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! Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. 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. If I tell everybody some fictitious story about you know, Chicken Little, right now to you, they might know it in Madera by 2 o'clock. Did it, uh, did it drive up the price of raisins? Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. I don't care how small or whatever, but something that's not part of what you're doing.'. This figure is also included on CalRaisins.org. Not so much. Possibly, but in their own sweet, silly way, these spots conveyed a sense of mindless fun and gave the humble raisin its moment in the sun. The California Dancing Raisins ad has been called one of the best of all time. California raisins from the California vineyards. So, just like at Thanksgiving dinner, while CALRAB tried to calm everyone down and broker peace from the head of the table, squabbling raisin packers aired old grudges and argued about who was and was not getting their fair share of the cash. Just to make the ad would cost $300,000. Seth Werner and CALRABthe agency responsible for hyping up California raisinsthey had delivered a hit. I heard it through the grapevine. He's written songs for bands like Earth, Wind and Fire, the Gap Band, and more recently, he's done covers with Kanye West. SW: Before long, a claymation Ray Charles joined the bunch. If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. KB: Vine doesn't know who it belongs to. And the answer is usually 'we don't know.. but probably not.' I grew up in California, and it felt like they were everywhere. WERNER: My job, I called it jack of all trade. They weren't in the shelf. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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?' . California RaisinsSing The Hit Songs 1987 Priority Records, LLCReleased on: 1987-01-01Associated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Leslie SmithAssociated Performer, Background Vocalist: Howard MccraryAssociated Performer, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Co- Arranger: Ed GrengaAssociated Performer, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar: Pat KellyAssociated Performer, Bass Guitar: Dave MarottaAssociated Performer, Drums, Percussion: David StefanelliAssociated Performer, Saxophones: David WoodfordProducer, Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Ross VannelliAssociated Performer, Vocalist: Buddy MilesComposer Lyricist: Barrett StrongComposer Lyricist: Norman WhitfieldAuto-generated by YouTube. Unlike the smaller brands in the industry, it could afford to pay for that space. Those California Raisins weren't just in California anymore. ROSS VANNELLI: Well how about doing an album? (laughs). That could mean that while the ad was running, more customers were buying store-brand raisins instead of Sunmaid raisins and store brand raisins were supplied by those other California raisin packers. In 2010, claymation versions of the California Raisins were featured in the special Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "A Very Sunny Christmas". [9] Blackthorne Publishing also released a six-issue comic book series entitled The California Raisins 3-D which included 3D glasses; these would later be re-released in the Ultimate Collection trade paperback. WERNER: We created this huge conga line that came out of a box of raisins and danced on the coffee table while this husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend were watching a movie, and they were unaware that all this was happening in its own little world. CEO of the wine bargaining association for five years. 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. CALRAB and the commercials it paid for represented the entire industry. You know how families can be about money. So, growers and packers paid a tax on every ton of raisins they produced. Concept illustrations of the Raisins were also featured as interviewees discussed the characters' creation.[17]. SW: The ad agency hired a guy named Will Vinton and his team to take the animated mockup of the ad and turn it into clay animationor, claymation. It began to cost CALRAB too much to market the Raisins, and the public moved on. Note: This transcript may contain errors. We apologize for the interruption. View wiki But in 1994, the raisin industry abruptly pulled the plug on the ad and its spinoffs, and still debates whether or not it was successful. First aired on September 14, 1986, Werner's idea for a 30-second television commercial introduced audiences to The California Raisins, a group of anthropomorphized raisins with expressive. 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. Almost like you can hear the band warming up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in the distance. 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. KB: Grape and raisin grower. SW: Ross Vannelli is a music producer. ", In 2017, an episode of The Simpsons called "The Cad and the Hat" included a couch gag segment featuring the California Raisins being killed by Homer.[21]. Honey, honey yeah. Between 12th and 14th Streets SW: I was not even alive when most of those ads aired, and I had the same experience. SW: Seth has a whole scrapbook of these letters. WERNER: Our whole objective was to make them cool. CH: A raisin by any other name would be a dried grape. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. Werner and his copywriting partner, Dexter Fedor, knew that they needed to make the dried fruit less of an afterthoughtthe raisins needed personality. Here's Sarah again: SW: One morning in 1986, Seth and the team at Foote, Cone, and Belding piled into a car and headed to Fresno. MICHAEL JACKSON: And Will, keep these guys still until they do the heard it! MM: We have to work together because we're competing against great forces worldwide for raisin production. Heard it! 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. From Performing Songwriter Issue 111, July/Aug 2008. SW: Kalem Barserian, raisin industry veteran, again. The musical mockumentary was again created by Vinton Studios, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. BARRY KRIEBEL: Well that's the problem with the advertising! California Raisins Heard it Through the Grapevine (Better Quality) Herozilla Video Editing and Livestream Gaming 82.3K subscribers Subscribe 10K Share 983K views 3 years ago I don't own the. CH: A warship, the USS Pyro, even asked permission to sail with a California Dancing Raisins flag flying high above ahoy mateys! Little disagreements surfaced. California Raisins. Or, as they saw it, for Sunmaid's good. 80s classic toys. Almost across the board, everyone I spoke to had good things to say about the ad itself. Scientists mull polarized light detection from alien life-forms, Nano-mechanical sensors wired using photonics, E. coli outbreak leads to massive flour recall, First human CRISPR trial passes safety and ethics review, Cephalopods: Natures camouflaging masters, Scientists detect gravitational waves for the second time, Colorful secrets of chemical elements with slow motion flames. I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine baby I know a man ain't supposed to cry But these tears I can't hold inside Losin' you would end my life you see 'Cause you mean that much to me You could have told me yourself That you loved some one else Instead I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine SW: The winning concept was a raisin with big eyes, a defined nose, and a wide mouthperfect for lip syncing. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Hell no! 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). SW: Between 1986 and 1992, the Dancing Raisins raked in more than 7 million dollars in licensing fees. It had about five million dollars to spend, which, in ad money, is not a lot. Today, the story of the California Dancing Raisins. AD SIX: Oh, I heard it through the grapevine! There is also some good news though! Commissioned by the California Raisin Advisory Board (CALRAB), a trade group of raisin producers in Californias Central Valley, the commercial was part of a multi-million dollar campaign to combat slowing raisin sales. But there was enough leadership to sway the ones that weren't smart enough to realize what a good program it was. 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.". Many of the items created for the campaign have become part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Artist. SW: Michael Jackson sent Will Vinton a video with instructions for how he wanted the claymation to lookdown to the motions and facial expressions the backup raisins were making in the background of the ad. RAISINS: Oooh I heard it through the grapevine, raised in the California sunshine. KB: And at this point, even though I had to vote to kill it, I side on the other side, where I helped put that program together, and was successful for ten years. It's being threatened by growing raisin production in other countries. MM: Obviously raisin growers and packers, they compete with each other. KB: Once we started the Dancing Raisins, people were going to the store asking for Dancing Raisin raisins, and there weren't any! My girl!BK: Yeeeeah the marketing guys at Del Monte filed a complaint with the Department of Food and Agriculture over it. WERNER: 'Our thanks again on behalf of Paul McCartney. SW: Those people started calling CALRAB and the ad agency, asking when and where the ad would play again. Not much longer would you be mine baby. And even in the 1990s, Sunmaid was like the "Kleenex" of the raisin industry. On the table below them. And as that rift widened, the raisins fell right through it. Because, in Fresno, California Raisins has always meant something bigger than a couple of claymation figurines singing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine.". California Raisins T-shirt ~ I Heard It Through The Grapevine ~ Claymation 80s. 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. I heard it through the grapevine. The show was broadcast August 29, 1990, on the U.S. television network CBS during primetime. Oh! Thanks to everyone who left us voicemails and shared their memories of the California Raisins in our Facebook group. Sarah Wyman is our showrunner. The ad was fun, but, to quote The Fruits of Their Labors again, it "made no effort to sell raisins. Listen to music by California Raisins on Apple Music. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions. Think you know music? I Heard It Through The Grapevine - California Raisins. Umpteen searches though the archives using the terms "California Raisins" and "Hardee's" came up mostly empty, except for . Test your MusicIQ here! [19], In 2014, the California Raisins made a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called". I said, 'the only thing I would do, because at that time, you know, you had things like the Chipmunks and all these different things for kids,'. But thanks to the California Raisins, its now commonplace to see ads that include anthropomorphized food or candy. Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. But, that's not where this story ends. AD THREE: Raisins from California. 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. [14][additional citation(s) needed], On March 28, 1997 Entertainment Weekly published "The 50 Best Commercials of All Time" as its cover story. But in 1994, the. Label. [5] The following year, the Raisins appeared in the Emmy Award-winning A Claymation Christmas Celebration, singing the Christmas carol "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". They even earned an Emmy nomination! Seth and his colleagues were getting fan mail forwarded to themfrom viewers, TV stations, and other advertising execs. CH: But while the ad made the dancing California raisins cool did it do anything for actual California raisins? Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. MICHAEL BRUNSFELD: The first step in this was we need somebody to create some raisins that are going to dance around. 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. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. Now, the story of a man many call an outlaw. (laughs) These little guys took over everybody's hearts and minds, so it didn't surprise us at the time. Hey. Raisin farmers rely on good weather and conditions to grow their product. "We decided that we wanted the raisins to be cool and a bit intimidating," Werner said. SPEAKER TWELVE: And it was all claymation, and they'd sing Christmas carols and stuff there were I think other characters and things in it as well. The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues animated musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. SW: Matthew says, whether or not the dancing raisins are part of the industry's future, he remains optimistic. As for the music, the commercial featured Buddy Miles, a Carlos Santana collaborator and drummer for Jimi Hendrix, singing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"picked because of the obvious connection between grapes and raisins, but also because the song had seen a resurgence after the Marvin Gaye version had been used for the opening scene of the 1983 hit movie The Big Chill. But how did a bunch of dried grapes, burdened with the reputationof being a mediocre, boring snack, become synonymous with swagger? The comedy podcast Felix Navipod features discussion of the California Raisins on all 166 episodes of its run. 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. (laughs). Earlier this year, the CRMBwhich did not respond to my request for commenthired a brand new Vice President of Marketing. The answer? The figures were kept in a box for several years and headed for the trash before being obtained by Webster Colcord, a former employee of Vinton. Not much longer would you be mine. ', 'Today during Ryan's Hope I saw the cutest commercial. HO: Well there's there's definitely 12:02 some discussion about that I mean in its infancy right now. Sales of raisins themselves increased 20 percent after the first commercial. KB: Raisin processor for many years in different facilities. RV: I think within 4-5 months it was platinum! 2023. (869) $17.99. I Heard It Through the Grapevine. RV: Oh no, to me it at one point it kind of went beyond that. CEO of.. SW: His dad started farming and processing raisins in Fresno back in the 1920s, and since then, Kalem has bounced around pretty much every corner of the industry. Lead vocals in the group were sung by musician Buddy Miles. He says if it had just been up to him, he would not have ended CALRAB and therefore the Dancing Raisins. (of Suite D2 Josephs Well, Hanover Walk, Leeds LS3 1AB) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (with firm reference number 626349). But these tears I can't hold inside. I said, 'Ok, that's one piece of the marketing puzzle. Lead vocals in the group were sung by musician Buddy Miles. SW: When the Dancing Raisins ad stopped airing, Sunmaid's share of direct raisin saleslike in boxes on grocery store shelvesactually increased. Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. SW: But you know who was on that shelf? While todays commercials may depict M&Ms and cookies with unique personas, the California Raisins hold a special place as '80s pop culture icons. SW: His boss had him working mostly on trade adsstuff for industry publications not the kind of campaigns you or I would ever see in a commercial or on a billboard. And Seth Seth was dancing all by himself in front of the group, without socks on! How would the assessment be collected? But first, he had to get approval from the raisin growers and packers who were paying for it. Or 'if it's bad for Sunmaid, it's gotta be good for them. But there's one letter that really stands out: WERNER: Okay, this is from the Fitzgerald-Hartley Company. So they'd pose them, they'd take a picture of that, then they'd re-pose them slightly in a slightly different pose, take a picture of that. And, when it went down, so did the Dancing California Raisins. [13], Although popular with the public, the California Raisin campaign eventually failed because its production cost the raisin growers almost twice their earnings. Raisin industry veteran, again if you need to request an image for publication or other use please! Share of direct raisin saleslike in boxes on grocery store shelvesactually increased and conditions to grow product! To be cool and a bit california raisins heard it through the grapevine, '' werner said werner.. 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