million Cat Rescue campaign named in his honor found homes for one million stray cats. Morris the Cat made Nine Lives

one of the best-selling cat foods in one of the most competitive categories, proving it pays to be lucky. In 1987, Bud Light launched a TV campaign featuring a party-loving dog named Spuds McKenzie. Spuds was a white bull terrier with a black spot over one eye. The Chicago office of the ad agency I worked for at the time created Spuds for Bud Light, dubbing him the original

party animal, and launched Spuds on the Super Bowl. Take a nap. What a hunk. Get a load of him. Well, there's a super party animal. His name is Spuds McKenzie. With a beach in sight

and a cold Bud Light, he's in the party frenzy. He's Spuds McKenzie was a dog who was the life of the party. Guys wanted to be like him, girls wanted to be around him. It was one of those strange advertising ideas that should have never worked, but did. That commercial sent Spuds McKenzie into the stratosphere. Spuds' t-shirts were the hottest item, and party animal merchandise flew off the shelves. News shows did stories on Spuds. He was on the front cover of magazines.

Sales of Bud Light jumped up 20%. The secret no one knew at the time was that Spuds was actually a girl dog. Real name? Honey Tree Evil Eye. Her owners just called her Evie. But the world knew him, her, as Spuds McKenzie Party Animal. And back in 1987, I was the writer at the ad agency who had to launch spuds in Canada. A bud-like test launch was scheduled to take place in Kingston, Ontario. It was a party town and was far enough away from Toronto that the results of our launch campaign could be isolated and measured. Again, a dog who liked to party was an idea I would have never dreamt up in a million years. But I was stuck with it.

So, we decided to have a little fun. One of our ideas was to nail a small Beware of Dog sign on the big green Welcome to Kingston sign on the highway. We just thought it would be funny that an entire city would post Beware of Dog on its city limit sign. So we hired a top photographer to take a photo of the Beware of Dog idea so we could use it in newspaper ads. On the appointed day, we all drove out to Kingston, stopped at the Welcome to Kingston sign on the highway,

put up a ladder and nailed Beware of Dog to it. Then the photographer began to set up his camera equipment to get the perfect shot. Just as he was doing that, a police car flew by us headed out of town. I saw the policeman do a quick double take as he drove by. Then I watched him hit his brakes and do a quick double-take as he drove by. Then I watched him hit his brakes and do a squealing U-turn on the highway. I knew that couldn't be good. He turned on his flashing lights and roared up on the shoulder.

The photographer grabbed me by the arm and said, keep him busy for five minutes and I'll get the shot. So the policeman stomped his way over. I jumped in front of him to run interference and babbled my way through an explanation as to why we were photographing the sign. Or defacing the sign, as he pointed out. Much to the officer's horror,

I took him through the whole Bud Light launch strategy, the creative idea, and the crazy spuds McKenzie phenomenon. The entire time, he kept trying to look over my shoulder to see what the photographer was up to. Eventually, I glanced back, the photographer winked at me, and I knew

we had gotten the shot. We climbed back up on the ladder, took the Beware of Dogs sign down, and hoped the officer wouldn't haul us all in. He lectured us, we said we were very sorry, and a fun newspaper ad ran a few days later. Spuds McKenzie and the rest of us lived to party another day.

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That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not.

Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. BetMGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your back all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get

with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater, or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a selly, and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. There is a long-running campaign in Canada that I always marvel at. It's for TELUS, the cell phone telecommunications company.

The tagline is, the future is friendly. Each commercial features either a cuddly animal or a colorful amphibian. I marvel at it because I don't think I would have approved that idea as a creative director. And I would have been wrong. It all began back in 1998. A very creative advertising agency called Taxi landed a new cell phone client. The company was called ClearNet. It was the fourth player

in the cell phone category, up against much larger competitors like Bell, Rogers, and Fido. Taxi, co-founded by Paul Lavoie, knew ClearNet was too new and too small to steal market share from the big players.

That meant the advertising would have to appeal to people who had never owned a cell phone before. If those people never owned a cell phone, they hadn't chosen a provider yet either. All Taxi had to do was convince them to go with a company they had never heard of with a name that sounded like a hairspray. ClearNet had the smallest budget of all its rivals.

And when you have a tiny budget, the most cost-efficient way to advertise is to be different. Taxi had an interesting insight. The people they hoped to reach were a bit technology adverse. That was probably why they didn't already own cell phones. So instead of focusing on the technology, Taxi chose to feature the human side of ClearNet, that they would be the user-friendly people who didn't lock customers into long-term contracts. Taxi wanted to find a single brand message that would have mass appeal.

Then one night, Paul and his co-founder Jane Hope went to see an extraordinary documentary about nature. It was like no other nature documentary they had ever seen. It used interesting film techniques, inspired music and sound effects. What astounded Lavoie and Hope was that the film showed animals and tiny ants working together in families and communities. They seemed almost human and heroic and friendly. And because they were miniature,

they were adorable. So Lavoie and Hope created a campaign idea for ClearNet that was based on animals and insects, anchored by the tagline, The Future is Friendly. Taxi's idea was to use specific animals for specific messages. Cool phones featured penguins, platform adaptability used chameleons, web-enabled services used webbed-footed ducks, and so on. It was unlike any other cell phone advertising out there.

But would a high-tech company buy a launch campaign starring mallards and lizards? That was the question. The day of the formal presentation to ClearNet's CEO, its chief marketing officer, and its advertising team, Paul Lavoie was chatting to his staff in the boardroom. It was 15 minutes before the clients were scheduled to arrive, and Paul was nervous. The campaign idea was radically different,

but would ClearNet see the potential? Would they say, it's brilliant, or would they say, what drugs are you guys on? Paul had no idea how they would react to their critter pitch. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a lone ant walking across the boardroom table. Paul looked at his staff and said, we got this. ClearNet bought the campaign, TELUS bought ClearNet, and kept the advertising. The rest is history. When TELUS purchased ClearNet for $6.6 billion, the CEO of TELUS said he had just paid $1 billion of that price for a duck.

What he was really saying was that a huge part of ClearNet's value was in its unique animal branding. There are many reasons why the advertising industry chooses animals. First, successful advertising is advertising that is shared. People love animals, and ads with animals often go viral. Second, animals project a spectrum of emotional qualities. Clydesdales say strength and tradition.

Cats are aloofully affectionate. Dogs are loyal. Bulls are powerful. Third, animals never get into contract disputes and they rarely hit the tabloids. Lastly, they are also replaceable. There have been three Morris the cats, all shelter rescues. Budweiser breeds a new herd of Clydesdales every year.

And even though the original spuds Mackenzie passed away in 1993, he, she was resurrected as a ghost in a Super Bowl commercial in 2017. One thing is for sure. The use of animals in advertising is as popular now as it's ever been and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Which means the future is furry

when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream mobile recording studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound engineer, Keith Ullman. Theme music by Ari Posner

and Ian Lefebvre. Research, Susan Kendall. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Terry O Influence. See you next week. No animals were harmed in the making of this program. Tumble dry on low heat. Open box before eating pizza. Offer only valid in Winkler, Manitoba.

BetMGM is an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League and has your back all season long. From puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater, or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a selly,

and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.