About two years ago, everyone was talking about IHOb and and how dumb it was. But they were talking about it.
Now, I'm not an "all publicity is good publicity" nihilist like some, but I am a passionate believer in the power of brilliantly stupid marketing. For IHOP (and agency Droga5), turning one letter upside down to announce its new focus on burgers was a masterstroke of silliness that quadrupled burger sales in the short term and kept them high over the rest of 2018.
Today I've been seeing similar consternation around Planters' ostensibly dumb decision to "kill" iconic mascot Mr. Peanut. The #RIPeanut hashtag has been trending all day, and if there's a joke to be made about shells, monocles, nuts, hats, canes or capitalism, you can bet it was made countless times.
Created by VaynerMedia as a lead-up to Planters' Super Bowl ad (its second in two years), the death of Mr. Peanut is brilliantly dumb marketing at its best. It's silly, overplayed and just on the edges of tastefulness—but that's also been Mr. Peanut's Twitter brand for a while now. (This is, after all, the same spokesguy who penned a promoted tweet against #NoNutNovember and honestly just never shuts up with the uncomfortable testicular references).
So next time you hear someone mocking the move or detailing nuanced criticism of a talking legume's cultural significance, take a moment to ask yourself: "Oh no, this is working 100% according to plan, isn't it?"
And in the meantime, don't forget to read my colleague Diana Pearl's piece in Adweek on exactly how it is Mr. Peanut came to cross the rainbow bridge.
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
