Folgers - Advertising

Advertising

Folgers' is promoted with the slogan "The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup!". It is well associated with a jingle featured in almost every advertisement since 1984, with lyrics by Susan Spiegel Solovay and Bill Vernick, and music by Leslie Pearl. Over the years it has been rearranged and performed by many famous musicians, such as Randy Travis, Aretha Franklin and Rockapella.

Folgers was known for many years for television ads involving "Mrs. Olson," a Swedish neighbor who invariably recommended a cup of Folgers coffee as a solution to the commercials' characters (who were almost always housewives), who had various problems making delicious-tasting coffee. From 1965 to 1986 actress Virginia Christine reminded viewers Folgers was "mountain grown, the richest kind of coffee."

Folgers promoted their instant coffee in 1970s and early 1980s ads which took the viewer inside various gourmet restaurants while a voice-over (played by Bryan Clark) whispered, "We are here at (insert name of four-star restaurant), where we've secretly replaced the fine coffee they usually serve with Folgers Crystals. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference!" Clark ended the commercials with the line, "Folgers Crystals...coffee rich enough to be served in America's finest restaurants."

One Folgers television ad from 1985 became particularly associated with the Christmas holidays. A student named Peter returns home from college, the smell of freshly brewed coffee awakening his parents and alerting them to their son's arrival. The Cunningham & Walsh spot aired yearly until 1998, then in edited form in 2004 and 2005. In 2009, the a similar theme was employed, a son coming home from West Africa and waking up to the smell of coffee.

In the mid-1980s Folgers became the first NASCAR sponsor not to be affiliated with an automotive, tobacco, or beer company. After a trial season with the Joe Ruttman driven, Larry McClure owned Chevrolet in 1985, Folgers expanded sponsorships with high profile race teams and popular drivers such as Tim Richmond, Benny Parsons and Ken Schrader.

In 2006, the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi created a viral advertisement, popularly known as "Happy Mornings," for Folgers. The ad, in which a large group of cheerful singers and dancers appear at sunrise as the sun itself to wake people up, has been widely distributed on weblogs and video sites such as YouTube.