The Wienermobile
Oscar Mayer1936
The Wienermobile is a 1936 branded vehicle for Oscar Mayer.
Why it works
A 13-foot metal hot dog on wheels. Oscar Mayer built the first in 1936, to an idea by Carl Mayer, nephew of the company's founder, to carry its spokesman from store to store late in the Depression. The BBC called it a way to stand out from dozens of competitors. After wartime gas rationing parked it, new versions returned in 1952; one is now in the Henry Ford Museum. Oscar Mayer retired the fleet in 1977 to concentrate on television advertising, then brought a Wienermobile out for its 50th birthday in 1986. According to the company, the crowds and the letters asking to see it led to a new fleet touring again from 1988. Today six tour the US, each crewed for a year by graduates hired as 'Hotdoggers'. It is studied as the purest form of product-as-media: the vehicle is the ad, the mascot and the photo opportunity at once, and it nearly lost out to TV spots before the public asked for it back.
Techniques
- Mascots and characters Turns the vehicle itself into the brand's mascot, a giant hot dog on wheels that draws crowds and photographs wherever it tours.
- Guerrilla and ambient Takes the ad onto the road as a touring vehicle, standing out from competitors by turning up at stores in person.
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