Clever Creative: Meat Carl the Great Bratsgiver

Christmas is still four months away, but in today’s Clever Creative, Johnsonville is giving you a new holiday to hold you over. If you’re not the biggest fan of bratwurst, then you probably didn’t know that August 16th was National Bratwurst Day. Johnsonville, known for their burgers, brats and sausages, celebrates this day as we would celebrate Thanksgiving, which is why they so aptly dubbed it Bratsgiving Day. For the past three years, the company has been celebrating the day with plenty of bratwurst, friends and family. However, the Johnsonville team wanted the holiday to become more real. So, how exactly did they go about that? They gathered their employees and asked them to create a Bratsgiving Day mascot. Enter Carl the Great Bratsgiver. If you’re going to have a real holiday, then you need a character to represent it, just like Christmas has Santa Claus. After interviewing Jonhsonville workers to create this mythical character, the company held an event at a YMCA in Kansas City to introduce Carl and pass out their bratwurst. So, who exactly is Carl and what does he look like? Check out this legendary ad to MEAT Carl, this mysterious character.

Why our GEMites liked this clever creative:

The GEMites love an ad that makes them laugh, and this one did just that. We love how silly the character became with everyone’s input on his names, apparel, and even tattoos. Instead of a name like John (you know because of Johnsonville), or Santa Wurst, the employees chose Carl. It’s a name that makes you think of a mechanic or that guy from accounting, not necessarily a mythical being. The random details, like the fact that Carl wears tight khakis, and not appropriately sized ones, and flip flops just add to the humor of this ad. Another thing we love is that Johnsonville didn’t just hire an ad agency to create the character, instead they enlisted the help of their employees, and then had the agency create a cartoon, a children’s book, and a PR event around the character. We really liked that they brought in the men and women that work with the product to create this whacky character for the company they are a part of. It gives their employees a chance to show their creativity and get more involved in the development of the company, which is a great way to build loyalty. Overall, this ad is clever, hysterical, original and one for the books.

Why our fellow creatives should like this:

Johnsonville isn’t doing anything new by utilizing a little-known holiday for promoting the company’s products. However, what they did differently was take it a step further. Johnsonville wanted to take a not-so-celebrated holiday and create a character that would make it more authentic. Most companies like to do promotions around small and random holidays, like National Donut Day, just to get consumers to relate the holiday to their product. But, Johnsonville created Carl the Great Bratsgiver, who will make Bratsgiving Day seem like a more official holiday, like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. Taking that extra step will create an even deeper connection in consumer’s minds, and next year around the second/third week in August, Johnsonville can expect to see sales of their Brats increase, as people prepare for Bratsgiving Day. The company took a holiday and made it their own, in a way that most companies have never done before. Our fellow creatives should love the originality of the character and the risk that Johnsonville took by taking the invented holiday a step further.

Let us know what you think, and look out for next week’s installment of Clever Creatives!

If you’re looking for some clever creative of your own, feel free to contact us.

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• Creativity
• Art
• Clever Creative
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• Johnsonville