Do you ever wonder how advertisers come up with an advertising idea? Do you ever wonder how a commercial even makes it to the airwaves! Sometimes, it just comes down to a matter of pure happenstance. For example, Purina Cat Chow's "Chow Chow Chow" campaign was born as a gag when an editor ran the footage of a cat walking back and forth to music.

When the Mennen Skin Bracer's "Thanks, I Needed That" commercial broke in the 1970s, Joe Frazier said he took 53 takes to finally get it right. On the 54th take, he said "I had slapped myself so many times that I thought I was punch drunk".

The United Negro College Fund's "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" campaign was at first rejected by CBS because it portrayed a black woman scrubbing floors to raise funds to send her son to college. At the time, CBS believed there was no need to add fuel to America's already inflamed racial situation. So they said no. The commercial was given the thumbs down. On the surface, CBS made a commendable decision, but they were a little myopic as to what was really happening out there. The reality was that a lot of black women were indeed scrubbing floors to send their sons to college! It took a while, but sanity finally prevailed and when the message eventually reached the airwaves, it struck a chord in the hearts and minds of an entire nation (black, white, yellow, you name it). That commercial alone raised an incredible 12 billion dollars to send a lot of sons and daughters to college! It makes one almost want to sing Hallelujah! Isn't it great what one commercial can do? Wouldn't you loved to have written it? We discovered that it was written by a man by the name of Forest Long who worked for the advertising agency Young & Rubicam back in 1972. Mr. Long, wherever you are, we would love to shake your hand.

In 1965, Rudy Perz faced a daunting task. He was a copywriter for Leo Burnett and the Pillsbury Corporation had just contracted the agency to come up with a new campaign. Perz was the man who was required to come up with a "great new idea" that would "wow" the Pillsbury execs. After weeks of racking his brain for ideas, Rudy finally came up with the idea of a living ball of dough that popped out of a can of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. The ball of dough sported a neckerchief and a baker's hat with the Pillsbury logo. Perz gave him big blue eyes, a nose and a mouth -- and when the ladies fussed over him and kissed him on the cheek, Perz insisted that his little dough boy blush profusely. Plus, whenever the ladies poked him in the stomach, "Poppin' Fresh" had to giggle, touch his stomach, amd smile happily. Originally, Perz wanted the dough boy to be an animation--but when he saw a new technique displayed in the titles on The Dinah Shore Show, he changed his mind and his creation turned out to be a three-dimensional doll made of clay. Eventually, the Pillsbury Dough Boy had five different bodies and fifteen heads so his creators could give him different expressions and place him in different positions. It was all made possible by the new concept of "Stop Motion" which took twenty-four still shots to create a single second of a commercial.

Tony the Tiger was another invention of Leo Burnett Advertising. His first appearance was in 1952. He was designed by children's book illustrator Martin Provensen and voiced by the late Thurl Ravenscrof. After Mr. Ravenscrof's death, Lee Marshall assumed the role. Instead of proclaiming "They're G-R-E-A-T", Tony started out by saying "They're Luscious!", which was a line suggested after a consumer contest that pitted Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Newt against Tony for the official cereal spokesperson.

The commercial that featured a little boy singing "I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me" almost didn't make it to the tube. Lawyers tried to block the jingle and argued for "I'm stuck on Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages 'cause Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages are stuck on me." Happily, the legal eagles (dorks) weren't successful!This just in: Apparently, we spoke too soon. Band-Aid has changed their commercials now to "I am stuck on Band-Aid Brand, 'cause Band-Aid brand is stuck on me." It does work a lot better, doesn't it?, We're pretty sure there's a roll-out in there somewhere...or maybe the lawyers just kept chipping away until they finally won. Certainly, the marketers didn't. To all the young marketers out there, say after us: "If it aint broke, why fix it?"

The songs "Celebration" (by Kool and the Gang) and "Like A Rock" (by Bob Seger) earned more money as commercial jingles than they did as hit records. While selling music to commercial interests can be lucrative, there are some musicians who absolutely refuse to do it. For example, Cadillac offered a cool $15 million for the rights to the song "Break On Through" by The Doors. John Densmore (the drummer for The Doors) wouldn't allow the sale. He said: "People lost their virginity to this music, they got high for the first time to this music. I've had people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn't commit suicide because of this music…. On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That's a feeling that's just not for rent." Dunsmore also said "he just couldn't sell a song to a company that was polluting the world". Okay, John. As is always our policy here at Canadian Copywriter, we take a stand and TELL IT LIKE IT IS. Are you ready? Here we go. John, we sort of agree with you, but we also sort of don't.

In car commercials, the streets are usually wet to pick up highlights in the sheet metal and give "snap" to the scene.

In 1936, the Burma Shave Company began erecting roadside signs that spelled out a message with every sign passed. Their first campaign promised a trip to Mars for the first person who turned in 600 empty jars of their product. One man collected the jars and demanded the trip. Of course back in the thirties, zipping to and from Mars wasn't exactly a common every day occurence. (Our Editor takes the trip every weekend -- and returns on Monday to regale us with his stupid little stories about his "little red buddies" who caddy for him on "Red Acres Golf and Country Club". Yeah, right. The Office Pool says the "Men In The White Coats" will take him away in a sleeveless jacket by month's end). Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes, Burma Shave couldn't deliver on their promise and tried to convince the man that the campaign was only a joke. He steadfastly rejected their admonitions then finally relented when the company finally came up with the brilliant idea to give him a space suit and fly him to Mars, a small town in Germany.

The Nike "Swoosh" is a design created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University. In June 1971, Davidson presented a number of design options to Nike executives, and they ultimately selected the mark now known globally as the Swoosh. Davidson's bill for her design? A whopping $35.00! Twelve years later, however, Davidson was rewarded for her efforts. Nike executives presented her with a gold Swoosh ring and an envelope stuffed with Nike stock. Nice move, Nike!

P.S.: Actually, it was a nice move approving the logo in the first place.

Three men who appeared in "Marlboro Man" advertisements - Wayne McLaren, David McLean and Dick Hammer - died of lung cancer, thus earning Marlboro cigarettes, specifically Marlboro Reds, the nickname "Cowboy killers". McLaren testified in favor of anti-smoking legislation at the age of 51. During the time of McLaren's anti-smoking activism, Philip Morris denied that McLaren ever appeared in a Marlboro ad, a position it later amended to maintaining that while he did appear in the ads, he was not the Marlboro Man. McLaren died before his 52nd birthday in 1992. The actor and model Christian Haren portrayed the Marlboro Man in the early 1960s and later became active in AIDS prevention education.

Perhaps this little tidbit applies more to movies than to commercials, but here goes anyways. Most mass media use the telephone area code 555 whenever they use a telephone number on air. 555 is the only area code that doesn't exist anywhere in the world. By using this code, the media knows that they won't be airing a telephone number that is legitimate, thereby ensuring that they won't be responsible for bugging the daylights out of whoever owns the telephone number (bottom line: they avoid a lawsuit).