SW: The raisin industry quickly followed up with more ads. But actually to me, one of the most interesting parts of that story was this little section on the California Dancing Raisins ads from the '80s. And maybe some people are pessimistic about it, I don't know, maybe people are tired of just the lack of unity. He has faith in the industry's ability to work this out. And the band wasn't playing heavy metal or rock 'n' roll. I don't need to prove anything to anybody. This commercial has witimaginationand it was good enough that I went and bought a box of Californian grown raisins.'. Most of the time when we buy raisins, we have no idea where they came from. SW: Remember, these were Fresno guys, not big city ad men. AD ONE: Lay some happiness on me, give me raisins and I'll be. Connect your Spotify account to your Last.fm account and scrobble everything you listen to, from any Spotify app on any device or platform. SW: Yeah, I'm still looking for the pictures. as well as other partner offers and accept our, NOW WATCH: An investment chief at HSBC sees huge trading opportunities outside the US. Right? CEO of the wine bargaining association for five years. "[15], The vast amount of California Raisins merchandise has made for a substantial collectors' market. "Picture cover". [19], In 2014, the California Raisins made a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called". Fresno is a dusty, medium-sized city in the middle of California's central valley. 2023. SW: But in some ways, it may be in the same place as it was in the '80s. Almost like you can hear the band warming up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in the distance. A California Raisins Fan Club began in 1987, which included a Grapevine Gazette newsletter and various memorabilia. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine Lyrics." Between 12th and 14th Streets SW: They pulled up to a business park, hopped out of the car, and marched into a conference room. And then we threw the baby out with the bathwater. RV: I said, 'I think that's a great idea.' Which meant packers couldn't slap a Dancing Raisin on their packaging or use the characters in ads unless they got their idea approved by the board. Like the whole body was just a head, with arms and legs waving about. Like that. He said: WERNER: He would not approve the nose that I put on the raisin, no matter what I did, he wouldn't approve of it! Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. As of the 2010s, packages of Sun-Maid Natural California Raisins still feature an updated California Raisin character. HARRY OVERLY: I know for a fact that there is animosity that still exists within the industry of what happened back then. KB: Grape and raisin grower. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions. Okay? Our collection database is a work in progress. RV: I think within 4-5 months it was platinum! These albums were included in the Smithsonian collection and were illustrated and art-directed by Helane Freeman, who later became famous for her work on Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, among other Disney programs. Hey Sarah. [Ebm E Ab Eb Cm] Chords for California Raisins Heard it Through the Grapevine (Better Quality) with Key, BPM, and easy-to-follow letter notes in sheet. Right or wrong, It depends on wherever the votes are. The Hardee's restaurant chain offered these as part of a promotion for its Cinnamon 'N' Raisin biscuits. Earlier this year, the CRMBwhich did not respond to my request for commenthired a brand new Vice President of Marketing. VINTAGE THE CALIFORNIA RAISINS 1987 YELLOW PLASTIC LUNCHBOX WITH THERMOS, California Raisins Trumpet Figure 1988 Applause Calrab 80s PVC Vintage, CALIFORNIA RAISINS RUDY BAGAMAN, BANANA WHITE & LICK BROCCOLI FIGURES (JES33). CH: The dancing raisins were so popular, they took on a life of their own outside of the ad. Price: 16.01. The claymation raisins singing and dancing to Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" became a kids TV show, recorded an album that went platinum, launched a range of toys and costumes, and starred in an Emmy-winning Christmas special. [6] However, the Raisins would continue to make their strongest impression through animated endeavors, and the characters proved popular enough that they were used to endorse Post Raisin Bran cereal. He's now on his second round of leading the Raisin Bargaining Association. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - California Raisins. Between 1987 and 1988, the fictional band released four albums, two of which went platinum. And since there wasn't a "Dancing Raisin" brand in the store, small packers worried Sunmaid was getting all the business. From a pop culture standpoint, absolutelypeople all over the world have heard of the Dancing Raisins. You're over. WERNER: 'Our thanks again on behalf of Paul McCartney. Will Vinton told Seth the hardest part was getting his nose right. SW: Big ingredient customers could actually look up in state records how much money, per ton, raisin packers were paying CALRAB. AD FIVE: Honey, are you playing with your food again? The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. Don't you know that I heard it through the grapevine. Oh I'm just about to lose my mind. Ended: 27 Feb, 2023 23:10:08 GMT. If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. California Raisins poster vintage 1987 Heard it Through The Grapevine. AD THREE: Raisins from California. It wasn't at The Fillmore in San Francisco or the Troubadour in LA. And some of them played instruments, maybe?SPEAKER TWO: All dancing in the real world, but in their little clay situation.SPEAKER THREE: They were disproportionately raisinly huge. When Seth Werner, a 31-year-old copywriter at the ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding, walked into the pitch meeting, he knew he had to put on a show. The 1980's TV commercials for California raisins have been called some of the best ads ever made. WERNER: A frame was one snapshot. SPEAKER TEN: We had the Christmas special on videotape, we probably watched it like three or four times a December, between when I was like 4 and 8. WERNER: Our whole objective was to make them cool. It also gave the band members individual names and roles: A.C. (vocals), Beebop (drums), Stretch (bass), and Red (guitar/piano).[7]. But thanks to the California Raisins, its now commonplace to see ads that include anthropomorphized food or candy. Werner and Fedor also thought that the commercial should use clay animation, a type of stop-motion animation using characters or settings made out of clay or other similarly pliable materials, rather than regular cartoon animation. Raisins are not like cell phone brands, with unique features and better WiFi connectivity and a sleeker feel than their competitors. Several California Raisins music albums were also released, featuring classic Motown and rock standards. Werner's big idea was going to be a risk, especially without the celebrity spokesperson the client had requested. Characters Steve and Roger go into a mall representing 1980s culture where they meet the Raisins who proclaim that they are "cursed to live forever. The dancing raisins got caught in the crossfire of a heated debate within the industry. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. I says, 'in Canada? For the last 10 years, he's violated the law and gone against the Raisin Administrative Committee. And if you don't have a consensus, it doesn't matter. The California Raisins released four studio albums in 1987 and 1988, and their trademark, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," was on the Billboard Hot 100. SW: Michael Brunsfeld was the commercial animation director at a company called Colossal Pictures, which had been contracted to do a mockup of the ad. How could this ad that on its surface seems like an unmitigated success also have caused all these other problems? And in 1998wait for it, another acronymthe CRMBCalifornia Raisin Marketing Boardtook over as the new hype machine for California Raisins. Because, in Fresno, California Raisins has always meant something bigger than a couple of claymation figurines singing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine.". In fact, the industry was on an upswing. Many of the items created for the campaign have become part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Like the Archies before them, the imaginary band was a hit. Lead vocals in the group were sung by musician Buddy Miles. Some had small brands that competed with Sunmaid. Some people were saying they weren't getting a big enough slice of the Dancing Raisins pie. Director. And it became more entertainment than strategy. Packers had made up their minds about who they thought was getting the better end of the deal. WERNER: We still thought it was cool. Lived here my whole life. So, CALRAB proposed this big advertising campaign, with national TV commercials. BK: So the bottom line was you didn't have industry consensus. And so Will said 'well finally I took Janet's nose and put that on the raisin and he bought it [snaps fingers] like that.'. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Of all the acronyms, there's just one you need to remember: CALRAB. BK: Well, the simplest way to answer that is, 'how do you define success?' Everyone is hungering for unity again, they just have to find something to unify around. I mean. (laughs) These little guys took over everybody's hearts and minds, so it didn't surprise us at the time. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. SW: The California raisin industry is complicated. https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/34693/California+Raisins/I+Heard+It+Through+the+Grapevine. See more ideas about california raisins, raisin, grape vines. We may update this record based on further research and review. But Barry Kriebel says, at that point, the actual facts had stopped mattering. SW: Paul. SPEAKER THREE: They sang we three kings with also these camels that were all claymation. It's hurting from some bad weather trends. SPEAKER SIX: They were an incredible Motown band.SPEAKER ONE: I thought they were a real band, and really did not connect them to like raisins, or like the idea of dried grapes until well into my adulthood. Your email address will not be published. SW: And then at the end the announcer says: WERNER: I remember when I went to college, people would say 'there are three or four ways you can do an advertisement. So when his friends were like WERNER: 'What are you gonna do with that? This is Brought to you by Brands you know, stories you don't. Now, somebody just had to turn Seth Werner's concept into a real commercial. And ultimately, when everyone failed to agree, the raisins took the fall. And on top of that, there have been many, many more lawsuits. Who'd have ever thought that a beloved Motown classic would be brought back to life by a bunch of animated dried fruit? I mean, we didn't do anything short of that. She would always show them to me and talk to me about them and how cute and clever they were, and I just thought, why in the world is a grown woman so excited about something so ridiculous? California Raisin's Version. Refresh your browser window to try again. To access our initial disclosure document, please click, Get the item you ordered or your money back. The problem, FCB's account supervisor said at the time, was that though customers understood the health benefits of raisins, they had emotional connections with various vice products, like cigarettes because of the long-running "Marlboro Man" ads, or beer based on the popular "Miller Time" ads. I voted to kill it too. We may update this record based on further research and review. By the time "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" hit #1, the song had been sitting there for more than two years. Not this time, however! But were they a success for the raisin industry? [14][additional citation(s) needed], On March 28, 1997 Entertainment Weekly published "The 50 Best Commercials of All Time" as its cover story. 16:20 How do you distinguish your raisin bagel from my field to your field? CH: So where did this journey for you begin? Seth Werner, the young copywriter newly in charge of the California Raisins account, had a concept. He's a reporter covering raisins and grapes for one of the trade magazines his family publishes. CHARLIE HERMAN: On September 14, 1986, California's hottest new band made its debut. BK: It actually got to the point where the Dancing Raisins had their own television show. Casey Holford and John DeLore composed our theme. A board member said, 'Seth, can you do it again?' In 1987, Vinton featured the Raisins singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in A Claymation Christmas Celebration, a Christmas TV special he produced that won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. They were all over the country, on mugs and lunchboxes and tee shirts. SW: One of the people who saw that ad was Michael Jackson. Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), International Media Interoperability Framework. It keeps you in shape. The concept was originally created by advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) for a 1986 Sun-Maid commercial on behalf of the California Raisin Advisory Board when one of the writers, Seth Werner (at the time with FCB in San Francisco) came up with an idea for the new raisin commercial, saying, "We have tried everything but dancing raisins singing 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'" (the 1968 song popularized by Marvin Gaye). McCartney. It was the sequel to the Emmy-nominated special Meet the Raisins! SPEAKER FIVE: Every time that commercial would come on, my mom would sing and dance to that song. HARDEES AD: Announcing the big plush bendable California Raisins at Hardees SW: There were California Raisins Halloween costumesthey were bestsellers in 1988. Kalem Barserian will tell you the ad made the raisin industry money, and he will pull out a calculator to prove it. And Seth Seth was dancing all by himself in front of the group, without socks on! SW: Clyde E. Nef, who was CALRAB's manager at the time, wrote about Seth's performance and the board's reaction in his book, The Fruits of Their Labors. Our editor is Micaela Blei. SPEAKER EIGHT: And I guess subliminally, it probably worked because I do remember eating raisins as a snack. The Raisins released numerous studio albums in the 1980s, starred in a cartoon series, and were nominated for an Emmy for their 1988 "Meet the Raisins" mockumentary. Find top songs and albums by California Raisins including I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and more. The mockumentary-style show created a full backstory about the bands rise to stardom and delved into the histories of each of the individual Raisins, who had names by this pointA.C., Beebop, Stretch, and Red. MM: At every industry meeting I go to, it seems like someone's asking, some raisin grower's asking 'are you ever going to bring the raisin, dancing raisins back?' KB: Heard it through the grapevine! KB: Raisin processor for many years in different facilities. So, growers and packers paid a tax on every ton of raisins they produced. Listen to music by California Raisins on Apple Music. The California Raisins are often accompanied by a soundtrack of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," originally popularized by singer Marvin Gaye. And because they were big companies, not headquartered in the Fresno circle, they were not at the table, and participating in all of this back-and-forth. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. WERNER: Uh yeah, it was probably a little bit of a shock, I guess. The briefthe goal of the campaignwas to come up with a commercial that would make customers see raisins differently. CH: This episode was reported and produced by Sarah Wyman, with Julia Press and me, Charlie Herman. Potato head, but a raisin. And if the California raisin family wanted to avert economic disaster, it needed to band together and find a way to sell more raisins. Select PayPal Credit to have the option to pay over time. Like, who was allowed to borrow the actual dancing raisins costume CALRAB had? And that takes unity. Losin' you would end my life you see. Some years later, Noel Gallagher stands on a stage strumming his guitar while . No, not really. The success of the dancing raisins exposed fractures in the industry which had been forming just under the surface for decades. If you have any issues please contact me before leaving negative response I will always do my best make it right! Socit en Commandite par Actions Registered Office: 22-24 Boulevard Royal L-2449, Luxembourg). And so, with a $7.5 million campaign on the line, Werner hit play and began dancing across the room to the old Motown hit "I Heard it Through the Grapevine.". But I also take the approach of, that was 30 years ago so I think it's time that we look forward because the industry is in a very dramatic, very drastically different place than it was back then. They have two big jobs. Or, as they saw it, for Sunmaid's good. So, there's an alphabet soup of different boards and agencies and committees to help make that happen. Or did the dancing California raisins cause more trouble than they were worth? With a budget in hand, the agency hired Will Vinton, the Oscar-winning animator who would later trademark the term "Claymation," to help create their vision of dancing raisins. ROSS VANNELLI: Well how about doing an album? SW: I, before I started working on this story, did not even eat raisins. Very serious-like. But there's one letter that really stands out: WERNER: Okay, this is from the Fitzgerald-Hartley Company. Not much longer would you be mine. We apologize for the interruption. Concept illustrations of the Raisins were also featured as interviewees discussed the characters' creation.[17]. This client had been with his agency for over a decade, and though they'd had some fairly successful campaigns in the past, the client's main product was slipping in sales. SW: But, on the other side of the debate, if you ask Barry Kriebel, he'll tell you it is much more complicated than that. Hey. But that little piece of fruit is anything but dry and boring. In 1985, he was a copywriter at the ad agency Foote, Cone, and Belding. Can you just give me an assignment? The California Raisins released four studio albums on Priority Records, BMG, and ZTT Records between 1987 to 1994, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 84 or 85. They used themselves to make them human. Entdecke The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - gebrauchtes Vinyl - E8100A in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! That's what happened. And by the end of the night, all anyone could agree on was that one of the siblings was getting a bigger cut than everyone else. Your email address will not be published. They're just a staple. SW: For the packers who did have their own brands and worried Sunmaid was running away with raisin sales, there was another issue. He writes: "The thirty seconds of this commercial seemed like an eternity. Got 100,000 tons, more sales than you would have if you didn't do this. But despite it all, by a very narrow margin, more than half the room voted to greenlight the ad. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. Harry Overly became the new president of Sunmaid in 2017. Sunmaid had always been the golden child, and now, they were making off with the family fortune. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. Costume, Occasion & Specialized Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Mobile Phones, Smart Watches, Accessories & Communication, Bathroom Fixtures, Accessories & Supplies, Industrial Printing & Graphic Arts Equipment, Shaving & Hair Removal Products & Equipment, The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Used Vinyl - E8100A, eBay (UK) Limited is an appointed representative of, Learn more about Product Partnerships Limited - opens in a new window or tab. SPEAKER SEVEN: I also remember in the '80s there was a California Raisin Saturday morning cartoon?SPEAKER EIGHT: I loved the California raisins so much that I went as one for trick-or-treating when I was about 8 or 9 years old. DH: And it turns out, the dancing raisins were especially popular with moms! The plot of the game involved Tiny Goodbite having to rescue his friends who have been kidnapped and held in a cereal factory. SW: The raisins dance around on the lid of his grand piano while he belts out the band's catchphrase: AD SIX: Oh I heard it through the grapevine! If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. What's the message? Unless you just happened to have a VCR set up and recording at the exact moment the ad aired WERNER: You had to wait and hopefully see it on TV again on some show you were watching and not know when that was coming, and because we didn't have a very big media budget, it wasn't on that often. SW: Buddy Miles, who'd been the drummer for Band of Gypsies with Jimi Hendrix, flew to California to record the vocals in Ross's studio. KB: We're not getting our fair share of it. In order to be successful, this big "family" has to work together. And because Sunmaid was so much biggerthe Kleenex of raisins!they suspected that brand was getting a bigger share of the sales that had trickled down from the ad. And they had good reasons to be! SPEAKER ONE: It was like a Mr. But that wasn't the story around town. Would everyone contribute to the cost of an ad campaign? SW: Seth's boss handed him the California raisins account. Unlike the smaller brands in the industry, it could afford to pay for that space. SW: Seth remembers going to a friend's apartment the night he got the account. You know, what kind of legs does he have so he could do a dance appropriately, does he have oversized shoes, you know, what do they look like? Artist. CH: But while the ad made the dancing California raisins cool did it do anything for actual California raisins? Free shipping for many products! SW: Let me explain. The face took up most of the raisin's body MB: And then there was little wrinkles here and there, but the more you emphasize that, the more it looked, you know, kind of like a weird prune. Post's Raisin Bran cereal took advantage of the increasingly popular dried fruit and teamed up with the Raisins to help promote their boxed cereal, and fast food chain Hardees bought a license to produce the incredibly popular collectible Raisins figurines. There were California Raisins lunchboxes, then Hardee's started handing out plastic Raisins figurines with Cinnamon 'n' Raisin biscuits. CALRAB and the commercials it paid for represented the entire industry. And the industry was coming out of a big slump at the time. With the musicians all in a room, live, everything. Qualifying purchases could enjoy 0% interest if paid in full in 4 months on purchases of 99+. This special saw the Raisins hiring a new manager with the goal of making a comeback. But in 1986, that's just what happened when the California Raisin Advisory Board launched a series of ads by the California Raisins, a group that existed only in . But in 1986, thats just what happened when the California Raisin Advisory Board launched a series of ads by the California Raisins, a group that existed only in Claymation. [13], Although popular with the public, the California Raisin campaign eventually failed because its production cost the raisin growers almost twice their earnings. If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. Vintage California Raisins Posable, Puppets, Bank, Wind up toy. Oh! If you would like to know how we handle complaints, please click, . Our collection database is a work in progress. And it paid for all that buzz with an assessmentor a taxon the raisin industry. in 1988. Merchandise sales included toys and Raisins images on nearly every conceivable medium: lunch boxes, notebooks, clothing, posters, bedsheets, and even a Halloween costume, just to name a few. Honey, honey yeah. Remember, he reports on the raisin industry. And since they were already touring the country, at least on TV screens, there was only one logical next step. I heard it through the grapevine. SW: Kalem says the vote on whether or not to approve the ad was extremely close. SPEAKER THREE: The one song I remember them doing all the time was "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" To the point where I was a kid and I hadn't, I don't think it really clicked to me that that was like a real song. SW: I was not even alive when most of those ads aired, and I had the same experience. But how did a bunch of dried grapes, burdened with the reputationof being a mediocre, boring snack, become synonymous with swagger? SW: This is Matthew Malcolm again. But there was enough leadership to sway the ones that weren't smart enough to realize what a good program it was. I don't care how small or whatever, but something that's not part of what you're doing.'. KB: Once we started the Dancing Raisins, people were going to the store asking for Dancing Raisin raisins, and there weren't any!
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