Legendary country and western star Johnny Cash sure knows how to give his clients a run for their money.
”Man in black” Cash, who put in a 30-month stint in the early 1970s as a spokesman for Amoco Oil Co., now turns up as a pitchman for Taco Bell.
His first 30-second commercial for the PepsiCo Inc. unit surfaces Sunday night on the Fox TV network, and if he does half as good a job in consumer recall as he did with Amoco, Taco Bell has a good deal. Research conducted nearly a decade later found consumers still identified crooner Cash with the petroleum giant.
That`s lasting power indeed, considering that celebrities too often flack so many products and services that consumers are confused and don`t know who they`re representing.
In the spot created by Foote, Cone & Belding San Francisco, viewers catch glimpses of Cash strumming his guitar next to a desert cactus, followed by flashing images of Taco Bell`s value menu that ranges from 59 to 99 cents, though the fast-fooder hardly holds an exclusive among its competitors for price wars.
And what is his message? ”Where else can you get so many choices for just a little cash?”
Taco Bell, in Irvine, Calif., won`t say what Cash is being paid or whether he`ll be used after this commercial. But lining up Cash, who turned 60 in February, fits in with the overall promotional scheme of the fast-fooder-a focus on music. Cash has been preceded by country recording artist T. Graham Brown as well as rap singers Young M.C. and Hammer.
Working for Amoco, Cash was pulling down a mere $125,000 annually. But celebrities now command much higher prices. For one Taco Bell commercial, Cash may be knocking down at least $500,000 to $750,000.
A new creative slant
Only a club of creative admakers would have a deputy president, two treasurers and two secretaries. Newly formed Art Directors & Copywriters Club of Chicago elected Gary Gusick, executive VP-creative director of Arian, Lowe & Travis, as its new president, a post he`ll hold until year`s end, when 1993 officers will be elected. Deputy president is Jonathan Harries, senior VP-creative director of Hal Riney & Partners/Chicago. Treasurers are Jeff Epstein, an associate creative director of Leo Burnett Co., and Mike Faems, senior VP-executive creative director of Young & Rubicam Chicago. Secretaries are Tom Ungar, who heads his own agency; and Maureen Moore, senior VP-creative director of Cramer-Krasselt Chicago, recent recipient of the ”1992 Ad Woman of the Year” award from the Women`s Advertising Club of Chicago. There is even a VP-awards show: Marshall Ross, chairman-creative director of Mitchiner, Ross & Kahn. That an awards show is in the works on the surface might not be the best news for the women`s ad club, which has long been running the Addys as part of a national competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation to showcase outstanding advertising. Does Chicago need another advertising awards event? Well, it depends on who you are talking to, the women`s group or the new copy club, which says its overall intent is to further creativity in Chicago. The latter claims it won`t be in competition with the Addys. Worth noting is that Chicago ad agencies, particularly the bigger shops, didn`t fare so well in the 1992 Addys judged by out-of-towners handpicked by the women`s ad club. As for two treasurers or even two secretaries, ”Quite often, people are out of town in this business, and we want to make sure we have the representation of officers,” says Gusick. The copy club is off to a good start, but now let the ideas flow and forget politics.
On the move: Jane Hendrix named senior account manager for Professional Marketing Services` Northbrook office. . . . Leah Landolfi promoted to a VP at Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart Chicago; the public relations firm added Jim Martinez as a senior associate.
Strictly Personal: Birthday greetings to Joe Dragonette, Larry Townsend, Julius Brueckert and Peggy Vagenius.
Rebecca Lee, Midwest ad manager of Vogue magazine and Chicago branch manager for the parent Conde Nast Publications, leaves Friday to become an account director at McClain Finlon, a Denver ad agency. She`ll be working on agency client Head Sports, a Boulder-based tennis racket, shoe and accessories firm.
Charlotte Beers, new chief of ad agency giant Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, found out fame can be fleeting-if the security guards don`t know you. Last Friday, bright and early, she showed up for her first full day on the job and was stopped by the Manhattan-based ad agency`s security guard, who hadn`t yet read the business pages of newspapers there, headlining her appointment. He didn`t recognize her, nor did she have an ID. She has had no problems since.
– Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, N.J., consolidated its $20 million domestic oral-care products advertising including dental floss, Reach toothbrush and Act fluoride rinse, with McCann-Erickson New York. McCann, which works for the client overseas, is picking up these products primarily from Caldwell Davis Partners in New York, a sister agency of Saatchi & Saatchi.
