Another anthropomorphized spokescharacter has succumbed to the cancer of focus groups and brand equity. Gone is the blond haired and mustached avatar of paper products. Grieve for the millions of American widows for whom their Brawny man is no more.
Enter dashing new Brawny. Retooled for today’s hipper kitchens along side of a buff Mister Clean, less identifiable Aunt Jemima and a can-do Maytag Repair Man. If Mars can put those irritable little M&Ms to work then the more anatomically correct counterparts shouldn’t be such slouches. One assumes New Brawny, a quick-coated icon, would put in a hard day’s work fulfilling some outdated concept of domestic servitude, don his shearling jacket, pop a couple of vicodin and take his sweetie out clubbing with Captain Morgan.
According to the Georgia-Pacific’s website regarding their new beau: “40 percent of women who created their “virtual Brawny Man” online in 2002 say their ideal Brawny Man spends his free time helping around the house.”
“Old Brawny Man was so out of date that some execs at Georgia-Pacific, which acquired the line in 2000, referred to him as “the ’70s porn guy.” He became “a man female shoppers wanted to break up with,” said Gino Biondi, director of Georgia-Pacific’s paper towel brands. “They want a guy they can fantasize about.” - Bob Baker, LA Times
On what level of consumerism hell do we continue to propagate this mentality?
Old Brawny now buried the same mass grave as Joe Camel, Marboro Man, Mayor McCheese and the Honey Comb Kid, etc … Can the day be far off when the grim reaper will come with his clip-board and market research for you too Snuggles? Even the Noid thought himself invincible once.
Some of our icon friends age with us and the psychodrama of character governance marches forward. McDonald’s strategists have been working overtime on their mascot. In 1999 their agency, Leo Burnett, hired a stylist to update the clown’s coif. And As reported last summer in the WSJ,
“For several months, McDonald’s Corp. executives have been meeting at headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., trying to decide just how to script a Ronald revival. The Golden Arches is mostly mum on the matter, saying only that the 40-year-old character will start showing up more - and in unexpected places. Maybe he’ll even perform his new dance “Do the Ronald.”’
David Altschul was quoted (Business Journal Portland, 2001) regarding the difficulty of characters in advertising as he was retooling the Maytag Repair Man, “A lot of these classic characters were created in the early years of TV advertising. In those days, the audience accepted a spokescharacter. It was a big deal to be on TV. But the audience has changed. It seems inauthentic to have a celebrity or character mouth the brand strategy now.”
An uphill battle that seems no trouble for the large ad campaign involving Arby’s Mitt.
“The animated Oven Mitt is voiced by actor Tom Arnold, but Scott Lippitt, executive vice president and account management director for Doner, says the campaign is downplaying the famousness of that voice.
“Doner developed Oven Mitt as an animated character who would appeal to teens and adults, rather than younger kids to whom most QSR characters speak. Adult fast-food diners are Arby’s core audience. In preliminary research, Oven Mitt scored over 90 percent in likeability and over 60 percent in conveying the key message of the spot among these consumers, Howe says.”’- Buns in the Oven, By Margaret Littman
…
When next you stare down the feed chute of popular culture ask yourself, where have all the old characters gone? Tony the Tiger and Colonel Sanders now populated by doppelgangers — shadows of their former selves. Adapt and survive, I suppose. Old Brawny would have been 30 this year: a “Big, Tough Towel” no more.
Contest winner, and “stand-in” Brawny, Mario Cantacessi said about the product, “You know the new America, they want sensitive everywhere.”
Eric, just briliant. I liken the new Brawny to those lunkheaded frat guys I detested in college. Of course, I'm not exactly the target here. My loyalty to Brawny was because I designed the identity for their previous manufacturer, Fort James. Sorry, Georgia-Pacific, I'm all about Rosie and her Bounty now.
The thought of anyone fantasizing about the Brawny guy, new or old, suggests that these women need to get out more. Isn't there a nice butcher they could dream of instead?
On Jan.07.2004 at 03:38 PM