Dilbert Dishes Up a Light Meal: Laser cartoons support vegetarian rollout.
Snoopy has his supper dish, Dogbert has burritos.
Well, Dilberitos, actually. The vegetarian, vitamin-fortified burritos are slowly rolling out nationally, backed by a quirky ad campaign breaking this spring.
Scott Adams Foods plans to run laser ads in Minneapolis this month, and could expand to other markets through summer as distribution increases beyond spot markets and California.
The Newton, NJ, company has pushed hard the last few months to expand supermarket distribution for its year-old line of frozen burritos, and in February began selling online via groceronline.com. Sales could hit $10 million this year, says president Jack Parker, who won’t disclose 1999 sales.
Scott Adams Foods is pitching grocers to stock Dilberitos in natural-foods sections. “We don’t want it positioned next to three-for-a-dollar, belly-filling burritos,” Parker says.
So Dilberitos will roll out slowly, with ad support that’s, well, laser-targeted. An animated one-minute ad plays on the sides of tall buildings and shows a 50-foot Dilbert and Dogbert at a table, where Dilbert eats a burrito and sprouts muscles, Incredible Hulk-style. Then Dogbert digs in, and sprouts muscles too. AdLaser, Minneapolis, handles. The ad may run in Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, and San Francisco later this year.
“I can’t imagine driving past a laser show and not watching it,” says cartoonist Scott. Besides, the price is right. “We’re boot-strapping the deal,” Adams adds. “We’ll do more [marketing] when the cash flow improves.”
In-store demos and price promos will support on a chain-by-chain basis. The company has no plans to hire an agency. “We have one of the world’s most successful cartoonists already. We don’t really need creative help,” says Parker.
This isn’t Dilbert’s first appearance in the grocery store. Ben & Jerry’s makes a Dilbert ice cream that sells well, and confection company RayGold licensed the character for a series of Dilbert Mints that includes “Manage-Mints.”
