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The Wienermobile!
A couple of days ago, I randomly remembered the sausage shaped toy car that I had when I was a child. I really loved that car, it was weird, funny and badass at the same time. This toy was a promotional gadget from the sausages brand Oscar Mayer. I asked some colleagues who come from different parts of the world and some of them knew which vehicle I meant. The Germans, sons of Land of the Sausage, nevertheless did not know about its existence.
I was looking for pictures and I found the following one, which I really liked due to its colors, angle and landscape. But as usual, the resolution of the pic is really low and it is even blurry.
Source: theblacksheepagency.com
I wanted to have a bigger picture with a special feel, so I create a bitmap with a highest output’s resolution for each color (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) and mixed them to obtain the full color image.
And this is the final and beautiful result.
I wanted to know a bit more about this car, and I found out that it has a name; Wienermobile –What a perfect naming exercise. The brand Oscar Mayer was established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois by the 24 years old German immigrant Oscar Ferdinand Mayer and his brother Gottfried (thanks for not being the eager brother).
After 53 years, in 1936, Oscar’s nephew Carl Mayer designed the fabulous Wienermobile.
1936 Wienermobile. Source: americandigest.org/
The car has been evolving through the years and it is still existing nowadays, after almost 80 years (!!!). What is the deal with this car? It started as a running advertisement. It had all the elements, the product+packaging (sausage+yellow band), the logo and the headline/slogan (look for the yellow band). Nowadays, according to Oscar Mayer’s site it is a 27-foot-long (8,2 meters) hot dog on wheels which is running the roads of the United States of America. Actually, there are 6 27-foot-long hot dog on wheels patrolling the arteries of this vast country. There is also 1 (thanks for that) Mini Wienermobile.
2008 Mini Wienermobile. Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com
The brand has an Instagram account and they post pictures of the cars in the different places as well as pictures of overexcited people who saw one of the vehicles and wanted to capture the so-long-awaited moment.
They are also owning a Twitter account to communicate what will their next movements be with a very own language.
The #Wienermobile is on its way to Houston, TX! We can't wait to ketchup with y'all!
— Wienermobile (@Wienermobile) February 11, 2015
Driving around the country the whole day involves, unfortunately, some dangers, like when a driver (or a friendly Hotdogger, in brand’s words) of one of the Wienermobiles crashed the weird vehicle into a house.
Anyway, these friendly Hotdoggers are satisfied employees who are happy to share their experiences with us. You can also see how the Wienermobile’s interior looks like in this video.
If your passions are driving and sausages, do not hesitate to apply for a Hotdogger job (AKA the coolest job of your life) through the application form!
All in all, the Wienermobile is a pretty complete product, it even has a merchandising shop and a smartphone app.
The funny-moving advertisement is an effective way to promote your product, or maybe it is just a blast from the past which is still successful due to its sweetness and innocence.
If you know any other example of a ridiculous(ly) successful gadget, feel free to share it!
OH! … and do not forget to look for the yellow band!
For more information, visit the following links:
http://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Mayer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wienermobile
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/drive-wienermobile-memory-lane-gallery-1.1401109
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_24608319/that-wienermobile-crash-photo-facebook-its-from-2008
7 years ago ·
[…] This book narrates the experience of driving the Wienermobile around the USA during one year. After the post I wrote a while ago about the Wienermobile this was a surprising and perfect present to close the circle. Once I read it I will probably post […]