As part of our countdown to Advertising Week 2016 in New York City and this year’s Madison Avenue Walk of Fame, we’re profiling the winners from the past 12 years; here are the winners from 2006.
Colonel Sanders
Brand Represented: KFC
Year Introduced: 1952
As the “finger lickin’ good” face behind Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Harland David Sanders was a businessman first and a spokesperson second as the Founder of the wildly successful chicken restaurant chain.
Since his passing in 1980, Sanders has remained his own brand mascot. A fictionalized version of his likeness still appears in KFC advertising and branding, with an animated Colonel appearing in ads from 1998 until the early 2000s. Since his induction into the 2006 Walk of Fame, a variety of rotating actors including Jim Gaffigan and Norm Macdonald have paid tribute to the iconic Colonel Sanders in commercial spots rebranding his symbol for a millennial audience.
The Kool-Aid Man
Brand Represented: Kool-Aid (Kraft Foods)
Year Introduced: 1954
We like to think that the nation collectively cried out “Oh yeah!” when the Kool-Aid Man was inducted into the 2005 Walk of Fame.
The Kool-Aid Man’s modest debut in 1954 — a pitcher that sat on a tabletop singing jingles about how a five-cent pouch of Kool-Aid was “the very best drink you ever made!” — dramatically altered over the years to adapt to new audiences. He received arms and legs in 1956 and began bursting into homes to assist families in making the sweet drink in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2013, the Kool-Aid Man went full-on CGI in a new campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi and VSA Partners. Still the same sugary sweet pitcher we all grew up with, but with a new “flavor” wardrobe, expanded vocabulary, and well-rounded personality to better reach tech-savvy audiences.
