A marketing natural, Jerry Ringlien, passed away due to a heart attack on July 30th. If you’ve never heard of Mr. Ringlien, you’ve surely heard his work; he’s the man who came up with the “My Bologna Has A First Name…” campaign for Oscar-Mayer Bologna.
“Advertising is the late 60’s and early 70’s was a very interesting and perhaps somewhat different time,” Mr. Ringlien says in the video that follows. “IT was the principal media of communications for most companies.”
Mr. Ringlien’s backstory on the Oscar-Mayer Wiener song follows…
A graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. Named one of 15 designated “future executives” at Oscar-Mayer in 1956, Mr. Ringlien “was a marketing natural,” according to Elizabeth Harrington of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. She worked with him on the campaign credited with taking Oscar-Meyer to national distribution. Today, the company is owned by Kraft Foods.
The Wiener song is one of Ad Age’s Top 10 Jingles of the Century. Mr. Ringlien tells how the jingle grew out of a threat made by one of the company’s founders. (He was also responsible for the reintroduction of The Wienermobile.)
Jerry Ringlien is survived by his wife, Barbara; daughter, Gina; son, Bradley; and two grandchildren, Sam and Lucy. He also leaves behind a timeless example of advertising filled with magnetic stickiness.
[Originally published 6 August 2007]
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