March 25,2010Posted By Noah
Talk about an advertising icon with legs – or, in this case, tracks. One of the original four Energizer Bunnies – and one of the two that was in the majority of Energizer commercials prior to retirement around 2000 – will be sold at Heritage in Beverly Hills in the April 9-11 Signature® Music & Entertainment Auction. It comes with the original custom made cases for both the Bunny and the three controllers. The price for this famous lapin? Somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000+. But, hey, it's more than two feet tall, right? And talk about aconversation starter at parties, or a way to meet chicks at bars...
The pink bunny with sunglasses – 25 inches from feet to ears and almost a foot-and-a-half across – a drum and blue and black flip-flops became instantly recognizable to consumers since the minute it was introduced in 1989, and has since been named by AdAge.com as #5 on the list of the Top 10 Advertising Icons of the 20th Century. To occupy the same space as other advertising symbols like The Marlboro Man, Ronald McDonald, the Pillsbury Dough-boy and The Michelin Man, among the few, is rarified company indeed.
The bunny still runs as it did in its heyday, which means that you would need three people to operate it in its full glory: the head is on a gimbal, allowing for full range of the motion for the head; the arms bang the drum and move up over its head; drumsticks spin in its hands; his ears move backwards and forwards, the feet march and it moves in all directions, and spins on its axis, on tracks.
For the original ad campaign Energizer had Eric Allard and his company, All Effects, create four original animatronic bunnies. Each one was given a letter of the alphabet as identification – A, B, C and D – and a nickname to go with it. The present example is the "C" specimen, oh-so cleverly nicknamed “Clint.”
The pink bunny with sunglasses – 25 inches from feet to ears and almost a foot-and-a-half across – a drum and blue and black flip-flops became instantly recognizable to consumers since the minute it was introduced in 1989, and has since been named by AdAge.com as #5 on the list of the Top 10 Advertising Icons of the 20th Century. To occupy the same space as other advertising symbols like The Marlboro Man, Ronald McDonald, the Pillsbury Dough-boy and The Michelin Man, among the few, is rarified company indeed.
The bunny still runs as it did in its heyday, which means that you would need three people to operate it in its full glory: the head is on a gimbal, allowing for full range of the motion for the head; the arms bang the drum and move up over its head; drumsticks spin in its hands; his ears move backwards and forwards, the feet march and it moves in all directions, and spins on its axis, on tracks.
For the original ad campaign Energizer had Eric Allard and his company, All Effects, create four original animatronic bunnies. Each one was given a letter of the alphabet as identification – A, B, C and D – and a nickname to go with it. The present example is the "C" specimen, oh-so cleverly nicknamed “Clint.”
A and B, made with wheels instead of tracks, were impractical for use and scrapped for parts. C and D were made with tracks and the rest is advertising history, yes?
There were indeed two other Energizer Bunnies created – one with a deep sea diving suit and one with an astronaut suit, both of which were directly sewn onto a mechanical bunny body – but neither possesses, or needs, the range and detail of motion that the two principle bunnies needed.
When this thing hits the block in two weeks in Beverly Hills, Pop Culture watchers the world over will be anxiously waiting to see what it brings. There are only two bunnies that can claim the original spot and the top glory of starring in more than 100 commercials... For collectors, this may well be the only shot they're going to get for many years to come.
When this thing hits the block in two weeks in Beverly Hills, Pop Culture watchers the world over will be anxiously waiting to see what it brings. There are only two bunnies that can claim the original spot and the top glory of starring in more than 100 commercials... For collectors, this may well be the only shot they're going to get for many years to come.
The ad campaign may keep going and going, but for this Energizer Bunny – one of the originals – it’s about to get a long deserved rest and a brand new home.
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-Noah Fleisher
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Energizer Bunny has a great role in advertising the Batteries. I must say this is known as creativity.
ReplyDeleteRegards
James
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