BGW
Sep 16, 2006, 10:01 AM
Foster Farms characters coming back
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By Scott Jason
SJASON@MERCEDSUN-STAR.COM
LIVINGSTON -- The Foster Imposters are crossing interstate roads in a renewed effort to pass themselves off as Foster Farms chickens.
The West Coast poultry processor announced Friday it is relaunching its Foster Imposters advertising campaign, which was on a two-year hiatus.
In 1993, a San Francisco-based advertising firm hatched the two scraggly birds and their plight to be accepted as Foster Farms chickens. Until 2004, the duo zig-zagged the West Coast in their 1967 Plymouth Belvedere, trying to deceive customers.
Greta Janz, Foster Farms' vice president of marketing, said the chickens went to roost because the company noticed consumer awareness levels were going down.
A study showed 85 percent of California consumers recognized the Foster Imposters, which made it the most successful campaign since the California Raisins, Janz said.
The chickens were replaced by the "We Foster" campaign, which focused on the company being family-owned.
"With ads that are feel-good, (viewers) just tune you out," she said. "We came to realize that when you are advertising, it's really difficult to break through the clutter."
When the imposter commercials were pulled, the company was inundated with calls and letters from people who missed the chickens, Janz said.
They left the air with the possibility of returning, she said.
"When you have something like the imposter campaign, which is a once-in-a-lifetime campaign, it is hard to come up with something better," Janz said.
If the campaign was national, it would cost about $50 million, Janz said. However, Foster Farms advertising is only regional and Janz declined to give true cost.
Harold Sogard, vice chairman of the company that created the bumbling birds, said the concept derived from the Charlie the Tuna campaign by StarKist Tuna, which started in the 1960s, went until 1980s and recently was reintroduced.
Charlie, a beatnik fish with glasses, always was rejected because the company wanted fish that tasted good, not that had good taste.
"They cooked up the idea of a couple of chickens that wanted to be Foster Farms chickens, but weren't good enough," Sogard said.
It is difficult to design a campaign that is both informative and funny, Sogard said. In the road trip commercial, the two chickens drive across the nation in searing heat, get frozen at night and eat junk food the whole time.
Research showed consumers will likely enjoy the imposters' second run as much as the first one, he said.
"It's a little bit like the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner," he said. "You know the Foster Imposters are going to lose, and it's fun to find out how they are going to get found out."
Though people may enjoy the commercials, it doesn't always translate into increased sales, said Alice Cuneo, the West Coast editor of the New York-based Advertising Age magazine.
"If it's Foster Farms or a Wal-Mart brand, it will be a hard choice," she said. "I am not sure the Imposters can bring people over the line."
The commercials' logic is convoluted, Cuneo said. The customers see the imposters as the opposite of Foster Farms and then must figure out what the poultry company is about.
"You have a lot of dots to connect," she said.
The poultry processor switched to the "We Foster" campaign, Cuneo thinks, because customers became interested in organic and healthy food.
"Chicken still has that patina of being a healthy food," she said. "Basically they wanted to do something more family-oriented."
With concerns over avian flu, Cuneo said she wonders if the public will still embrace the dirty duo.
"I'm interested to see how they can play those chickens out," she said. "Maybe people will continue to think it's funny."
The fast-food eating, nacho cheese guzzling duo will be in four commercials this season, starting Monday and ending Oct. 15. Two of them are in Spanish.
One commercial shows the two driving across the country and trying to pass themselves off as a Foster Farms chicken to a California resident. The other clip shows an angry mom confronting the birds on a daytime talk show after they duped her.
One will be shown Sept. 28 during the premiere of "Grey's Anatomy." They will appear on network and cable television in all the major cities in California, Oregon and Washington, Janz said.
Two commercials of the four are in Spanish, featuring the popular musical group Los Tucanes de Tijuana. They will air beginning Sept. 27.
Reporter Scott Jason can be reached at 385-2453 or sjason@mercedsun-star.com.
Posted on 09/16/06 00:30:00
http://www.mercedsun-star.com/local/story/12722206p-13417794c.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Jason
SJASON@MERCEDSUN-STAR.COM
LIVINGSTON -- The Foster Imposters are crossing interstate roads in a renewed effort to pass themselves off as Foster Farms chickens.
The West Coast poultry processor announced Friday it is relaunching its Foster Imposters advertising campaign, which was on a two-year hiatus.
In 1993, a San Francisco-based advertising firm hatched the two scraggly birds and their plight to be accepted as Foster Farms chickens. Until 2004, the duo zig-zagged the West Coast in their 1967 Plymouth Belvedere, trying to deceive customers.
Greta Janz, Foster Farms' vice president of marketing, said the chickens went to roost because the company noticed consumer awareness levels were going down.
A study showed 85 percent of California consumers recognized the Foster Imposters, which made it the most successful campaign since the California Raisins, Janz said.
The chickens were replaced by the "We Foster" campaign, which focused on the company being family-owned.
"With ads that are feel-good, (viewers) just tune you out," she said. "We came to realize that when you are advertising, it's really difficult to break through the clutter."
When the imposter commercials were pulled, the company was inundated with calls and letters from people who missed the chickens, Janz said.
They left the air with the possibility of returning, she said.
"When you have something like the imposter campaign, which is a once-in-a-lifetime campaign, it is hard to come up with something better," Janz said.
If the campaign was national, it would cost about $50 million, Janz said. However, Foster Farms advertising is only regional and Janz declined to give true cost.
Harold Sogard, vice chairman of the company that created the bumbling birds, said the concept derived from the Charlie the Tuna campaign by StarKist Tuna, which started in the 1960s, went until 1980s and recently was reintroduced.
Charlie, a beatnik fish with glasses, always was rejected because the company wanted fish that tasted good, not that had good taste.
"They cooked up the idea of a couple of chickens that wanted to be Foster Farms chickens, but weren't good enough," Sogard said.
It is difficult to design a campaign that is both informative and funny, Sogard said. In the road trip commercial, the two chickens drive across the nation in searing heat, get frozen at night and eat junk food the whole time.
Research showed consumers will likely enjoy the imposters' second run as much as the first one, he said.
"It's a little bit like the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner," he said. "You know the Foster Imposters are going to lose, and it's fun to find out how they are going to get found out."
Though people may enjoy the commercials, it doesn't always translate into increased sales, said Alice Cuneo, the West Coast editor of the New York-based Advertising Age magazine.
"If it's Foster Farms or a Wal-Mart brand, it will be a hard choice," she said. "I am not sure the Imposters can bring people over the line."
The commercials' logic is convoluted, Cuneo said. The customers see the imposters as the opposite of Foster Farms and then must figure out what the poultry company is about.
"You have a lot of dots to connect," she said.
The poultry processor switched to the "We Foster" campaign, Cuneo thinks, because customers became interested in organic and healthy food.
"Chicken still has that patina of being a healthy food," she said. "Basically they wanted to do something more family-oriented."
With concerns over avian flu, Cuneo said she wonders if the public will still embrace the dirty duo.
"I'm interested to see how they can play those chickens out," she said. "Maybe people will continue to think it's funny."
The fast-food eating, nacho cheese guzzling duo will be in four commercials this season, starting Monday and ending Oct. 15. Two of them are in Spanish.
One commercial shows the two driving across the country and trying to pass themselves off as a Foster Farms chicken to a California resident. The other clip shows an angry mom confronting the birds on a daytime talk show after they duped her.
One will be shown Sept. 28 during the premiere of "Grey's Anatomy." They will appear on network and cable television in all the major cities in California, Oregon and Washington, Janz said.
Two commercials of the four are in Spanish, featuring the popular musical group Los Tucanes de Tijuana. They will air beginning Sept. 27.
Reporter Scott Jason can be reached at 385-2453 or sjason@mercedsun-star.com.
Posted on 09/16/06 00:30:00
http://www.mercedsun-star.com/local/story/12722206p-13417794c.html