The California Raisins are a fictional rhythm and blues musical group comprised of anthropomorphized raisins. But an even bigger faction of raisin packers did not have their own name-brands. Raisins are not like cell phone brands, with unique features and better WiFi connectivity and a sleeker feel than their competitors. But despite it all, by a very narrow margin, more than half the room voted to greenlight the ad. Check mate. And on top of everything else, he says there's one subject of conversation that just won't drop. 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. CH: This commercial was the most popular TV ad in 1987 and 1988. 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". Entdecke The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - gebrauchtes Vinyl - E8100A in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! McCartney. SW: But you know who was on that shelf? SW: They pulled up to a business park, hopped out of the car, and marched into a conference room. SW: Ross Vannelli is a music producer. (laughs) These little guys took over everybody's hearts and minds, so it didn't surprise us at the time. SW: Matthew Malcolm was one of the first raisin industry members to return my calls. Sign up for notifications from Insider! 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. These days, some growers are abandoning ship entirely, ripping out their vineyards and planting almonds instead. 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.'. Heard it! A series of weather-related disasters during the '70s had thrown the price of raisins completely out of whack. And the industry was coming out of a big slump at the time. Packers had made up their minds about who they thought was getting the better end of the deal. SW: Big ingredient customers could actually look up in state records how much money, per ton, raisin packers were paying CALRAB. An article published by AnimateClay.com in the late 2000s details the whereabouts of the original claymation sculptures used by Vinton Studios. And in 1998wait for it, another acronymthe CRMBCalifornia Raisin Marketing Boardtook over as the new hype machine for California Raisins. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. But in 1994, the. It was the sequel to the Emmy-nominated special Meet the Raisins! SW: Clyde E. Nef, who was CALRAB's manager at the time, wrote about Seth's performance and the board's reaction in his book, The Fruits of Their Labors. CALRAB gave the "Grapevine" pitch the green light. SW: Back in Fresno, the raisin growers and packers watched with amazement as the Dancing Raisins turned into superstars. Hey, I heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you be mine Said I heard it through the grapevine Hey, I'm just about to lose my mind Honey, honey, yeah (Heard it through the grapevine Not much longer would you Be my baby, yeah, yeah, yeah) Honey, honey, I know That you're letting me go Hey, I heard it through the grapevine California Raisins. In 2015, it was announced that a live-action/CGI reboot of the California Raisins would be produced, with president of The Actors Hall of Fame Foundation, Rusty Citron, as one of the people behind the project. SPEAKER FOUR: I even had little figurinesSPEAKER FIVE: I remember seeing them in my toy chestSPEAKER ONE: They were part of some happy meal kind of thing CH: The dancing raisins were invited to light the National Christmas Tree at the White House. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. RAISINS: Oooh I heard it through the grapevine, raised in the California sunshine. The California Raisins are often accompanied by a soundtrack of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," originally popularized by singer Marvin Gaye. Lead vocals in the group were sung by musician Bu, The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. 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. They used themselves to make them human. Audiences quickly connected with the Raisins authentic R&B sound, and The California Raisins version of "Grapevine" even reached No. Year . Claymation was an unproven conceptthis was probably the first time it had been used in a commercial. BK: No, what we got was him for free, but he wasn't gonna do anything. 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. Which wasn't true. Find top songs and albums by California Raisins including I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and more. KB: Couldn't find it! Box Office Software produced a different, unrelated California Raisins computer game in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and PC compatibles. SW: This is Seth Werner. AD FIVE: Honey, are you playing with your food again? Most of the time when we buy raisins, we have no idea where they came from. Unknown; no label specified. SW: Within a month of its release, the album went gold. 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. Fresno is a dusty, medium-sized city in the middle of California's central valley. See terms. SW: Then, you've got nature to think about. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions. Go directly to shout page. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. The comedy podcast Felix Navipod features discussion of the California Raisins on all 166 episodes of its run. [8] While cel animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, it maintained Will Vinton's creative direction. See more ideas about california raisins, raisin, grape vines. et Cie, S.C.A. CH: We're back. HO: Well there's there's definitely 12:02 some discussion about that I mean in its infancy right now. The growers are the ones with the vines. Seth Werner and CALRABthe agency responsible for hyping up California raisinsthey had delivered a hit. SPEAKER SIX: They were an incredible Motown band.SPEAKER ONE: I thought they were a real band, and really did not connect them to like raisins, or like the idea of dried grapes until well into my adulthood. Besides appearing in short commercials, The California Raisins shared their musical chops in television specials. Stay up to date with what you want to know. The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Used Vinyl - E8100A. Okay? The commercials were produced by Vinton Studios using their claymation technique, with character designs by Michael Brunsfeld. And then, job number two: they work on public relations and marketing for the entire raisin industry. BK: Well, the simplest way to answer that is, 'how do you define success?' Eligibility determined at checkout. Was the Dancing Raisins ad a success? SW: And that tax is paying for a campaign that's not even advertising your product! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. SW: Paul. And it became more entertainment than strategy. SW: Seth's boss handed him the California raisins account. CHARLIE HERMAN: On September 14, 1986, California's hottest new band made its debut. Some had small brands that competed with Sunmaid. California Raisins T-shirt ~ I Heard It Through The Grapevine ~ Claymation 80s. Harry Overly became the new president of Sunmaid in 2017. SPEAKER ONE: It was like a Mr. It's very successful in that sense. WERNER: Well, you know, we were at this point, we were like what else is new. BK: So the bottom line was you didn't have industry consensus. Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. He's now on his second round of leading the Raisin Bargaining Association. Sarah tells us what happened next SW: In 1994, a group of raisin packers voted to shut down CALRAB. Blastfrompasttoys. This figure is also included on CalRaisins.org. SPEAKER ELEVEN: We watched it in art class when I was in elementary school. The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. Seth Werner, the young copywriter newly in charge of the California Raisins account, had a concept. WERNER: Our whole objective was to make them cool. SW: The raisin industry quickly followed up with more ads. Done. The answer? 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). The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. 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. Deathly silence filled the Board room for what was probably only another thirty seconds, but seemed much longer. This special saw the Raisins hiring a new manager with the goal of making a comeback. They weren't in the shelf. Playlist, Written by: Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Lyrics Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tratore. Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. Those California Raisins weren't just in California anymore. KB: Because a raisin is a raisin is a raisin. How would the assessment be collected? We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. A short time after that, he sat in a studio and sang the words into a microphone while strumming his guitar along with a few friends. Umpteen searches though the archives using the terms "California Raisins" and "Hardee's" came up mostly empty, except for . SARAH WYMAN: Charlie, I have to start with a confession. SW: This is what raisin packing sounds like. SW: Before long, a claymation Ray Charles joined the bunch. BK: There's always been a 'If it's good for Sunmaid, it's gotta be bad for them.' What's the message? A Saturday morning cartoon series, The California Raisin Show, debuted the following year, but lasted only 13 episodes. 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. And if you don't have a consensus, it doesn't matter. SW: This is Matthew Malcolm again. And by the end of the night, all anyone could agree on was that one of the siblings was getting a bigger cut than everyone else. On the table below them. And now they are all I can think about!! Paul McCartney requested his own copy on VHS. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. 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. Michael Jackson asked to be featured in a sequel. These albums were included in the Smithsonian collection and were illustrated and art-directed by Helane Freeman, who later became famous for her work on Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, among other Disney programs. The "Heard It Through the Grapevine" theme is fabulous. The musical mockumentary was again created by Vinton Studios, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Because that's a whole market supply and demand on both the national and international basis. They go on for pages and pages, carefully typed out on letterhead and hand-written in beautiful cursive. Logistics aside, there is a hint of the dancing raisins magic in the air again. Oh, that's sweet. I don't care how small or whatever, but something that's not part of what you're doing.'. Or did the dancing California raisins cause more trouble than they were worth? The California Raisins are often accompanied by a soundtrack of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," originally popularized by singer Marvin Gaye. But Barry Kriebel says, at that point, the actual facts had stopped mattering. But in terms of its impact on the industry it depends on who you ask. Raisin farmers rely on good weather and conditions to grow their product. During the peak of their popularity in the late '80s, the California Raisins also had a fan club, merchandise that spanned from plush toys to lunch boxes to air fresheners, and a series of comic books. Needless to say, their band history borrowed heavily from the types of origin stories real bands tended to have. SW: For the packers who did have their own brands and worried Sunmaid was running away with raisin sales, there was another issue. Will Vinton. 80s classic toys. And their arms were like small, and they had like little legs. The classic about a man who finds out his woman is cheating on him was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. I don't like raisins. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal (Europe) S. r.l. Werner and Fedor also thought that the commercial should use clay animation, a type of stop-motion animation using characters or settings made out of clay or other similarly pliable materials, rather than regular cartoon animation. 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. Director. [19], In 2014, the California Raisins made a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called". 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. His crime: growing raisins and then deciding to sell . You asked someone to name a raisin brand, and they would say "Sunmaid.". Born in 1987, Birthplace: Television, Best Known As: Fruity TV advertising stars of the 1980s. BK: You gotta have consensus. ', 'Today during Ryan's Hope I saw the cutest commercial. Which meant packers couldn't slap a Dancing Raisin on their packaging or use the characters in ads unless they got their idea approved by the board. I said, 'Ok, that's one piece of the marketing puzzle. BARRY KRIEBEL: Well that's the problem with the advertising! Just one piece! [6] What's the whole campaign? 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. I Heard It Through the Grapevine Lyrics by California Raisins from the Meet the Raisins! He says if it had just been up to him, he would not have ended CALRAB and therefore the Dancing Raisins. What about Michael Jackson and what he was contributing? And, I didn't know this, but nearly 100 percent of the raisins the U.S. produces come from within a 60 mile radius of the city. Vintage California Raisins Posable, Puppets, Bank, Wind up toy. Produced by Sarah Wyman, with Charlie Herman and Julia Press. You're making us put up $32.50 for generic advertising, and Sunmaid's getting the benefit of it. No, not really. AD TWO: We know raisins are natural, but kids just know what they like. In 2018, an episode of The Americans called "Rififi" feature a cereal box featuring the California Raisins on the back. So you really had to be in the right place at the right time just to see it, and then when you saw it, you weren't quite sure what that was, but it was different than everything else you saw, and people started just saying 'what was that?'. Werner and his copywriting partner, Dexter Fedor, knew that they needed to make the dried fruit less of an afterthoughtthe raisins needed personality. You're over. SW: Barry Kriebel became President of Sunmaid Raisins in February of 1986, one year before Ross Vannelli produced his album, and right as the California Raisins were in liftoff. It's that simple. And since they were already touring the country, at least on TV screens, there was only one logical next step. SW: Kalem was voting on behalf of the packer he worked for. Photos not available for this variation. And, when it went down, so did the Dancing California Raisins. Raised in the California sunshine WERNER: He volunteered and said 'I won't be paid, I just want to be a raisin, I have one thing I need to ask though, I will not talk to anybody from the advertising agency, and I will not talk to any clients. Think you know music? A board member said, 'Seth, can you do it again?' Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. 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. SPEAKER FOUR: I loved those commercials as a kid, they were so cool. There were California Raisins lunchboxes, then Hardee's started handing out plastic Raisins figurines with Cinnamon 'n' Raisin biscuits. RV: I think within 4-5 months it was platinum! If you have more stories to share, call us anytime. 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? And they were hearing from those ingredient customers that they had an issue with the ads: BK: Some large customers felt they were paying for it. I mean, we didn't do anything short of that. SW: Kalem says the vote on whether or not to approve the ad was extremely close. They were all over the country, on mugs and lunchboxes and tee shirts. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. [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". Everyone is hungering for unity again, they just have to find something to unify around. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online. And since there wasn't a "Dancing Raisin" brand in the store, small packers worried Sunmaid was getting all the business. It taxed both growers and packers. They sold most of their raisins in bulk, to ingredient customers, like cereal brands or bakeries. I treat my vines as if they were my children. The Raisins released numerous studio albums in the 1980s, starred in a cartoon series, and were nominated for an Emmy for their 1988 "Meet the Raisins" mockumentary. We apologize for the interruption. Now, somebody just had to turn Seth Werner's concept into a real commercial. Perhaps the most memorable piece of California Raisins merchandise, however, came in the form of small, non-poseable California Raisins figures. "The Raisins opened up a floodgate everything had to be personified," Vinton told Food & Winelast year. MATTHEW MALCOLM: I mean you can't just leave any field barren here, because something's gonna grow. KB: And the packers got pissed at Barry and killed the program. Like that. Right? In the early 1990s, Capcom produced a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) titled The California Raisins: The Grape Escape,[12] in which the player controlled a California Raisin through five side-scrolling levels battling various evil fruit and vegetable characters that have stolen the Raisins' music.
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