Stunt Strategy
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
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.