Conagra Brings Orville Redenbacher Back From The Dead

[Onyx]

(This is an old story, but I missed it the first time around). Zombie commercials!

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Orville Redenbacher, the popcorn icon who died more than a decade ago, will digitally rise from the dead during Monday's Golden

Globe Awards.

In a provocative ad — whose wizardry will make waves from Madison Avenue to Hollywood — a dead-ringer for Redenbacher pitches popcorn while jiving to his MP3 player.

This ad is a big step beyond the bevy of spots in recent years that have featured dead celebrities by using real film clips inserted into other contexts, such as Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum or Audrey Hepburn in a Gap ad.

See clip of digital character

It's the first time a dead spokesman has been re-created as a walking, talking huckster that can be made to say or do anything.

In the ad, Redenbacher listens to his player. "Can you believe this little baby holds 30 gigs?" he says, comparing its lightness with the lightness of his popcorn. The familiar voice — close, not exact — is by an actor picked from a field of 400.

ConAgra Foods (CAG), owner of the brand, is so jazzed about Redenbacher's reincarnation that it's upped its ad budget 40% in 2007 to $20 million, says Paul Lapadat, president of snack foods. He says that's the highest ever for the brand. Redenbacher also will reappear in print ads and on packages.

Redenbacher's grandson, Gary, who appeared in past ads, is giddy over Grandpa's return. "I see it as a way to remember the man I love."

Advertising psychologist Carol Moog says there's "a certain creepiness" to reviving Redenbacher but expects it'll sell popcorn. "There's going to be a macabre fascination."

Allison Cohen, founder of PeopleTalk Research, loves the idea. "When you have a piece of brand lore that's the crux of your company, it makes sense to find a way to use it."

ConAgra won't say what it cost, but it's the brand's costliest ad ever, says Stan Jacot, vice president of marketing.

Digital Domain, special-effects creator for Titanic and Apollo 13, did the proprietary magic. "It's the most challenging thing we've ever done," says Ed Ulbrich, production head.

Three actors re-create the voice, body and a base for the face. Redenbacher's facial features, body movements and characteristic gestures are digitally grafted onto the actors frame by frame.

"We don't want people to fall over and faint because Orville's back," says Bill Wright, creative director at Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which concocted the idea. "He's picking up where he left off."

The impetus: Soft sales nudged ConAgra to air a 1976 ad with the founder about a year ago. Sales took off. So ConAgra asked, How do we bring him back?

"Grandpa would go for it. He was a cutting-edge guy," says grandson Gary. "This is a way to honor his legacy."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/...ille-usat_x.htm

[BrassFusion]

I have a feeling that would've been much more realistic, much less creepy, and MUCH less expensive if they just hired a lookalike.