Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

The other day, I went to a local supermarket to shop and saw this Wienermobile parked out in front. I was pleasantly surprised by this. I was under the impression that they no longer had these out roaming the road. Oscar Mayer brand, which is owned by Kraft Foods, has been around for a while but unless you are in a market shopping for meat products, it’s hard to see them around.
Oscar Mayer has been touring the US with their Wienermobile for over 70 years. It’s been an American Icon and has been revered for number of years. However, I have not seen one in person until now. I remember a few years they advertised that a new Wienermobile will hit the market.

This got me thinking about branding of traditional companies. Of course, those of you born before 1980s or so would more likely than not to remember their jingle. You know, the one that starts with "Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener…" How about the second jingle that starts with "My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R…"  The first jingle was from 1960s and second from 1970s. Those jingles defined their brand during that time. What I did not know was that Oscar Mayer was the first meat related company to brand their products during the early last century. However, it was the 1960s that was the boom years for them.

I think they are going in the right direction. In 2006, they paired up with Academy of Country Music and held a contest to see who can sing their jingle the best, by recording the performances as they traveled the nation on a Wienermobile. A seven year old won the contest.

They also held a contest last year, 2008, with a tie in with the American Idol, where winners of sing the jingle contest winners got to see the show in person.

Youtube.com is full of nostalgia fans singing the jingle on video and posting them up. I think they need to increase their ties with the Web 2.0 sites. This is their primary demographics they can focus on. The moms these days are more interested in organic and healthier food for their kids. The teen to twenties, deeply immersed in technology, would be more likely to eat their product line. I think Facebook, Youtube and Myspace, with a bit more hip look of their old jingles will do well there.

Disney, who ranks as a top 10 brands according to Interbrand, has been masterful at using all available media to keep their brand in people’s mind. Where they lacked, they went and bought or planning on buy products to fill the gap, like Pixar and Penguins.

Oscar Mayer can learn from them and keep up with the latest but keep the nostalgia to increase their brand awareness.