New Commercials & “Crack Or No Crack?”

Today’s blog post is a double feature.

First: we did two new commercials today for Alliance’s beloved Dairy Queen. Alliance’s Dairy Queen is beloved because their burgers and fries are awesome, their employees are swell, and they do a Free Cone Day every year.

Now, on Free Cone Day one might think it enough to say “Here’s an ice cream cone.” But the Alliance DQ says that on Free Cone Day they’ll also throw in dips, sprinkles and such on the house.

So we made a commercial for Alliance’s beloved Dairy Queen and its beloved Free Cone Day featuring KCOW Office Queen Tammy Griffee (also plenty beloved) as Little Billy. Tammy has done this voice for us many times over the years…she does a gruff voice which we then pitch up slightly. It reminds me of when the great voice actress June Foray would do a boy voice:

I’m doing a cheesy over-the-top voice in this because Little Billy calls me “Mister” and I didn’t think anyone who sounds like I do naturally would be called “mister” by a kid. Yes, I do overthink these things sometimes.

Here’s our Free Cone Day spot:

Our second DQ spot involves treats for humans and for dogs.

“Chewy” as a name for a dog is inspired by my brother, who has enough hair to be a dog, and is called “Chewy” by friends and loved ones.

Making Dairy Queen commercials, and blogging them, and talking about them, makes me hungry for DQ burger and fries and a chocolate ice cream cone. Ah well…tomorrow.

And now…because these two topics are extremely different….Intermission!

Welcome back.

Although this is the last thing I ever expected to discuss on the blog…let’s talk about bathroom doors.

For example: If, in walking past a bathroom in an office setting and the door is closed tight (not even a tiny crack open), what conclusion do you draw from that?

Of our four male staff members, one of them (we’ll call him….trying to think of an alias…Kalin Krohe–DAMN! Ah, well I tried) insists on closing the bathroom door drum tight upon leaving. For the next person who has to use the restroom after him, this creates a Sophie’s Choice. Do you:

A) Wander around the building making visual identity of all other male staffers before safely opening the door’

B) Knock on the door, potentially creating the most socially awkward workplace interaction not covered in any HR document

I’ve done the “walk and check”. And I’ll do that whenever humanly possible because I don’t want to knock and hear “Occupied” or “Be right out” or the like. It’s embarrassing. Even worse from the inside.

There is a cure for this. It’s called “the crack.” The Crack Has Your Back®. (I’m in advertising.)

Allow me to show you via this educational filmstrip: