MINNEAPOLIS -- After eight years of silence, the Jolly Green Giant will once again offer his hearty "Ho Ho Ho" as the elder spokesman for the country's largest vegetable brand.
Green Giant is bringing the voice onto its Web site and putting the big guy back into its print ads in a $20 million campaign announced Tuesday to boost brand awareness as the giant approaches his 75th birthday.In the early 1990s, Green Giant stopped using the giant in its advertising as it developed its Create-A-Meal line and tried to get consumers to view the products as more than side dishes. The Giant was seen only on package labels.
"Essentially we've never walked away from the Green Giant, but he has receded for a while," said Heidi Thom, vice president of frozen foods for Pillsbury Co.
"Now we're refocusing on vegetables in a big way and want to leverage the equity we have with him. He stands for the freshest-tasting vegetables, goodness."
Green Giant, a division of Pillsbury, part of British conglomerate Diageo PLC, is seeking to expand its 20 percent share of the U.S. vegetable market with the new campaign.
In addition to a revamped Web site at www.greengiant.com, where a click on the giant triggers his "Ho Ho," the campaign includes print ads featuring the Jolly Green Giant, coupon offers and store promotions. The in-store presence includes 8-foot-tall inflatable Green Giants and 4-foot plush giants who will say "Ho Ho Ho" and interact with grocery store customers.
The giant has developed a sense of humor in the new campaign, which may include TV ads. Taglines include "Give peas a chance" and "Eat your vegetables and you'll grow up big and strong like me (actual results may vary)."
Len Dresslar, who provided the deep voice of the Green Giant over the decades, is delighted that his voice has been brought back.
"I find this the most wonderfully surprising situation," said Dresslar, 75, who provided a voice for the previously silent giant 40 years ago.
The Green Giant has a long and colorful history. He was conceived in Le Sueur in 1924 to promote a new European variety of huge peas called "Prince of Wales" for Minnesota Valley Canning Co.
The oblong peas were wrinkled and ugly by pea standards, but they had more flavor, sweetness and tenderness than traditional varieties.
When Minnesota Valley's private label customers balked at the ungainly newcomer, the company decided to market the big peas under a new label and brag about their size. The peas subsequently were named "Green Giants."
The next year, the first Green Giant figure was introduced to symbolize the giant peas. The scowling, hulking character, borrowed from Grimm's Fairy Tales, was white and wore a scruffy bearskin.
In 1931, a young copywriter from a Chicago advertising agency presented some ads to executives at Minnesota Valley and they were a hit. Four years later when Leo Burnett opened his own agency, the Minnesota cannery was one of his first three clients. The relationship continues today.