Meet Pringles’ New Spokesperson: @danthefuneralman
When I last spoke to Dan Madden, also known as @danthefuneralman, he was just off a massive win at New York’s Fashion Week (which he rebranded FashUrn Week). Madden has made a name for himself with his FashUrn videos, wherein he walks the red carpet showing off an urn. Earlier this year they went viral. Since then, it’s as if he’s been touched by the publicity fairy, with new opportunities popping up everywhere.
“My fashurn shows have become widely popular online and I kind of joked early on, even on your podcast that I wanted to go to New York Fashion Week,” he said.
After designer Haus of Harleen flew him in so he could be part of their show, we wondered what was next. As it turns out, commercial stardom. This week Pringles announced that Dan would be their spokesperson for a Halloween push. The funny thing was, when he got the call, he didn’t believe it.
The Pringles “Will and Taste-ament” Campaign
“I honestly thought it was, like, a spam mail,” Madden admitted. “They messaged my @danthefuneralman email like, ‘Hey, we’re reaching out on behalf of Pringles … they want to work with you.’”
After verifying that the multi-national snack brand was entirely serious and signing a strict nondisclosure agreement, Madden learned about the campaign’s historical inspiration.
Pringles was building a campaign around Fredric Baur, the original inventor of the iconic Pringles can, who was famously buried in his own invention back in 2008.
“ So they’ve had this idea for a while to tell this story around Halloween and I’m kind of the urn guy and personalization guy. They’re like, ‘You’re perfect! You’re going to tell this story,’ and so we did this whole kind of documentary commercial about this gentleman who was buried in his own can, Madden said. “There’s going to be this campaign where people can sign a fake will online for a chance to win a replica Pringles urn and you have the chance to get 200 years of an ‘afterlifetime’ supply of Pringles so that you can pass down to your heirs after you die.”
A Full-Scale Production
Rather than a simple social media shoutout, which he was used to, Madden stepped into a full-scale, high-tech commercial production. Describing the shoot, he noted the scale was far beyond anything he had experienced before.
“It’s all going to be on their social media platforms. It just happened to coincide with when I was going to be in New York. It’s pretty wild. I mean it was a complete video production,” he said. “There were 40 people there, an art department, heavy high-tech cameras. It was a 12-hour shooting day, and all because they found me on my platform with my urns and everything I’m doing different.”
The campaign invites fans to visit an online portal to sign a mock “will and taste-ament” for a chance to win a replica can-shaped urn.
For a licensed funeral director who started out making quirky videos on social media, landing a starring role in a major national campaign proves that breaking down traditional barriers in the death-care industry is resonating with audiences everywhere.
According to the official Kellanova and Mars press release details, the sweepstakes officially runs through October 22. Die-hard fans aged 18 and older in the U.S. and D.C. can visit OnceYouDrop.com to “sign” the dotted line on a digital “will and taste-ament” for their shot at the ultimate eternal prize.
