Marketing Marvels: Peter Lemongello

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Growing up, the savory vocals of crooners wafted through the speakers of the console in the corner of the living room: Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Jerry Vale. Oh, and a guy with a funny name too, Engelbert Humperdinck.

Then, in the mid-70’s, out of thin air so it seemed, a crooner from Long Island with a name that sounded like dessert appeared. And the name was his real name: Peter Lemongello.

Flash backwards, 1976: Memories of late night television advertising of that time and falling asleep in the rocker/recliner. But for those who could stay awake, a whole world of products beckoned even before the term “as seen on TV” was coined: Ronco slicers, dicers, and lighters, ginsu knives, and a singer!

A singer? Well, why not? What a novel idea. Introduce your pipes to people half asleep; how sweet the sounds. Peter had already tried the usual tricks like sending gifts (lemon jello) to DJ’s and record companies. And he had already achieved some short lived career highlights that failed to gain for him the recognition he craved.

But Peter was doing more than singing for his supper. He grew a distribution business. The product? Eggs. He took his profits and made savvy investments. Peter proved his sales, marketing, and business knowledge.

Going on 30, perhaps panicking about his desire to be a star but not giving up, his handsome looks and crooning charm made a perfect blend for soothing the ears of the late night crowd.

He found investors for his, at the time, “crazy” scheme. Close to $400,000, about $1.5 million in today’s dollars.  And this is how a star is born (click here):

Peter's promotion plan was aggressive; advertising was frequent and intense, first in the New York Tri-State area. Once sales started kicking in, spots began airing in the second largest metro, Los Angeles, followed by Las Vegas. These markets all made sense, tying in to his earlier years where he made many TV appearances on talk shows, had a record deal, and sang in Las Vegas with Don Rickles.

And, now, he gained attention.

You know what happens next. Peter sold millions of records on his own label. Several articles have cited Peter Lemongello as the first singer to sell over a million copies of an LP on TV; in this case the two disk set, “Love ‘76”. That’s quite a feat for what some might deem schlock but what was ultimately christened “mood rock music” in the TV spots. He toured too and the ladies giggled and screamed.

At the height of his sudden fame, he was portrayed by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live as Peter Lemon Mood Ring.

Early 1977, Peter was picked up for his second album by Private Stock, a record label with Starbuck, David Soul, and later Blondie, in their stable. It whimpered.

Peter retreated to Florida shortly after the failure of his second album and became a home builder, something he had previously toiled at on Long Island. He ran into some troubles in 1982 regarding an arson case. Sigh.

R. Buckminster Fuller once said: "People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things."

Peter did just that. In 1976, long before the internet, there was television; remember it? Advertising on TV was a major avenue for a brand or product, but not in the way he used it. He put to work skills acquired in other industries, applied a new twist, and took a leap of faith. He convinced private investors to put their stock in and trust his instincts. The product (his pipes and looks) had little competition at the time and a target market (women) were there waiting for someone like him.

Did he do research beforehand? Don’t know, but let’s hope he did. Having hard facts showing the size of the audience would have been a strong driver for demonstrating his promising success to potential investors.

Currently, Peter makes limited appearances on the East Coast. Sources also cite that at one time he performed in Branson Missouri as well. Catch him if you can!

And February 11 is his birthday! Wishing him the best.

To see highlights of Peter Lemongello’s career, click here.

Advertising. On a Banana?

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Picked up some fruit while shopping the other day including grapes, oranges and those long yellow things with a peel. A peel? What a perfect place to put an ad for the movie, Chipwrecked.

So who is buying bananas? One can surmise that moms buy bananas for their kids as a healthy snack. And WHO else sees the advertising on the banana? Yep. Kids. Guess the QR code is for the curious adults. But wait! Kids have smart phones so they may very well be scanning and viewing the trailer too.

Moms are you peeling that sticker off before you hand that banana to your child?

Advertising pops up just about anywhere nowadays. We’re all used to seeing it in our shopping carts at the supermarket. It’s almost “normal” now.

And what about building wraps? Now there’s something you can’t miss. Saw this one recently while visiting Las Vegas:

Sorry to say I wasn’t in town long enough to catch their show. But I sure knew about it!

Advertising. On cars. In pools. On objects placed on city corners. Heck, even around the manhole covers. What's next?

Does this suggest that “traditional” advertising is no longer effective? Heck no. Non-traditional and traditional advertising work together. Chipwrecked had TV spots during that all important holiday season and no doubt had billboards too. There’s a Facebook app (9,000 monthly users) and a fan page (27,000+ users). Hadn’t seen any (I’m not the target audience), but it’s highly likely there were banner ads on carefully selected websites too. A quick search revealed no presence on Twitter or Google+. Makes sense since you won’t find kids there. You WILL find mommy bloggers on Twitter though, so perhaps that’s a missed opportunity?

It’s all so much, isn’t it? Why? Simply put, it’s hard to grab your attention. Too many of us on the run; advertising, when we see it, gets mere seconds of our time. Brace yourself for more attempts in unusual places in an effort to increase your likelihood of viewing the information, gaining your awareness and hopefully heightened interest. Down the purchase funnel we go!

A target audience for Chipwrecked: Moms of young kids. Uber-busy moms who may be holding down part-time or full-time jobs AND raising a family. How much time is left to relax in front of the television? A half-hour a day? Are they going to catch that TV spot? Not unlikely. But they shop. A box of disposable pampers for their youngest gets used up pretty quickly. Fruit needs to be bought often so it’s fresh and a box of cereal is gone in no time with a family of four.  By now they may be ignoring ads on shopping carts, so why not put them on the actual food?

Speaking of food, some of us enjoy snacks and drinks when flying, right? Imagine my surprise during a trip in October when I pulled open the tray and discovered a nifty print ad instead of off-white plastic greeting me. Being up in the air does not allow you to escape advertising anymore!

Makes you wonder how far out advertising is going to get. People have sold their foreheads for $20,000 and tattooed advertising on them; remember goldenpalace.com? Can it get any crazier?
Yes. It will. And our brains will adjust and learn how to tune out noise yet again. Sigh. On the other hand, a company may finally reach you with the solution to fulfilling a need or desire you have.

On that note, I’m running to the drug store now for just a few items. Let me grab a basket...

Where have you seen “unusually placed” advertising and how do you feel about it?

A Spoonful of Fizz and Toxicity Please.

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Opening the cabinet above and to the right of my Aunt Mildred’s kitchen sink, my eyes immediately rested on a familiar cobalt blue bottle, partially filled with a white substance. Now, if anyone could earn the title of Ms. Pack Rat America, my Aunt would have earned it hands down. Empty cobalt bottles rested on the wall ledges in the stairway to the basement; a few more sat proudly on her bedroom dresser. I have no doubt that every spoon in her household was tarnished with the powdery potion once found inside those containers.

Why am I even THINKING about those bottles? Let’s blame a favorite show, American Pickers for that. Some words of historic wisdom during that show informed me that Bromo-Seltzer, my Aunt’s true love to remedy all those headaches and tummy aches was discontinued in 1975 because it was TOXIC.

What? This inspired an investigation!

The original patent for this drug dates back to 1890. While the product has ties to the Brawner Company for their investment in the product, it was manufactured by Emerson Drug  Company of Baltimore.  “Pill pusher” Isaac Emerson perceived and created the product as a headache remedy and sold it in…yes, you guessed it…cobalt blue bottles.

Mr. Emerson’s days behind the drug counter were soon over as popularity for Bromo-Seltzer grew. He was an industrious guy, not only taking on entrepreneurial, pharmaceutical and chemical brewing duties, but also busy with the navy during the Spanish- American war as a Lieutenant and later a Captain.

He’s been hailed as a savvy businessman for his time and commended for his heavy use of advertising. Since Captain Emerson passed away in the late thirties, any advertising most of us have been exposed to isn’t likely to have his handy work on it.

A building bearing the product’s name was erected in 1911. A tower, actually, that held the title of tallest building in Baltimore for several years; sporting fourteen stories and not counting the giant bottle of Bromo-Seltzer residing at the top. Sadly, the bottle fell into disrepair and removal took place in 1930. Serving as an arts center currently and dwarfed by other structures around it, the Bromo-Seltzer Arts Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Now, I bet you’re reading this because the word toxic grabbed you, right? Bromide, besides providing obvious inspiration for the name of the drug, serves as the culprit. It’s a sedative that’s capable of messing you up enough to come across as a drunken, upset, “off-key” person.

That wasn’t all. Prolonged use caused bromide to build up in your system. While the “normal” dosage could lead to severe symptoms including hallucinations, confusion and even coma, a “therapeutic” dosage was actually three to five times that amount. The same source states that at one time 5% to 10% of all patients in psychiatric hospitals were victims of, yes, you guessed it, bromide. Shudder!

Bromo-Seltzer is still available today.  True, it was discontinued in 1975, but reappeared in the mid-nineties after a reformulation. A quick search revealed that it is available at internet retailers (sometimes). No longer a powder, it's served up as fizzy tablets instead. Interestingly enough, on-line comments surrounding the product are mainly from loyal fans that have used the drug for 40, 50 years or more! Nowadays, the major elements of Bromo-Seltzer are Sodium bicarbonate and the active ingredient most notably found in Tylenol, acetaminophen.

Were you wondering if my Aunt a bit daffy? The answer is yes, however we’ll never know if Bromo-Seltzer had any involvement with that.

Some “who knew” trivia: The popular 1960’s product Fizzies was invented by scientists at the Emerson Drug Company in 1957.  Sodium bicarbonate provided the effervescence that made a glass of fruit-flavored beverage fun! Hmmm….pre-1975? Don’t worry! While the original formula did have cyclamates there’s no evidence of bromide. Whew!

See Jack Klugman ingest some famous toxic salts here.

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