MarketingInsideOut.com

Since it ran last week, the latest spot for Orville Rendebacher (i.e. the first PitchZombie) has been the topic of many a conversation. At this writing, there were over 1800 references via Technorati and 1700+ via Google blogsearch. Most people think the effort is creepy and disrepectful. Including Bob Garfield, who in a review today said:

The problem is, the stunt is wrong on at least three levels. It’s not only a bit grotesque for the audience but also unforgivably disrespectful of the deceased. It’s also not all that well done. Yes, Orville looks marginally more lifelike than the technically undeceased Peter Graves in his spot for Geico, but for all the time and money Crispin Porter& Bogusky spent e-resurrecting Orville, he still looks more like an animatronic Epcot exhibit than a live human being. The lipsyncing is awkward, and (for those of us old enough to remember) the voice is all wrong. For those of us not old enough to remember, it just looks like an ultracheesy commercial with a creepy nerd puppet.

A poll at AdAge asked: Was popcorn maker Orville Redenbacher right to digitally resurrect its founder in a TV spot? As of 1/22 at 7:30pm, 78% said no.

In response to all the scathing reviews of the dead-man talking campaign, both ConAgra and Crispin are saying the wave of public nausea is all part of the grand plan. According to an article in AdAge today, Deadenbacher’ creeps consumers but drives massive traffic:

When the marketer reanimated its namesake and founder in a spot launched during the Golden Globes, public reaction was swift and, seemingly, unified. The once-lovable grandpa was dubbed Orville Deadenbacher, scathing comments poured into an AdAge.com blog post featuring the video and the question being asked in the industry was: “What on earth was it trying to achieve?”

Buzz, apparently. Within three days of launching the ad, ConAgra claimed it had racked up at least 35 million PR impressions spanning broadcast and print media. And that doesn’t include the thousands of blog mentions.

Crispin, who are no strangers to controversy, believes that all talk is good. To their point–other than the last week, when has there been this much chatter about popcorn? ConAgra believes that as the campaign unfolds and the pitchzombie returns again and again, the ads will gain acceptance. We’ll see, but I can tell you not by me. I’ll buy something else. The King I didn’t like, but could deal with that campaign, since he’s not real. But Orville Redenbacher was a real guy. A nerdy one, but a real one. Breakthrough technology. Buzz or not. I still think it’s tasteless and creepy as hell.

As the buzz over the DraftFCB/Roehm/WalMart scandal seems to finally be dying down it’s time to take one last brief look back and ask ourselves – what is the real problem here. And I’d say the real problem is that we’re idiots. Yes, we in the marketing/communications business are idiots because of the criteria we use to deem a new undertaking to be a success or a failure.

When Howard Draft and IPG decided it was time to merge the venerable advertising firm of Foote, Cone and Belding with Howard’s very successful direct response firm, Draft, it seemed like a ridiculous idea. And it was.

You can’t merge a general advertising shop with a DR firm and expect that both, vastly divergent, cultures will survive. So what happens when one culture – and one would assume it would be Draft’s shop since he’s taking the lead – emerges as the leader? Simple. The culture of the other shop is lost. And what a loss.

As someone who spent the majority of her career in general advertising firms with a brief stint in a DR firm, where I could never shake the feeling of being the proverbial round peg in a square hole, I could clearly see the handwriting on the wall. And so could many others. That was, until Julie Roehm came to the rescue. Because one woman’s decision to bring WalMart into the newly merged company was all it took to convince naysayers that Howard Draft had pulled it off!

And then we started to hear about improprieties. And then it all fell apart. Oops, guess the DraftFCB thing isn’t working – huh? Gee Howie – we thought you beat the odds, guess not!

Is that really how we determine whether or not DraftFCB will thrive or dive? Just one woman at one account?

And then we started laughing at them. How funny, Howard invited Julie for the ill fated Aston Martin “ride” – and the engine wouldn’t turn over. So shocking – a ride! But how scandalous would it have been for Draft to have picked Roehm up at the airport – in his Aston Martin? Am I missing something here?

OK there was that weird “party” at Nobu where, reportedly, Roehm was in rare form. Apparently WalMart does not permit “perks” of any kind and, according to Roehm, she paid for her drinks but did not keep tabs on how many California rolls she consumed. So they fired her ass! Oh please!

And most reports refer to the fact that at the Nobu party she was, in effect, key note speaker at a DraftFCB lovefest. Somewhat inappropriate considering her account was still in review. And there are those who swear she was seen sitting on the lap of, at least, one ad exec during the festivities. Give me strength! But still, it was those California rolls that robbed her of greatness!

When you look past all the nonsense one thing is clear – time is the only way to tell whether or not the Draft merger with FCB will prove to be brilliant or ludicrous. Regardless of what business is won or lost the business model must be tested over time. I, for one, am anxious to see how the future unfolds for DraftFCB. And, if they pull it off, I will tip my hat to Mr. Draft – he’ll have earned it if he can pull off this miracle!