Wilkins Coffee was founded in 1899 by John H. Wilkins Sr., who sold coffee, tea and spices at the corner of 14th and Wallach streets NW.

Eventually, Wilkins focused on just coffee, with John Wilkins Jr. going so far as to build his own coffee-roasting plant in Pearl Harbor.

In 1957 Helen Ver Standig, who handled advertising for Wilkins Coffee, was intrigued by a up-and-coming kids show, Sam and Friends, that featured puppets.

Standig approached the show’s creator, Jim Henson and persuaded him to make ads Wilkins Coffee

The catch? Each ad would only be eight seconds long. Could he do that?

It turns out, Henson could do that, and do it swimmingly to boot.

See, most people, given just eight seconds for a product placement, would come out with a clean and simple pitch, involving some product factoid or Unique Selling Proposition.

Not Henson.

Instead, he came up with mini-sketches involving two muppets, Wilkins and Wotkins. And while I could explain it more, perhaps the best thing is just to let you see those ads for yourself:

Are those ads more than a little Zany? Sure.

But what they do rather beautifully is convey personality and attitude.

And they do it in a way that would make the average viewer at least curious to try Wilkins coffee, which they did in spades.

The ads were a hit. One newspaper critic summed it up by writing “The TV public, weary of looking at such things as gurgling stomach acids at work, took the Wilkins Muppets to heart. No TV commercial ever has known such popularity.”

In other words, the ads made you LIKE and BOND with Wilkins rather than demonstrate the superiority of the coffee.

And this bonding led to a 300 percent increase in the home sales of Wilkins Coffee.

Viewers bought the coffee because they felt connected to those zany Wilkins and Wotkins characters. And we know this because in 1958, 25,000 pairs of vinyl Wilkins and Wontkins puppets were sold.

So what does this have to do with Whisky Marketing?

The same principles still apply: bond with customers over personality, attitude, and values first, then you can talk product details (if necessary).

The following Jim Beam campaigns (produced by Energy BBDO Chicago and Fallon McElligott, respectively) illustrate this approach beautifully:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Beam’s ad agencies could have elected to fill their ads with print, running on about product details — because there are plenty of product details worth mentioning with Jim Beam.

Instead, they chose to make statements that revealed their values and their brand personality — allowing you to either bond with them, or not.

If you’re the kind of guy that likes the history and the idea of returning to basics, you’ll like Jim Beam.

And if you’re not, well, there’s plenty of other whiskey’s to choose from.

So… when it’s your turn to advertise, you could take the path of Jim Henson and Wilkins Coffee and Jim Beam and bond with your customers, or…

…You could make the mistake of pitching information.

Because whether your ad is actually 8 seconds or not, that’s really all the time you have before the audience tunes out —one way or another!

Why not make the most of those 8 seconds?

Interested in a bonding campaign for your brand? I’d be happy to help

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