Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S1E14 - Mascots

Episode Date: April 7, 2012

This episode is about how major brands in our lives simply vanish. One of magician Harry Houdini's most famous tricks was to make a 5-ton elephant disappear in front of large audiences. Marketing has its own version of that trick. 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. From the Under the Influence digital box set, this episode is from Season 1, 2012. You're soaking in it. Scores of it in an instant. Your teeth look whiter than noon, noon, noon. You're not you when you're hungry. You're in good hands with all things.

You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. In July of 2011, the following phone call was placed to 911 stating that a store's gorilla mascot had just been attacked. Some kid in a banana costume just tackled my mascot. Yes, you heard right. A gorilla was attacked by a banana. Is your mascot okay? This senseless attack happened in plain daylight outside a cell phone store in a suburb of Cleveland. The gorilla was the store's mascot.

He was just standing outside the store one day, waving his sign when the altercation took place. Apparently, a person dressed in a banana costume charged the gorilla with arms waving. Store manager Brendan Parnum describes the moment. The kid in mid-air flying like this, like something like a Spartan from 300 kind of, except he was a banana.

The gorilla was stunned. The banana is still at large. I love the tone of the police 911 dispatcher. We'll send somebody down to check around south of your store for a kid dressed in a banana costume. Hilarious. There was just something so wrong about this story. Maybe it was the fact a banana attacked a gorilla.

It upset the order of the world. Welcome to the wacky universe of mascots. The advertising industry has a long history with mascots. They are some of the most enduring advertising symbols of all time. The advertising industry has a long history with mascots. They are some of the most enduring advertising symbols of all time. As a matter of fact, mascots have outlived most other advertising campaigns going all the way back to the late 1800s. But I want to talk to you about the modern mascots of advertising. In many ways, they resemble the mascots of the past,

each created to personify the essence of the product. But they contain differences too, mostly in the great strides technology now offers. There's no doubt, mascots are the energizer bunnies of the advertising world. They just seem to keep going and going and going. You're under the influence. Back in 2007, Gray Advertising in New York was trying to figure out what ad they would

run on the 2008 Super Bowl for their client, E-Trade. Creating a Super Bowl ad is a time of big pressure in advertising agencies. Millions of dollars are at stake, over 100 million people will see the ad, customers and critics will comment on it, and Super Bowl ads are even ranked best to worst the next day in various news channels, including USA Today. Needless to say, an advertiser and their ad agency put a lot out there when they decide to buy Super Bowl ad time.

But, on the other hand, the upside can be huge. If the ad scores well, you've just reached over 100 million people. The E-Trade advertising strategy was to tell the public that it puts powerful yet simple financial tools into their hands. Gray Advertising had come up with an idea that they would show real people talking about how easy E-Trade is for trading stocks and bonds. Then, someone in the Gray creative department suggested a talking baby.

No one was sure if it was a good idea or not, including the Gray advertising chief creative director, Tor Myron. When we first created the baby, said Myron, we had no idea if it was the dumbest idea we'd ever done or if it was genius. The idea of a talking baby had been done dozens of times in advertising and even on TV and in movies. But the agency went ahead and put the baby idea into research

along with several other Super Bowl concepts. Nothing tested as well as the talking baby. As E-Trade's chief marketing officer later said, it just connected with consumers. So, the commercial was shot, a comedian named Pete Holmes was hired to be the voice of the baby, everybody crossed their fingers,

and the first E-Trade Talking Baby commercial aired on the 2008 Super Bowl. A lot of people are like, aren't you too young to invest in the markets? And, you know, A, don't worry about it. You know, I just look young. I mean, you don't know how old I am. And B, I use E-Trade, so check it.

Click. I just bought stock. You just saw me buy stock. No big deal. I mean, you know, if I can. You just saw me buy stock. No big deal. I mean, you know, if I can do it, you can do it. Whoa. Get more value at E-Trade. It didn't take long to see that the E-Trade talking baby

was the hit of the Super Bowl. Of the 70-odd ads that ran in the broadcast, the E-Trade spot was the third most recalled commercial overall. And that's important. Most recalled means the ad was memorable. It hadn't evaporated in the minds of viewers when the game ended. The last moment of that first E-Trade Talking Baby commercial contained a notable scene. The baby spits up some milk and then says,

Whoa. I think it's safe to say it was the first time a mascot had ever thrown up in a Super Bowl commercial. It was also the first time a campaign had ever been shot via a webcam, a pioneering technique in the new YouTube era. How the ad agency filmed the talking baby ads is also very interesting. A one-year-old baby is filmed looking into a camera that has a mirror on the lens, where the baby can see the reflection of his mother's face. She tries to get him to make certain facial expressions.

Once that is filmed, step two happens. Comedian Pete Holmes records the script. Then his script is read verbatim by a four-year-old and filmed. This is done because four-year-olds can actually talk, and their lips, mouth and cheeks are still baby-like. Then all three elements are married via CGI or computer-generated imagery. So, in the end, you have the cute one-year-old,

the talking mouth of a four-year-old, and the hilarious voice of an adult comedian. In the 2010 Super Bowl commercial, a jealous girlfriend asks the E-Trade baby if he's been stepping out. So yeah, sorry about last night. I just don't understand why you didn't call. Yeah, well, I was on E-Trade, you know, diversifying my portfolio, taking control like a wolf. Right. What's that? That's volatility in the market. Taking care of, wolf style.

Oh, and that milkaholic Lindsay wasn't over? Lindsay? Milkah-what? Build a diversified portfolio at E-Trade. The words milkaholic and Lindsay created a lot of problems for E-Trade. Lindsay Lohan slapped them with a $100 million lawsuit for using her name and characterization without her approval. As Reuters said, in a great year of entertaining lawsuits,

this was one of the most intriguing. Because Lohan had just been through a series of well-publicized rehab stints, she felt the milkaholic reference was about her. Because Lohan had just been through a series of well-publicized rehab stints, she felt the milkaholic reference was about her. But E-Trade objected saying that there were over 250,000 other women in the U.S. named Lindsay, as well as many other celebrities, too. Lohan's lawyer pointed out that her client is one of the few celebrities that can be identified by one name, like Sting or Oprah. Then, the lawyer justified her case, saying that by elimination,

only her client fit the, quote, particular role and persona of an alcoholic, bimbus woman, unquote, that E-Trade was looking for in their commercial. That was quite the statement. The lawyer was essentially saying that Lohan had the right to protect her image as an alcoholic bimbo. Eventually, the case was settled out of court and no details were released. But along the way, it had generated over 47,000 pieces of media coverage.

The E-Trade Baby was back again in the 2012 Super Bowl, but there are rumors that it may have run its course. One of the most famous mascots of the last five years may finally be put to bed. And we'll be right back. episode list. Coca-Cola is one of the premier advertising brands in the world. In 1956, Coke moved its account to advertising agency McCann Erickson. McCann was a leader in the new television era, and Coke wanted to master the medium. It was one of the longest-lasting client-agency relationships in the business,

and together, they had created some of the most memorable TV advertising of all time. But back in 1991, a seismic crack in the relationship occurred. At the time,

Michael Ovitz was the most powerful talent agent in Hollywood, and he ran CAA, the Creative Artists Agency. In a bold move, he signed the Coca-Cola Company as a client. Never before had a talent agency represented a client's advertising interests, and never before had a major client stepped outside their agency relationship to find advertising ideas. I was working on Pepsi at the time, and I can tell you it sent shivers down their agency's spine as well.

The ad industry, while shocked, scoffed at the idea, asking what a talent agency possibly knew about advertising. But CAA came up with a novel idea. They created the polar bear mascots for Coke. The first commercial showed a bunch of polar bears sitting together, watching the sky. Then, the northern lights appear. And the polar bears all crack open Cokes to watch the wondrous sight. That commercial was a big hit.

And every year since, the Coke polar bears make an appearance in Coca-Cola's advertising. But this year's Super Bowl set a new standard. Working with the highly awarded ad agency Wyden & Kennedy, Coke created the Polar Bowl, starring two polar bears, one cheering for the Patriots, the other for the Giants. In a remarkably ambitious idea, the polarar Bears reacted to the Super Bowl game, the halftime show, and other commercials in real time. The 35-person Koch team had rehearsed for three months,

watching footage of old games to prepare. Then they split into three groups. The puppeteers, who controlled the Bears' reactions, the group that watched the game and provided feedback, and a third group that monitored and responded on Twitter and Facebook. The result was amazing. Viewers at home watched the polar bull on their computers while watching the Super Bowl on their televisions.

When the Patriots made a good play, they saw the polar bear with the blue scarf celebrate. And when the Giants made progress, the polar bear with the red scarf cheered. And you saw them both react when their teams fumbled or made errors. That alone was extraordinary. But it went further than that. In a hilarious move,

the polar bears actually left the room when the Pepsi Elton John ad ran. They stood with their paws over their hearts when the patriotic Clint Eastwood ad for Chrysler came on. And, as an inside joke, the Polar Bears dozed off when the Doritos commercials came on. Why? Because Doritos is owned by Pepsi. You have to see how well Coke pulled this off. Just go to our cbc.ca slash under the influence website to see all these exact moments from the Polar Bowl. The response from fans was overwhelming.

First, Coke had planned for 300,000 fans to watch the live Polar Bowl stream. By the third quarter, 600,000 fans were watching the Polar Bowl, and capacity was increased to allow for 1.1 million users. The result was

unprecedented, and Coke couldn't even keep up with the traffic. In the end, the Polar Bear mascots were one of the biggest hits of the Super Bowl, and more importantly, after almost 20 years, they had broken new ground. That's why the polar bears are some of the most loved mascots of all time, and their influence just keeps going and going and going and going and going. It all started with a Duracell ad in Europe. The commercial showed a group of toy bunnies hitting drums.

Toy by toy, they start to die out. Except for one. Duracell batteries can make fun times last a lot longer. If you put Duracell batteries into one toy and ordinary carbon batteries into all the others, you'd find that after just a few hours of continuous use, the ordinary batteries give up. But Duracell batteries keep going. In fact, depending on the toy, Duracell can last two, three, up to six times longer. Duracell.

The copper-top battery. No ordinary battery looks like it. No ordinary battery lasts like it. Six times longer. Duracell. The copper-top battery. No ordinary battery looks like it. No ordinary battery lasts like it. That commercial ran for a long time, and if you don't remember it, you can see it on our website. Then, in 1989, Energizer created a commercial and a mascot to go head-to-head, or should I say, rabbit-to-rabbit, with Duracell. It was a very innovative commercial

because it began by taking a shot at Duracell by duplicating the toy bunny scenario. Don't be fooled by commercials where one battery company's toy outlasts the others. The fact is, Energizer was never invited to their playoffs because nothing outlasts the Energizer. They keep going and going and going and going. Then the pink bunny with the cool sunglasses and a big bass drum emblazoned with the Energizer logo

walked across the screen, then, remarkably, kept going, eventually walking off the set, past the cameras and crew, and out the studio doors. It just kept going and going. Just when you thought that funny commercial was over, the next commercial in the break came on for a sinus product. Daddy, daddy, smell my flowers. Oh, my sinuses. When sinus trouble strikes, reach for Nasotine. Only Nasotine has fast-acting muconol. Watch as Nasotine...

Like we said, nothing outlasts the Energizer. They keep going and going. And out of nowhere, the Energizer bunny came crashing across the screen, much to the horror of the doctor talking about the sinus product. But it didn't end there. The next commercial in the break was for a wine called Chateau Marmoset. The painting, Renoir.

The vase, Ming. And the wine, Chateau Marmoset. When only the best... Still going. Nothing outlasts the Energizer. They keep going and going and going and going and going... Yes, the pink Energizer bunny went marching right across the fancy dining room table in the commercial,

knocking over wine glasses and dragging the tablecloth with him to the horror of the guests. When it was all over, viewers realized that all three commercials were really just one big Energizer commercial. The launch ad was a very unique way to firmly establish the bunny with the powerful tagline,

it keeps going and going and going. The mascot has been a remarkable success for Energizer. For years, Duracell trounced Energizer. But it took a lot of fortitude for Energizer to stick with the bunny idea. In the first year, all consumer research came back identifying the bunny as the Duracell bunny. People remembered the commercials, but because Duracell was so entrenched,

they associated the mascot with the wrong company. Creative director Lee Clow, who oversaw the Energizer campaign, said his client had to be very courageous to hang in there because it took a long time for consumers to link the bunny to Energizer. But Clough had conviction in the idea. He said that when the Energizer bunny advertising can stop Duracell from doing the advertising they've been doing for 10 years, it will prove the advertising works.

And that prediction came to be. Duracell's advertising eventually changed to challenge Energizer. Over the years, Duracell's share of market has gone from dominating the battery industry in the mid-90s to about 29% today, according to Time magazine. Energizer is just behind them at 25%.

Not only has the shades-wearing bunny been named one of the top ten mascots of all time, but it has another distinction. In 2006, the Oxford English Dictionary defined the Energizer bunny as a persistent or indefatigable person or phenomenon. In case nobody's told you, weight loss goes beyond the old just eat less and move more narrative, and that's where Felix comes in.

Felix is redefining weight loss for Canadians with a smarter, more personalized approach to help you crush your health goals this year. Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right support to reach your goals. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. Way back in 1919, a California entrepreneur named Roy Allen sold his first mug of root beer for a nickel. With the success of that first location,

he opened a second one in Sacramento, believed to be the country's first drive-in restaurant. In 1922, Roy took on a partner named Frank Wright. The two partners combined their initials and named the beverage A&W Root Beer. By 1933, the company was such a success that they had over 170 franchise locations. After the war in 1950, A&W swelled to over 450 restaurants nationwide. And, with the popularity of the automobile, A&W was a company in the right place at the right time.

By 1960, there were over 2,000 A&W restaurants, giving them more locations than McDonald's. And if you grew up in the 60s and 70s, you may remember this jingle. Hey, let's all go to A&W grew up in the 60s and 70s, you may remember this jingle. Hey, let's all go to A&W. Food's more fun at A&W. But before that, in 1956, the first Canadian A&W was opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba. By 1975, McDonald's was coming on strong, and A&W's cook-to-order method seemed old and dated.

The tray on the car, the ordering speaker, the hostess, sometimes on roller skates, was instantly obsolete. The writing was on the wall. That's when Ron Woodall entered the picture. Ron was the creative director of J. Walter Thompson Advertising in Vancouver. A&W liked Ron's thinking and asked that he work on their account. They told Ron they didn't know what they were going to do in response to McDonald's.

They might just get out of the restaurant business, or they might just do bottled root beer. So they asked Ron to come up with a temporary advertising campaign, one that didn't show food or restaurants. They only wanted to protect their brand and maintain awareness while they regrouped. In other words, they wanted to be liked and not forgotten. Woodall had seen a crude root beer on some U.S. packaging and it was poorly rendered and tacky,

but he loved the name. So he took that basic idea and reimagined it to be a large, anthropomorphic, orange-clad mascot called the Great Root Bear. As is the case with most big campaigns, the root bear went into research to see if consumers liked it. Ron Woodall and A&W Director of Marketing Olga Billet were to present the root bear idea to franchisees at a big conference outside of Vancouver.

When the media director flew in late with the research, just minutes before the meeting, the news was bad. The focus groups had hated the bear. It had gone horribly. So Olga Billet said the most extraordinary thing. She looked at the media director and said, You never made it here, so there is no research. Go back to Toronto.

So the stunned media director picked up his luggage and went straight back to the airport. With that, Olga and Ron went into the room and presented The Great Root Bear to the franchisees. And from that crazy moment, The Great Root Bear was born. Ron also wanted an easily remembered music theme for The Great Root Bear. So one was written, titled Ba-dum-ba-dum. That tuba tune became an internationally favorite showcase for tuba virtuosity. It was played by marching and school bands everywhere. The root bear mascot became so successful,

it was eventually adopted by the U.S. chain as well. By the way, the great root bear was a girl. She was a dancer named Catherine, who gave the bear a lovely sense of rhythm and a funny waddle. And she wore the bear suit to every public appearance and TV commercial for over a decade. The idea of those commercials was to

follow the great root bear to A&W. And a lot of us did. The very day I got my driver's license, I took my girlfriend straight to A&W. Now, four decades later, the great root bear mascot and its ba-dump-ba-dump tune still lives on. Advertising has always loved mascots. First, they are created and designed from the ground up to capture the essence of a product. In the case of E-Trade, the baby summed up how easy it was to trade stocks online. The Coke Polar Bears say cold and refreshing.

The Energizer Bunny keeps going and going for the battery company. And the Great Root Bear long outlived its temporary status as a stopgap campaign until A&W figured out how to survive a McDonald's onslaught. I've often wondered if mascots connect with some childlike nostalgia

buried deep inside all of us. That they conjure up nostalgic feelings of Saturday morning cartoons and favorite toys. Another great thing about mascots, of course, is that they don't age, they don't ask for raises, and they rarely do stints in rehab. It could be argued that mascots have had a greater impact on products than celebrities. Nine Lives Cat Food had to hire Morris the Cat a secretary to answer all his fan mail. The Jolly Green Giant just turned 84.

And Mr. Clean's first name was a recent $250,000 question on who wants to be a millionaire. Answer? Veritably. If the name of the marketing game is to be remembered, to personify a brand's image, and to bring emotion to a product, there's no doubt mascots can surprise you. Just ask the gorilla that got jumped by the banana

when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Oh, hi, Terry. Oh, it's nice to leave you a message. Anyway, I'd like to apply for the job of mascot for the radio show. I think I would be abs... You know, I think I'd be good. You know why?

Because I'm under the influence. Just a little. Under the Influence was produced at Pirate Toronto and New York All the scheduling and shipping and backroom magic

is handled by Debbie O'Reilly See you next week