Fair's ad campaign a hit
'Napoleon Dynamite' theme draws attention of some national media
With quirky movie icon Napoleon Dynamite promoting the 2005 State Fair with buddy Pedro on billboards, buses, radio and television, fair organizers promise the fair will stay true to their spokesman: "Sweet."
The Fairpark is to open at 3 p.m. today with a ribbon-cutting by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. scheduled at 5 p.m. near the sesquicentennial exhibit. The historical exhibit features photos, ribbons and memories from fairs past. Despite the 150th status, it's Napoleon Dynamite, not historical significance, that's perking up national attention.
"That film is such a phenomenon. This whole ad campaign has become a phenomenon as well," said Denise Stanger, fair marketing director. "Honestly, I thought it would be popular, but I didn't realize the national attention it would stir. It's taking a life of its own."
National media are focusing on the ads — from a column in USA Today to an article in AdWeek. Using similar taglines, costumes and the original actors Jon Heder (Napoleon) and Efren Ramirez (Pedro), the radio and television spots have become a particular favorite.
Fans will recognize Napoleon's trademark pencil drawings, doodled on lined paper. They might even recognize the fair theme, "All your wildest dreams will come true," the slogan of Pedro's class president election campaign in the movie.
The ads have had special appeal to 14- to 24-year-olds, the target demographic of fair directors.
"We want those young adults and teens to get excited about the fair this year," said Rick Frenette, fair general manager. "When you've been around 150 years, you have to do something different to generate excitement. We do have a lot of the same old things, but we do have a lot of new, exciting and modern things. This advertising campaign shows we have progressed with time."
The fair's campaign is especially successfully because of the popularity of the movie in Idaho, where the movie was made, and Utah, where most of the crew met at Brigham Young University. The cult status of the movie and its characters is what drives the ads, Frenette said.
Filmed in July and August of 2003 on an estimated budget of $400,000, "Napoleon Dynamite" was a huge hit at the Sundance Film Festival and Fox Searchlight picked the movie up as its distributor. The movie opened on six screens across the United States in June 2004 and made a little over $160,000. But by the time the movie stopped showing in theaters eight months later, it had grossed over $44.5 million and played on thousands of screens across the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Spain and Iceland.
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