You know it’s Christmas when the Claymation classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer comes
around for its annual broadcast. The Rankin/Bass production aired last Saturday
night. It has played every year on CBS since in debuted in 1964 – 53 years! You
would be hard pressed to find someone who has not watched the story of the
outcast reindeer with a glowing nose turned hero for saving the holiday on a
foggy Christmas Eve. The songs and the lines of the TV classic are well known.
What is not well known is that the story of Rudolph was written as a marketing
tactic.
In 1939, retail giant Montgomery Ward was looking for a new
twist to attract parents with children into their stores. Wards had been
handing out coloring books to children who came to their stores during the
Christmas season for some time. Partially to save the expense of buying coloring
books from an outside source and partially to spice things up, they asked an
employee named Bob May to write a story they could turn into their own book.
May worked as a copywriter for Montgomery Ward. May borrowed ideas from such
classics as The Ugly Duckling to write a story line about a reindeer born with a
problematic nose that rose above his own lack of self worth to lead Santa’s
sleigh on Christmas Eve. However, it almost didn’t happen. May’s boss thought
the children’s story of a deer with a red nose would be associated with
drunkenness. Artists from the advertising department illustrated the book and,
after seeing their drawings, the boss relented and decided to let the
publication go forward. It was an instant success! Over 2 million copies of the
booklet were distributed during the Christmas season in 1939. Over the next
seven years, 6 million copies were passed out at Montgomery Ward’s stores.
The rights to Rudolph were owned by Montgomery Ward until
1947, when they turned them over to May. From there, he went on to publish a
book by the same name and the story of Rudolph was turned into a short animated
cartoon in 1948.
But that is not where the marketing stopped. Bob May’s
brother-in-law was a composer named Johnny Marks. He took May’s story and
penned the song that was later recorded by Gene Autry in 1949. It also became a
staple at Christmas, selling 12.5 million singles worldwide. It is the 19th
best selling single of all time. The song brought new life to the story of
Rudolph. From there, GE got involved. GE had used TV during its golden years to
market itself on the GE Fantasy Hour. Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. produced the stop action Claymation TV
show for this programming slot in 1964. The show is the longest running TV
special in history. Along with the show was a new musical recording of the song
by Burl Ives, along with seven additional songs written by Johnny Marks.
The
quaint little story used as a marketing ploy to get children into a department
store for the Christmas shopping season turned into quite a marketing success
on several levels. Here is the key to its marketing allure. First, it was
original with a heart-warming story line. Second, it was different than what
had been done in the past. Third, it used multiple mediums to gain popularity.
Fourth, it was unique for its day. Stop action clay animation was something
very new for a feature length show in 1964. Fifth, it worked! That may be the
most important point of all in marketing. Rudolph drew a crowd, first for
Montgomery Ward, and later, for GE, and for the past five decades, for CBS. Learn a lesson for your own marketing
efforts from the classic tale of Rudolph.