Lyrics.com. (869) $17.99. [4] To their surprise, the commercial became wildly popular, paving the way for several future commercials and opportunities through other media. Because animators arranged each shot by hand, giving each raisin its own distinct personality (including individualized facial expressions and colorful sunglasses), the commercial took more than a month to shoot. CH: After the break, five million dollars DOES go a long way, the Dancing California Raisins conga line their way to record deals and awards, and they split the raisin industry right down the middle. SPEAKER ONE: Like obviously, they're raisins, but it just didn't occur to me that like this was a tool to get you to eat like what you see in boxes of raisins. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. CALRAB, the organization who made the campaign, was also closed on July 31, 1994, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization. The show would have animated raisins acting as rockstars, and the song, "I heard it through the grapevine," was the California Raisins number-one single. WERNER: A frame was one snapshot. And in 1998wait for it, another acronymthe CRMBCalifornia Raisin Marketing Boardtook over as the new hype machine for California Raisins. 2023. And ultimately, when everyone failed to agree, the raisins took the fall. McCartney. AD TWO: We know raisins are natural, but kids just know what they like. Now, the story of a man many call an outlaw. Vinton and his team spent weeks making about six different figurines and a set made out of clay. Potato head, but a raisin. Constitution Avenue, NW 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. Scrobble, find and rediscover music with a Last.fm account, Do you know any background info about this track? SW: So are the California Raisins coming back, do you thinkthe Dancing California Raisins? But Michael Jackson, well he was not about that. SW: CALRAB came up with and promoted new recipes that used raisins, it went to bakery conventions, it pitched raisin stories to food magazines and newspapers. 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 And since there wasn't a "Dancing Raisin" brand in the store, small packers worried Sunmaid was getting all the business. They're just a staple. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. The musical mockumentary was again created by Vinton Studios, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Sign up for notifications from Insider! SW: That is exactly what I wanted to find out. 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. They were the California Raisins. And they had good reasons to be! Because the smaller packers still thought Sunmaid had an unfair advantage. Vinton and his team hired human dancers to make the Raisins's dance moves look realistic. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Almost like you can hear the band warming up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in the distance. Umpteen searches though the archives using the terms "California Raisins" and "Hardee's" came up mostly empty, except for . SPEAKER ELEVEN: We watched it in art class when I was in elementary school. California Raisins. The problem, FCB's account supervisor said at the time, was that though customers understood the health benefits of raisins, they had emotional connections with various vice products, like cigarettes because of the long-running "Marlboro Man" ads, or beer based on the popular "Miller Time" ads. Matthew has observed his fair share of contentious industry meetings. Playlist, Written by: Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Lyrics Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tratore. Raisins, dressed up in white gloves and sunglasses, dancing to Marvin Gaye's "I heard it through the grapevine." SW: This process, as you can imagine, took a while. And then we threw the baby out with the bathwater. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal (Europe) S. r.l. SPEAKER FOUR: My mother thought they were great, and she collected the figurines. SW: In the end, the ad went to air. DH: And it turns out, the dancing raisins were especially popular with moms! SW: I mean, how did you react when you found out about that?? Very serious-like. From Performing Songwriter Issue 111, July/Aug 2008. 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. America's favorite raisin. Whod have ever thought that a beloved Motown classic would be brought back to life by a bunch of animated dried fruit? Some people were saying they weren't getting a big enough slice of the Dancing Raisins pie. 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. 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. I heard it through the grapevine. 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. But how did a bunch of dried grapes, burdened with the reputationof being a mediocre, boring snack, become synonymous with swagger? Scrobbling is when Last.fm tracks the music you listen to and automatically adds it to your music profile. The Dancing California Raisins were a go. The band broke up. CH: From Business Insider. I said, 'Ok, that's one piece of the marketing puzzle. The California Dancing Raisins ad has been called one of the best of all time. We love hearing from you. Okay? If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it. This latest incarnation can still be seen on the California Raisin Marketing Board website.[11]. I heard it through the grapevine. I Heard It Through the Grapevine Lyrics by California Raisins from the Meet the Raisins! Michael Jackson asked to be featured in a sequel. He just wanted to make an ad he thought was cool. A Saturday morning cartoon series, The California Raisin Show, debuted the following year, but lasted only 13 episodes. [19], In 2014, the California Raisins made a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called". They needed to be the life of the snack bar. As of the 2010s, packages of Sun-Maid Natural California Raisins still feature an updated California Raisin character. They help out with keeping prices stable and have an eye on supply and demand. SW: They pulled up to a business park, hopped out of the car, and marched into a conference room. Year . They have two big jobs. And if the California raisin family wanted to avert economic disaster, it needed to band together and find a way to sell more raisins. Most of the time when we buy raisins, we have no idea where they came from. Not this time, however! Jackson, who agreed to do his commercial for free (and on the condition that he only work with Vinton, who he knew from their Captain EO project with Disney), helped create his own Claymation raisin with his signature single white glove, fedora, and pelvic-thrusting dance moves. RV: Oh no, to me it at one point it kind of went beyond that. Today, the story of the California Dancing Raisins. And the US, by the way, is the second largest raisin producer in the entire world. But in 1994, the. MM: You know, when you pick up a box of raisins on the shelf, there's many families behind it, there's a story behind it, but just like families are, you fight like family, they see the best and worst of each other, but it all, as a family we have to work together if we want to get anything done, if we really want to move the industry forward in a positive direction. [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. While the vines may feel special to their growerslike children!to you and me? It's being threatened by growing raisin production in other countries. But in terms of its impact on the industry it depends on who you ask. 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. It had about five million dollars to spend, which, in ad money, is not a lot. 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. SUNMAID AD: My girl talkin' bout my girl. And it became more entertainment than strategy. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. KB: [counts] 350 versus 244. I don't care how small or whatever, but something that's not part of what you're doing.'. When Seth Werner, a 31-year-old copywriter at the ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding, walked into the pitch meeting, he knew he had to put on a show. This special saw the Raisins hiring a new manager with the goal of making a comeback. He watched the original commercial spin off into more and more distant territory. 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. Did it, uh, did it drive up the price of raisins? It seems like everyone in Motown heard about this song "through the grapevine" before it was finally recorded. 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. Of all the acronyms, there's just one you need to remember: CALRAB. 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.". And though the process is time-consuming and expensive, Werner's performance managed to win them over. SW: Yeah, that did not go over well within the industry. 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. I Heard It Through the Grapevine. SW: Between 1986 and 1992, the Dancing Raisins raked in more than 7 million dollars in licensing fees. But back in 1986, going viral was not yet a thing. 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. 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! And on top of that, there have been many, many more lawsuits. Or did the dancing California raisins cause more trouble than they were worth? And Seth Seth was dancing all by himself in front of the group, without socks on! He's a reporter covering raisins and grapes for one of the trade magazines his family publishes. Photos not available for this variation. In The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", The California Raisins were spoofed as The California Prunes, on a special entitled Christmas with the California Prunes. MICHAEL BRUNSFELD: The first step in this was we need somebody to create some raisins that are going to dance around. SARAH WYMAN: Charlie, I have to start with a confession. Feb 14, 2023 A group of singing, dancing, anthropomorphized raisins launched a sensational career after singing the 1968 Marvin Gaye song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," in a 1986 commercial for the California Raisin Advisory Board. https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/34693/The+California+Raisins/I+Heard+It+Through+the+Grapevine. You don't, right? A while 's one piece of the Dancing Raisins band warming up I! 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