Need Ideas for New Pelican Ad...

[Wayne 962]

I have gotten back in contact with the fellow who designed our logo and the Pelicans you see throughout the pages here on the site. I think I would like to start a new advertising campaign that will feature a "Porsche cartoon" with our Pelican. Maybe a one frame cartoon (like the Far Side) with Porsche-style humor. Trouble is, after thinking about this for a while, I've determined that this is one of those things that appears much easier than it is.

So, I'm looking for funny ideas from the community here on what we can do for cartoons!

Thanks in advance,

Wayne

[bklyn]

How about the pelican driving a cartoon style buffed out 911 with its head sticking out of either a sun roof or a Targa top and the pelicans left hand outside the drivers door holding wrenches similar to the orig. one!

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by bklyn

How about the pelican driving a cartoon style buffed out 911 with its head sticking out of either a sun roof or a Targa top and the pelicans left hand outside the drivers door holding wrenches similar to the orig. one!

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, there has to be a punchline. One idea our artist came up with was something like having a clown standing next to his 911 talking to our Pelican saying "But the problem is that my car is not making funny noises!". Or something like that...

-Wayne

[Jim_Brown]

Wayne-

For the cartoons to be funny I think you’ll need to decide what it is about the Pelican that is funny. Is he a perfectionist? a hack? clueless?

Some ideas:

“The Pelican is a mildly talented amateur wrench”
- You could use the “admit to your stupidity thread” for ideas…

Things he might do:
Torque a nut hard enough to break the stud … again
Spill oil onto his face when under car
Start a siphon with his mouth and get a mouthful of gas
Start a small fire - funny because he manages to catch something on fire that normally wouldn't burn
Has grease under nails at a black tie event
I sconfused by directions with new "easy bolt on performance part"
Has a handful of parts left over when car/engine is back together
Enters his car in a “concours de n’elegance pas” or Concours d’Inelegance
Is envious of friend with newer version of his car (friend is envious of Pelican's car)
A part from his car is handed to him at the end of an AX course along with a DNF time slip
Cross threads something… again. Right after finishing a Helicoil repair.
Wife calls to him in garage that her mother is visiting - causing him to start over on a project he is almost done with.


“Pelican as a painfully meticulous concours d’elegance type guy”

He polishes the back side of his brake pads
He places phone orders for parts with ultra detailed requirements that are ridiculous: “I want the locking nut to be the factory correct shade of black. The last set I ordered was two shades too dark.”
He critiques another car because the factory cadium plating color isn’t correct for a car made in the month of September in the year the car was manufactured.
Has nothing but disdain for newer versions of his car - they lack character and a soul.
Secretly loves Nascar but would never admit that to his friends

Good Luck,
Jim

[dlagerstrom]

Nice Jim. Very good advice. You are obviously in touch with your creative juices.

Not that I can top that, but while reading yours, the old Spy vs. Spy thing popped into my head.

What about a black pelican who drives a ferrari or something and he is always trying to blow up our hero?

[Zeke]

I had a business called the "French Door Connection" in the 80's. We made doors and installed them.

I invented 2 cartoon characters, "Frenchy (a cat with a French beret and a mustache) and a mouse I called "Door Mouse." The mouse had a tool belt with this freakin' over sized hammer dragging along.

The gags were basically 2 frame Tom and Jerry stuff. Frenchy would set it up and the mouse would "nail" it. It really helps to have a pair to play off one another like so many comedy teams.

Single frame cartoons play a lot on irony. Can you do that and be funny? Not too many can.

[AshEvan]

Originally Posted by Jim_Brown

Wayne-

For the cartoons to be funny I think you’ll need to decide what it is about the Pelican that is funny. Is he a perfectionist? a hack? clueless?

Some ideas:

“The Pelican is a mildly talented amateur wrench”
- You could use the “admit to your stupidity thread” for ideas…

Things he might do:
Torque a nut hard enough to break the stud … again
Spill oil onto his face when under car
Start a siphon with his mouth and get a mouthful of gas
Start a small fire - funny because he manages to catch something on fire that normally wouldn't burn
Has grease under nails at a black tie event
I sconfused by directions with new "easy bolt on performance part"
Has a handful of parts left over when car/engine is back together
Enters his car in a “concours de n’elegance pas” or Concours d’Inelegance
Is envious of friend with newer version of his car (friend is envious of Pelican's car)
A part from his car is handed to him at the end of an AX course along with a DNF time slip
Cross threads something… again. Right after finishing a Helicoil repair.
Wife calls to him in garage that her mother is visiting - causing him to start over on a project he is almost done with.


Good Luck,
Jim

GREAT IDEA . . . . as I have done all of the above I am sure to receive residuals from Wayne when the cartoons are released? ? ? HA! HA! HA!

[Goth]

What about a pelican acting like a stork with a baby Porsche in blanket swinging from it's beak. The saying would be something like: Ok, I know....Storks deliver babies, but Pelicans take care of them!

I really don't know if this is all that funny. So instead of typing...I better go back to working on my engine.

[Zeke]

I'd listen closely to folks around the popular events, men and women. Eventually, all the gags will be told or played out. If it's funny at Ventura, it will be funny in an ad.

Comments that in any way reflect negativity towards Pelican Parts will backfire. Even if it's (or especially if it's) subliminal.

One of our Frenchy and the Door Mouse gags was about French doors on a mouse hole in the baseboard. A pelican is a little too large to build a nest on the cylinders, but you get the idea. I'd be real careful about stupid stuff. A lot of people will think, "How stupid."

Seems to me that the Pelican is wearing lederhosen, am I correct? There's material going on right there.

Originally Posted by Goth

What about a pelican acting like a stork with a baby Porsche in blanket swinging from it's beak. The saying would be something like: Ok, I know....Storks deliver babies, but Pelican takes care of them!

I really don't know if this is all that funny. So instead of typing...I better go back to working on my engine.

I like that just fine. Wayne will need a lot of gags, they wear out fast. (Think art work costs)

[Rich76_911s]

What if you named him Wyatt, and did a play on words.

With titles like Wyatt needs a BFH, Wyatt has rust, Wyatt needs to do drop the engine agian (he forgot the ring gear), Wyatt broke again, Wyatt and the new part that doesn't fit, Wyatt won't start, Wyatt needs a long breaker bar, etc. That way you could have a chain of stories about Wyatt and his mis-adventures in automotive repair.

For my first episode I'd have that a similar picture to the poster of, " Justification for higher education." With Wyatt sleeping and imagining a perfect house with a beautiful 356, 911, 914, and 928. Then show his reality, a garage jammed with each car but they are all in pieces strewn all over the place. With him saying, "ahhh living the dream."

Here is what I am thinking of:

first frame

THe pelican is asleep and dreaming

second frame (with all Porsches)



third frame, with a little bit more of a mess, more cars, and with the pelican in there scratching his head:



If you need episode ideas send me a part and have me try and get it to fit on my car.

[RWebb]

punchline = "Save $$ -- Do It Yourself"

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by RWebb

punchline = "Save $$ -- Do It Yourself"

Oh, the irony.

[TibetanT]

Wayne:

Here's a thought...

What if, we show the Pelican logo as is, standing next to a pretty bad looking Porsche car. For example, a fender missing and the top smashed in and a couple wheels barely hanging on.

The caption should read something like "I think I can fix that."

What brought this to mind was a movie called Doc. Hollywood with Michael J. Fox. There was a mechanic in town that could fix anything. When Michael's car got wrecked the wrench kept looking at the car and muttered "I think I can fix that!" And, he did fix it to look as "new."

As far as I am concerned, Pelican Parts CAN fix anything.

[janz]

How about a Pelican standing next to an 86 911 with a gallon of antifreeze in his hands saying " I can't find the filler tank".

[TibetanT]

Janz:

Now that's funny!

I don't know how many times I have pulled that on people saying "I'm going to have to buy a radiator for this thing."

[pozee]

Dazed and confused standing next to a blown engine, on the phone and the caption reads "Pre-purchase Inspection??? I thought PPI stood for Pelican Parts Inc.!"

[FenderBender]

How about the Pelican sitting at his work bench in his garage next to his dismantled Porsche looking at Pelicans forums page on his laptop, trying to figure out how to put it back together.

We have the parts and the answers for the DIY's.

[TibetanT]

Yeah!

Or, the Pelican logo (current) standing at the front of the 911 with hood popped open saying "My God, someone stole the engine!" When clearly it lives in the back end.

Of course, everyone knows Pelican is not that lame.

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by Jim_Brown

Wayne-

For the cartoons to be funny I think you’ll need to decide what it is about the Pelican that is funny. Is he a perfectionist? a hack? clueless?

Hmm, interesting. I think of the Pelican as me, and the funny ones are you guys (our customers). So, the conversations would be between a customer and the Pelican (like the clown example).

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by Jim_Brown

Wayne-

etc, etc, etc...

Actually, the Pelican is none of those at all. Just a regular guy like me. The humor would be in that the customers we deal with would fit into one or more of those categories. Having our main character be a klutz or stupid, or have disdain for a portion of the cars that we sell parts for - that's not really that good...

-Wayne