Nearly 25 years after its last episode aired, “Seinfeld” reruns are still generating marketing laughs.
Snyder’s of Hanover today is debuting new spots starring one of the sitcom’s popular second bananas—actor Phil Morris, reprising his cameo role as Cosmo Kramer’s loquacious and over-the-top attorney, Jackie Chiles.
The spots feature Chiles in a parody of the low-budget, 1990s-era attorney commercials, soliciting “clients” to take action against Snyder’s for calling its Pretzel Pieces “pretzels,” by calling a “hotline” that actually enters consumers into a sweepstakes that can win them free Pretzel Pieces for life.
The Chiles character has previously appeared in ads for Honda and Dr Pepper, according to a published 2010 interview with Morris. More recently, “Seinfeld”-related ads have included Tide’s Jason Alexander hoodie featuring the actor best known as the show’s George Costanza.
Netflix hyped its streaming debut of Seinfeld reruns last fall in a promotion that tied in the release of a Seinfeld-themed Lego set. And last night at Citi Field in New York, between-innings promotions at the New York Mets baseball game commemorated the 35th “anniversary” of the notorious (but fictitious) “Second Spitter” baseball game in which “Seinfeld” characters Kramer and Newman were said to be spit upon by then-players Roger McDowell and Keith Hernandez, the latter now a popular broadcaster for the team's regional sports network, SNY.
The Snyder’s campaign, executed for the Campbell Soup Co.-owned brand by agency Saatchi & Saatchi, dives deep into '90s nostalgia including the use of a 4:3 video aspect ratio to replicate the look of contemporary TV at the time, and a wardrobe, set and dialogue inspired by the popular show.
The commercial piles parody upon parody upon parody: In “Seinfeld,” the Jackie Chiles character was intended to lampoon Johnnie Cochran, the attorney who famously defended O.J. Simpson in one of the decade’s most-talked-about events. On the show, Chiles defended Kramer in outrageous lawsuits also inspired by real events, such as the “Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants” case over a customer scalded by hot coffee.
In that episode—“The Maestro” from Season 7—Chiles wins a settlement from a fictitious chain called Java World that offers free coffee at all its stores—a solution the Snyder’s sweepstakes seeks to emulate.
“We wanted to create a campaign that empowered our consumers to have a voice around whether our intensely flavored and uniquely shaped Pieces should be considered pretzels,” said Nick Hammitt, VP of Salty Snacks at Campbell Snacks. “To get people fired up, we decided to bring back a famed ‘Seinfeld’ lawyer that appealed to fans in a fun, playful way.”
Campbell Snacks is coming off a recent successful exploration into 1990s nostalgia for its high-flying Goldfish cracker brand, using similar cultural touchstones from the era, including JNCO jeans. Officials have made no secret of their intention to bring the “Goldfish playbook” to sister brands like Snyder’s, hoping to capitalize on what they say is rapid growth in pretzels—up 11% year-over-year; and specifically, pretzels featuring flavor, such as those promoted in the “Seinfeld”-inspired ads. Those items are showing 20% year-over-year growth, the brand said.
