Dancing Raisins to strut their stuff again

By DENNNIS POLLOCK
Tuesday, March 06, 2007

California's Dancing Raisins, which boogied off television screens more than a decade ago, are expected to return to the big screen as part of an animated movie called "Foodfight!" to be released in mid-November.

Announcement of the movie _ nearly 80 percent completed _ came at the the 40th annual meeting of the California Raisin Bargaining Association in Fresno.

It drew about 400 growers and family members.

The movie will feature voices of celebrities such as Charlie Sheen, Hilary Duff, Haylie Duff, Donald Trump, Christopher Lloyd, Eva Longoria and Wayne Brady, said Larry Blagg, senior vice president of marketing for the California Raisin Marketing Board and the Raisin Administrative Committee.

The Dancing Raisin campaign, best known for Claymation figures singing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," was a hit nationwide.

The now-defunct California Raisin Advisory Board spent millions on the advertisements. While they spawned the sale of a wide range of Dancing Raisin paraphernalia _ from cups to figurines _ the campaign was dropped because raisin industry leaders said it was costly and did not boost raisin sales.

The Dancing Raisins also were in commercials for Hardee's Restaurants and Brach's Candy Co. in 2001.

Despite their recent absence from the small screen, the Dancing Raisins still remain among the nation's favorite icons and in 2004 vied against the Pillsbury Doughboy, the AFLAC Duck and other prized icons in a contest to win a place on the Advertising Walk of Fame on a sidewalk along Madison Avenue in New York City.

The raisins lost.

The marketing board will not be paid for use of the Dancing Raisins in the feature film, Blagg said. But it's possible that, down the line, it could make some money from licensing of merchandise connected to the film.

"The producers approached us in October, and the best part of it is that we're not paying for placement of the figures," Blagg said.

The board still must sign off on the use of the figures, which is expected to happen within the next couple of weeks.

Blagg said Threshold Animation Studios is making the movie, and Lions Gate will distribute it.

He said the movie will include a nightclub called the Copabanana as well as a Raisin City Music Hall.

The premise of the movie is that, when people leave the supermarket and the lights are turned off, chaos begins as branded products battle it out with Brand X.

An advertisement for the movie reads: "A story of what happens when good food ... goes bad."

The Dancing Raisins will share the stage with other icons such as Charlie Tuna, the Energizer Bunny and Mr. Clean, Blagg said.

The planned release of the movie is not the only unexpected booster for the raisin industry.

The meeting also featured an unsolicited Kellogg's television commercial in which the message is that "raisins must be pretty smart to hang out with a healthful low sodium, high fiber cereal."

"It's as much about raisins as anything," Blagg said, adding that the television spot and the feature film are simply two instances of good luck, not outright soliciting by the marketing board.

"Sometimes, you just take luck over skill," he said.

Blagg outlined efforts the marketing board is making to increase the use of raisins, including targeting the baking and snack food industry, along with young mothers. A newly updated Web site, www.loveyourraisins.com, was unveiled in recent days.

The goal is to boost sales of the $340 million crop, involving 1,800 growers, that has its center in Fresno, Madera and Tulare counties.

Glen Goto, CEO of the Raisin Bargaining Association, cited some positive dimensions to the 2006 harvest, including an agreed-upon field price of $1,210 per ton and early agreement to put only 10 percent of the crop into reserves. He said shipments of raisins continue to be in the range of 300,000 tons a year, and that there is no sign of the raisin glut that plagued the industry in recent years.

He said the 2007 harvest has "the potential to be as good or better" than last year's.

(Contact Dennis Pollock at dpollock(at)fresnobee.com.)