During the golden days of TV advertisements none was more distinctive or authoritative than the tones of America’s ‘Man of a Thousand Voices’, Mel Blanc. Though he may be best known for voicing animated icons Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, his work on cereal commercials produced some of the finest breakfast food campaigns known to man.
The Breakfast Table Connection
As breakfast cereals became part of the never-changing American identity in the morning, Mel Blanc entered the world of cereal ads in the 1950s. His powerful and versatile voice behind the scenes breathed into many cereal logos and symbols that were to become familiar images of childhood.
Frosted Rice Krinkles Legacy
Of the advertisements that Blanc was involved in during his time in Post, Frosted Rice Krinkles would probably take the cake. He was also responsible for the voice of the character “So-Hi,” who being a young Chinese boy was used as the mascot of the cereal.
This character would be questionable, but what it shows is that Blanc was capable of developing unique voices that he knew would grab people’s attention.
The Sugar Bears Era
One of the most beloved cereal mascots crafted by Blanc was the Sugar Bear for Post Sugar Crisp which actually evolved into the Golden Crisp. Sugar Bear was developed as a cool personality, a Dean Martin type personality, and the smooth delivery of that character made it possible to entertain both children and adults. His advertising slogan ‘nod nod nod’ and ‘I can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp’ are now a part of mass cultural memory.
Impact on Advertising Strategy
Blanc’s voice-overs changed the concept of how cereal manufacturers wanted their commercials to be like. Apart from these his talent in developing separate personalities for mascots made consumer develop some sort of an affection with brands.
This mode of characterizing marketing via characters made it an industry practice in the cereal business and is to this day adopted in advertising.
Working with Multiple Brands
Blanc provided voice for different characters to cereal manufacturers in the course of his career. Thanks to that, he was able to ensure that all of them are different from each other with the exclusion of other campaigns he recorded, while voicing mascots.
Beyond Voice Acting
Besides voices, he sometimes helped create cereal characters and coming up with their slogans as well. The particular perception of what constituted audiences to like their characters influenced the personality and marketing strategy of different cereals.
Legacy in Modern Advertising
Modern cereal brands still use the scenario as a today’s model by employing distinct voice overlap and character progression for making noteworthy personalities of popcorn. His strands of thought are evident in today’s cereal commercial where character use is still an important aspect in marketing.
Thanks to his ads, cereal packaging techniques and approaches used today owe a lot to the work he made, not only was he ‘the man behind the voice’, he was much more, an important figure in the history of advertising.
