Every so often there are threads on this board looking for old commercials. I have copies of the Radio Mercury Awards commercials (hosted by Dick Clark) and a Outer Planet (Seattle area) agency demo from the mid 90's. These are great examples of copywriting, production, acting and using humor in radio commercials. Enjoy!

Radio Mercury Commercial Awards 1995 (45 minutes)
http://www.divshare.com/download/78911-622

Outer Planet Writing & Production Agency Demo mid 90's (20 minutes)
http://www.divshare.com/download/78925-cfb

i just want a copy of the cat in a dryer radio advertising spot that showed up on one of those Mercury awards disc!

Tommy

Can ANYONE tell me who produced the current Grover's commercials. It features the same guy (Gary Raze?) who voiced Les Schwab for a long time. I'm interested in the ad agency who bought them and the group who produced them.

The "Cat in a Dryer" spot was done for the Portland Area Radio Council by Red Monkey Ads & Ideas. It's so good that I was surprised to learn I hadn't written it.

You can listen to it here:

http://tazmedia.com/audio_files/catdryer_portaradiocon.mp3

that would be the one... been a longtime since I've heard it! Thanks for sharing it!

Tommy

Wasn't Fluffy the poodle that maimed under-performing auto sales managers? Next he's playing a cat who survives dryer tumbles with boots (reprising his role in "Puss 'n Boots," no doubt). An amazingly versatile performer! I'm looking forward to his appearance as Fluffy the Wonder Elephant.

Fluffy the Wonder Elephant selling Charmin Big Rolls for those really big jobs no doubt! LOL

Where I lived at the time, it was the little old lady who put the cat in the microwave to dry it off after it had been out in the rain.

I wonder who does that fairly good impersonation of Stan Freberg on the Paragon Capital spots?

Anyone have a copy of

Radio Mercury Commercial Awards 1994?

Here's a link to past winners, however they do not go back to 94.

http://www.radiomercuryawards.com/winners.cfm

Thanks Steve.

i wish i could find a copy of the old mug root beer commercials from the late 70's

See http://www.radiomercuryawards.com/allwinners.html for the full list back to 1992.

dadetim
funny you mention the mug root beer....
Back around christmas time I got the A&W jingle stuck in my head. Nobody else in my family remembered it...they all thought I was nuts!

Those Mug Root Beer animal trainer spots were classic! I kick myself now for not making myself a dub when I was carting those up! I've been looking for them too these last few years.

Former valley girl,

A&W root beer's got that frosty mug taste...
only A&W's got that frosty mug taste....

is that the jingle you are referring to?

As long as we're totally off topic, how about "Hires Rootin' Tootin' Root Beer? I still can't believe it's gone. When something was there for a hundred years before you were, you just expect it to hang around!

Here's the script to the Mug hippo spot:

ANNOUNCER:
Here is your one-minute hippopotamus training lesson for today. The hippopotamus cannot be pushed around. An adult male hippo may weigh eight thousand pounds. A vegetarian, he consumes two hundred pounds of food a day. The first trick to teach your hippo is "roll over." This is done in stages. Place your right hand on the hippo's side. Repeat the command "Roll over."
SOUND EFFECTS:
Ka-RASH!!!
ANNOUNCER:
When this happens, do not attempt to move your hippo. Leave him, and let him adjust to this first stage of rolling over. Relax, and pour yourself an ice-cold glass of Mug Old-Fashioned Root Beer. Mug Old-Fashioned Root Beer is the ideal drink for hippopotamus trainers--and former hippopotamus trainers. Mug Old-Fashioned Root Beer. You haven't tasted root beer like this in years.

Thanks for posting the copy Steve. I think the reason those spots worked was the voice talent. He didn't have a good set of pipes in the traditional sense, and sounded more like an actor than an announcer. Not unlike the male K-Hits imaging voice as I recall.

The alligator trainer spot is the one that sticks in my mind. "Slowly climb on to his back. He may not notice. Give the command 'giddyup.' If he doesn't giddyup, giddy-off...and pour yourself a glass of..."

It seems totally lame reading it in print, but gee it sounded funny!

"You had to be there" perhaps applies here. Proper execution is everything when it comes to performance. On the other hand, sometimes the best performance comes out of something totally unplanned while in the studio.

"Creative" makes it memorable...as long as you can make the "product" memorable along with it. I've heard/seen ads in the last few years that were hilarious...but I can't tell you about the product the message was supposed to sell! At least it DID work with Mug...

yes, i miss those. i wish someone had these so i can hear them again...purely great spots

Here's Bobby Ocean on KFRC doing a elephant bit going into the Mug Root Beer spot. There is only about 5 seconds of the spot on the aircheck. I wish I had the whole series of spots too.

http://www.divshare.com/download/271376-5da