While yesterday we showed you how to prepare the Thanksgiving dinner using a state-of-the-art drone, although with the end product might be questionable, today we focus on a bit more older ways of brands using Thanksgiving for promotion of their products. This week’s #ThrowBrandThursday takes a peek far back to treasures of branding with Throwback Thanksgiving! And there’s plenty to show – from basting the turkey in butter, dressing celebrities as one (the turkey, not butter), or even wrestling one (again the turkey).
We start our trip down to turkey lane with an advert directed by iconic American filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor, Barry Levinson, who created it together with BBDO as part of their pro-bono “New York Miracle” campaign that aimed to lure visitors back to New York City for the holidays, after the uncertain aftermath and sad events of 9/11. The commercial, aired back in 2001, features Robert De Niro dressed as a pilgrim and Billy Crystal as a turkey. We join the Analyze-This duo sitting on a bench and having a conversation who should be dressed as the holiday’s mascot: “You want me to be the turkey? You want me to be the turkey?” The spot also includes form NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani with a kick for “being a part of the New York Miracle”! Cluck, cluck!
If we go back even more in the past, we will find one more gems from the overflowing Thanksgiving-commercial chest. The 1956 promotion starring actor in the era of old-time radio, Ed Prentiss sporting an apron, urges families to use butter for keeping their turkey “from drying out”. And why are they putting so much butter? Because it’s a message from the American Dairy Association.
And lastly, one of the classics that always makes us laugh, and that will probably never get old. If you’ve ever cooked a turkey, you can definitely relate to the woman wrestling with it in the video created by BBDO Minneapolis for Jennie-O‘s Oven Ready Turkey. You can also tell that this spot hit the spot, when the company used it again in this year’s commercial (which is unfortunately not so funny as the original, and one might even say it’s a bit washed up, as shown in another one of Jennie-O’s commercials).
Surprise! As a icing on a cake (in this case whipped cream) for our readers… Enjoy the spoils of Cool Whip’s commercial for Thanksgiving in 1969. And don’t forget: Oh, that Uncle Harry!
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