This campaign just modernized the no-BS tone of Jimmy Dean commercials from the 80s featuring the man himself, unapologetically straight-talking to camera. Honest, unvarnished, with a little smile. Even the tagline had no spin on it: Eat Jimmy Dean. It is still one of the favorite campaigns I've done, despite receiving an F- from an AdAge critic. C'est la vie.
Jimmy Dean eventually decided they wanted a less honest campaign, so we gave them "Happy Breakfast" and a new spokesman: The Sun. It could have been cheesy and stupid, but it wasn't. At first. Things changed after my partner and I moved onto Visa. C'est la vie, part deux.
CREDITS
AGENCY: TBWA\Chiat\Day
ECD: Rob Schwartz
ACD/CW: Doug James
AD: Chuck Monn
PROD: Michelle Eskin, Stanton Hill
DIR: Martin Granger @ Moxie (Eat Jimmy Dean), Phil Morrison @ Epoch (Happy Breakfast)
ED: Staci Levan (Eat Jimmy Dean), Rick Lawley (Happy Breakfast)