Sorry for the lack of a post last night. I was too busy celebrating…uh…Tuesday. That’s right, just a regular good old run of the mill Tuesday. No, nothing related to the date at all. Why yes that is an empty Doritos bag behind me. Why do you ask? Can’t a man get hungry once in a while?
(Sigh. Same jokes every year. It’s just too easy.)
I read what might be the most amazing fact today. In St. Paul there is a monument to the Hamm’s Beer Bear. This is road trip worthy material. In fact, I’m planning a pilgrimage there as we speak (or read or type, whatever the appropriate phrase is.) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the wonder of Hamm’s here is the story of the greatest advertising gimmick ever.
As a kid I would always hope that the Hamm’s Beer commercials to air for two reasons. The first is the jingle was just spectacular starting with “From the land of sky blue waters (waters)” and ending with the crescendo of “Hamm’s the beer refreshing, Hamm’s the beer refreshing, Hamm’s the beer refreshing, Hamm’s!” The second was the fact that all of their commercials featured cartoon animals led by a large, jovial bear hanging out in a forest and having a great time. It seemed logical to an eight year old who watched a lot of Looney Tunes that animals would gather in the forest to down a few frosty brews after confusing hunters and dressing in drag. Or maybe they dressed in drag after getting drunk. Either way, as an eight year old I totally wanted to drink Hamm’s. Which might be why the beer doesn’t really exist anymore given that eight year olds really shouldn’t be your target market if you are a brewery.
But here is the thing: I still have fond memories of Hamm’s even though I never drank it. I probably would give it a try today even though I have never heard a person say one positive thing about the beer other than it was incredibly cheap. However, something like Milwaukee’s Best, which I did actually drink in my youth, is something I wouldn’t even use as lighter fluid. Of all the products I remember being advertised as a kid there is probably none (outside of the Snoopy Sno Cone machine) that I still remember as fondly today as Hamm’s Beer. They should teach the ad campaign in business schools if they could keep it from becoming a discussion of whether it is ethical to sell alcohol to minors.
Next time I’ll talk about the wonders of drinking Falstaff at Comiskey Park because White Sox fans prefer Shakespeare references with their beer.
Wednesday Night Music Club: In honor of yesterday here is one of my friends in the music biz (as in I received a Christmas card from him and his wife once) Bruce Robison reminding us to always ask ourselves in times of trouble “What Would Willie Do?”
(Sigh. Same jokes every year. It’s just too easy.)
I read what might be the most amazing fact today. In St. Paul there is a monument to the Hamm’s Beer Bear. This is road trip worthy material. In fact, I’m planning a pilgrimage there as we speak (or read or type, whatever the appropriate phrase is.) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the wonder of Hamm’s here is the story of the greatest advertising gimmick ever.
As a kid I would always hope that the Hamm’s Beer commercials to air for two reasons. The first is the jingle was just spectacular starting with “From the land of sky blue waters (waters)” and ending with the crescendo of “Hamm’s the beer refreshing, Hamm’s the beer refreshing, Hamm’s the beer refreshing, Hamm’s!” The second was the fact that all of their commercials featured cartoon animals led by a large, jovial bear hanging out in a forest and having a great time. It seemed logical to an eight year old who watched a lot of Looney Tunes that animals would gather in the forest to down a few frosty brews after confusing hunters and dressing in drag. Or maybe they dressed in drag after getting drunk. Either way, as an eight year old I totally wanted to drink Hamm’s. Which might be why the beer doesn’t really exist anymore given that eight year olds really shouldn’t be your target market if you are a brewery.
But here is the thing: I still have fond memories of Hamm’s even though I never drank it. I probably would give it a try today even though I have never heard a person say one positive thing about the beer other than it was incredibly cheap. However, something like Milwaukee’s Best, which I did actually drink in my youth, is something I wouldn’t even use as lighter fluid. Of all the products I remember being advertised as a kid there is probably none (outside of the Snoopy Sno Cone machine) that I still remember as fondly today as Hamm’s Beer. They should teach the ad campaign in business schools if they could keep it from becoming a discussion of whether it is ethical to sell alcohol to minors.
Next time I’ll talk about the wonders of drinking Falstaff at Comiskey Park because White Sox fans prefer Shakespeare references with their beer.
Wednesday Night Music Club: In honor of yesterday here is one of my friends in the music biz (as in I received a Christmas card from him and his wife once) Bruce Robison reminding us to always ask ourselves in times of trouble “What Would Willie Do?”
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