Earlier this year Jimmy Dean, the folksy spokesman for the brand that bears his name, sued Sara Lee Corp., saying the Chicago-based company ruined his image after dumping him from their commercials.
Now, in an advertising campaign that is 180 degrees from rural morning scenes and the toothy smiles of Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, which bought the brand in 1984, went into the sausage plant and found workers to do the talking–hairnets and all.
Sara Lee’s dramatic change is the latest move by a marketer to eschew slick advertising for a more “honest” message to consumers, who marketers claim are more cynical than ever when it comes to advertising.
It’s evident in everything from the rise in use again of “taste test” advertising to the popularity of companies sponsoring home improvement shows on networks like the Home and Garden Television channel.
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The humorous TV campaign breaking this week is the first by Jimmy Dean’s new advertising agency, Los Angeles-based TBWA/Chiat/Day, which takes over for Leo Burnett, whose award-winning campaign for Jimmy Dean last year was the first to move away from Dean as the spokesman.
And it’s part of Sara Lee’s plan to try to stand out in a food category where most competitors rely on the same homey images that define breakfast advertising.
More important, Sara Lee, dogged by sluggish corporate results and a sexual harassment lawsuit against CEO Steven McMillan, who is accused of taking a job offer away from a woman after she broke off an affair with him, is looking for the campaign to drum up some much needed good news.
Sales for Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, the industry leader, were down 2 percent in the 52 weeks ending July 11in supermarkets to $192.6 million, according to data from Information Resources Inc., which tracks sales of products in supermarkets. Sales were down as the category, thanks in part to low-carbohydrate diets, was up more than 4 percent.
In one television spot, a worker standing next to cartons of eggs says: “Eating breakfast with imitation cheese and imitation eggs is imitation Jimmy Dean.”
In another spot, a Jimmy Dean office worker says from behind his desk: “If you are what you eat, then eat a Jimmy Dean sandwich and call yourself delicious.”
Magazine ads feature clever lines with simple shots of sausage sandwiches: “With a breakfast like this, you can carpe the whole dang diem.”
The ads introduce a new tagline: “Eat Jimmy Dean.”
Sara Lee executives were looking to break out of the pack.
“Part of what [TBWA] does well is form a disruption in the marketplace,” said Jim Ruehlmann, senior vice president, Jimmy Dean brand. “To be formulaic in your advertising means you get a me-too type look.”
Agency executives said that given the mudslinging going on in the political advertising landscape, the time to launch the campaign was right.
“We thought there was a good place to be honest,” said TBWA art director Chuck Monn, who along with writer Doug James developed the ad. “There’s so much being said with politics. It’s so slick and everyone’s so savvy, you catch people off guard by being blatantly honest.”
Channel 2 cries foul: WBBM-Ch. 2 news executives claim they were robbed. Audio from reporter Dave Savini’s exclusive interview with Audra Soulias, the woman who in a civil suit accuses William Kennedy Smith of sexually assaulting her, was taken from Channel 2’s Web site and aired on NBC’s “Today Show” nationally without permission, the station claims.
A photo of Soulias, also picked up from the Web site, was shown on the “Today Show” as well. Under the photo read: “Courtesy of WBBM.”
Carol Fowler, news director at Channel 2, said that the station gave no other station permission to use the story and intentionally kept it off another news feed system that other networks could tap into.
“It’s like someone saying I’m going to steal this lawnmower and then leaving a note that says `courtesy of the people down the block,”‘ Fowler said Thursday.
The station said it was considering legal action. A spokeswoman from NBC News couldn’t be reached.
On the mend: Carl Grapentine, morning show host on classical station WFMT-FM 98.7, suffered a mild heart attack Thursday morning. He is expected back on the air in a few weeks.