CH: I remember those really well. SW: Even now, decades later when the dust has settled, one thing is still a question. Between 12th and 14th Streets We're not prunes or dates SW: And the raisins weren't close to being done yet. Year . Play with guitar, piano, ukulele, or any instrument you choose. If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. But of course, that was not really the end of it. Brought to you by is a production of Insider Audio. 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. Now, somebody just had to turn Seth Werner's concept into a real commercial. Then in 1989, a 13-episode Saturday Morning Cartoon show calledThe California Raisin Show aired. The following year, Vinton created another TV special called Meet The Raisins! Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. WERNER: 'Our thanks again on behalf of Paul McCartney. Back in 1987, the president of Priority Records got in touch with Ross, and he asked him to produce an album of Motown hits, sung by the California Raisins. This was not a formula. 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 eyebrows, stylish shoes, and the slickest dance moves since the Chiquita Banana shimmied into advertising in the 1940s. We apologize for the interruption. And it became more entertainment than strategy. If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. I grew up in California, and it felt like they were everywhere. Lots of brands tested the limits of this rule, including Sunmaid: BK: I got permission from the manager to create a claymation ad where I had the Dancing Raisins singing to the Sunmaid girl. If you have any issues please contact me before leaving negative response I will always do my best make it right! WERNER: Uh yeah, it was probably a little bit of a shock, I guess. Although Vinton made one last Claymation TV movie about the Raisins in 1990, the end of the '80s brought a decline in the Raisinss popularity. But actually to me, one of the most interesting parts of that story was this little section on the California Dancing Raisins ads from the '80s. Earlier this year, the CRMBwhich did not respond to my request for commenthired a brand new Vice President of Marketing. It seems like everyone in Motown heard about this song "through the grapevine" before it was finally recorded. Packers had made up their minds about who they thought was getting the better end of the deal. The growers are the ones with the vines. KB: And the packers got pissed at Barry and killed the program. Free shipping for many products! The band broke up. And it paid for all that buzz with an assessmentor a taxon the raisin industry. And they had good reasons to be! And so Will said 'well finally I took Janet's nose and put that on the raisin and he bought it [snaps fingers] like that.'. Post's Raisin Bran cereal took advantage of the increasingly popular dried fruit and teamed up with the Raisins to help promote their boxed cereal, and fast food chain Hardees bought a license to produce the incredibly popular collectible Raisins figurines. It even led to an unauthorized collectibles guide published in 1998, cataloging the many items based on the clay characters. CH: So where did this journey for you begin? So, there's an alphabet soup of different boards and agencies and committees to help make that happen. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. So many of you remembered that Christmas special. 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 we handle complaints, please click, . She would always show them to me and talk to me about them and how cute and clever they were, and I just thought, why in the world is a grown woman so excited about something so ridiculous? HO: Well there's there's definitely 12:02 some discussion about that I mean in its infancy right now. Vinton and his team spent weeks making about six different figurines and a set made out of clay. I Heard It Through the Grapevine Lyrics by California Raisins from the Meet the Raisins! Oh! CH: From Business Insider. Matthew has observed his fair share of contentious industry meetings. ROSS VANNELLI: Well how about doing an album? And apparently, making a clay "King of Pop" was a whole 'nother can of worms. AD SEVEN: I heard it through the grapevine! SW: Yeah, that did not go over well within the industry. - The California Raisins II. It was the sequel to the Emmy-nominated special Meet the Raisins! The article ranked The California Raisins' premiere advertisement, "Lunchbox", at #15 with comments by ad agency executive Claude Jacques and described the Raisins as "The coolest wrinkled musicians this side of the Stones. Raisins, dressed up in white gloves and sunglasses, dancing to Marvin Gaye's "I heard it through the grapevine." KALEM BARSERIAN: I've been born, raised here. "We decided that we wanted the raisins to be cool and a bit intimidating," Werner said. Because the smaller packers still thought Sunmaid had an unfair advantage. They grow grapes in the beautiful California sunshine and turn them into raisins. Sunmaid. Or, as they saw it, for Sunmaid's good. I heard it through the grapevine. And I told him, all of this sounds absolutely exhausting: KB: I'm still here! And in 1998wait for it, another acronymthe CRMBCalifornia Raisin Marketing Boardtook over as the new hype machine for California Raisins. They starred in two claymation TV shorts, and a Christmas special that won an Emmy! Select PayPal Credit to have the option to pay over time. Losin' you would end my life you see. SW: Paul. The classic about a man who finds out his woman is cheating on him was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. 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". But anyway, there's this one line in the story that implies that even though the ad went on to be super successful, even though you and I still remember it all these years later, it may have precipitated some really huge divisions within the raisin industry. A board member said, 'Seth, can you do it again?' SW: Seth remembers going to a friend's apartment the night he got the account. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you saw a commercial you liked, you couldn't look it up on YouTube and send a link to a friend. You're over. But he told me something else too, something he says a lot of reporters like mewho fly into Fresno from the big city to cover the dramaoften miss: MM: We're all families here and so, everybody's really close, everybody knows each other, I mean, a lot of them are related to each other, they marry in, and so they're very tight SW: And that big family, with lots of opinions, is where some of that drama comes from. What's the message? Harry Overly became the new president of Sunmaid in 2017. [4] To their surprise, the commercial became wildly popular, paving the way for several future commercials and opportunities through other media. CHARLIE HERMAN: On September 14, 1986, California's hottest new band made its debut. And that takes unity. [16], In 2002, the Food Network program Unwrapped featured a segment on The California Raisins featuring interviews with Will Vinton, David Altschul, and Mark Gustafson of Vinton Studios. Potato head, but a raisin. The ad was fun, but, to quote The Fruits of Their Labors again, it "made no effort to sell raisins. The briefthe goal of the campaignwas to come up with a commercial that would make customers see raisins differently. BK: Well, the simplest way to answer that is, 'how do you define success?' [10] Different collections were produced in 1987, 1988, 1991, and finally in 2001 (the latter adding Carl's Jr. due to their late '90s acquisition of Hardee's) for their new stylization. It's a tax. SW: Within a month of its release, the album went gold. The Dancing California Raisins were a go. 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. ', SW: Barry Kriebel was president of Sunmaid at the time. And though the process is time-consuming and expensive, Werner's performance managed to win them over. There is also some good news though! Artist. Or 'if it's bad for Sunmaid, it's gotta be good for them. With the musicians all in a room, live, everything. Yeah. The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Used Vinyl - E8100A. SW: Matthew says, whether or not the dancing raisins are part of the industry's future, he remains optimistic. You do the math on how many tons of raisins you're buying from them, and bam, you can see exactly how much of the total cost is going towards California raisin ads. "Picture cover". SW: I, before I started working on this story, did not even eat raisins. In 2018, an episode of The Americans called "Rififi" feature a cereal box featuring the California Raisins on the back. If you have more stories to share, call us anytime. The California Raisins released four studio albums in 1987 and 1988, and their trademark, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," was on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1985, both halves of the industry were funding CALRAB. Find top songs and albums by California Raisins including I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and more. Music is from Audio Network. The dancing raisins got caught in the crossfire of a heated debate within the industry. Will Vinton. Costume, Occasion & Specialized Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Mobile Phones, Smart Watches, Accessories & Communication, Bathroom Fixtures, Accessories & Supplies, Industrial Printing & Graphic Arts Equipment, Shaving & Hair Removal Products & Equipment, The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Used Vinyl - E8100A, eBay (UK) Limited is an appointed representative of, Learn more about Product Partnerships Limited - opens in a new window or tab. BK: You gotta have consensus. And on top of that, there have been many, many more lawsuits. RV: I said, 'I'm going to do it where it feels authentic.' He writes: "The thirty seconds of this commercial seemed like an eternity. (laughs). I know a man ain't supposed to cry. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's &, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Definitely [both laugh]. While the songs popularized the phrase, they inspired the hit kids cartoon series "The California Raisins" in the 1990s. CH: But while the ad made the dancing California raisins cool did it do anything for actual California raisins? The 1980's TV commercials for California raisins have been called some of the best ads ever made. We love hearing from you. SETH WERNER: It wasn't back then, and it still isn't now. The ads storyboards were pretty simple: A bunch of raisins dance in a line across the screen, grooving to the Motown sound that had been rejuvenated by the success of The Big Chills 6 million-selling soundtrack. "[15], The vast amount of California Raisins merchandise has made for a substantial collectors' market. They have two big jobs. AD FIVE: Honey, are you playing with your food again? SW: Again, Seth Werner, sockless ad copywriter. SW: This is what raisin packing sounds like. And he made it very clear to me right off the bat that no one, him included, would be interested in talking about the New York Times story I'd read. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal (Europe) S. r.l. SW: Matthew Malcolm was one of the first raisin industry members to return my calls. SW: One of the people who saw that ad was Michael Jackson. This is Brought to you by Brands you know, stories you don't. And if you don't have a consensus, it doesn't matter. Even if you weren't alive to see the advertisements, TV. Werner's big idea was going to be a risk, especially without the celebrity spokesperson the client had requested. A California Raisins Fan Club began in 1987, which included a Grapevine Gazette newsletter and various memorabilia. Now, the story of a man many call an outlaw. He says if it had just been up to him, he would not have ended CALRAB and therefore the Dancing Raisins. SW: Yeah, I'm still looking for the pictures. So when his friends were like WERNER: 'What are you gonna do with that? SW: But by 1994, the packers had reached a consensus. These days, some growers are abandoning ship entirely, ripping out their vineyards and planting almonds instead. And some of them played instruments, maybe?SPEAKER TWO: All dancing in the real world, but in their little clay situation.SPEAKER THREE: They were disproportionately raisinly huge. He's a reporter covering raisins and grapes for one of the trade magazines his family publishes. The California Raisins were the product of an exacerbated ad team, a few broken rules, and the execution of a fascinating visual art form. The claymation raisins singing and dancing to Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" became a kids TV show, recorded an album that went platinum, launched a range of toys and costumes, and starred in an Emmy-winning Christmas special. HARRY OVERLY: I know for a fact that there is animosity that still exists within the industry of what happened back then. [1] The California Raisins were popular in the mid-to-late 1980s through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.[2][3]. SW: Unity has been a longstanding challenge for the raisin industry. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. You know, what kind of legs does he have so he could do a dance appropriately, does he have oversized shoes, you know, what do they look like? (869) $17.99. Okay? People loved the singing, dancing Claymation raisins so much that more commercials followed, andin a marketing scheme that was virtually unheard of at the timeThe California Raisins went on to release four albums, score a Billboard Hot 100 hit, and earn an Emmy nomination (and appear in an Emmy-winning show). 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. Lyrics.com. But were they a success for the raisin industry? They sold most of their raisins in bulk, to ingredient customers, like cereal brands or bakeries. Browse 55 i heard it through the grapevine stock photos and images available, or search for california raisins to find more great stock photos and pictures. 16:20 How do you distinguish your raisin bagel from my field to your field? `` the thirty seconds of this commercial seemed like an eternity cereal Brands or bakeries see! 'Nother can of worms, for Sunmaid 's good best ads ever made have been,. And a set made out of clay to come up with a commercial liked! 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