Bizarre ad icons become heroes to sandwich chain
The pop culture question of the moment is: What the heck is Quiznos thinking?
The stars of the Denver-based sandwich chain’s new ad campaign have bulging eyes and human teeth, they’re covered with fur and they look like nothing so much as deformed gerbils.
Yet they’re a big hit.
“It has produced by far the largest consumer response we’ve received to any ad campaign we’ve launched before,” says Stacie Lange, vice president of public relations for Quiznos. “We wanted to break through the clutter of advertising and get noticed, and we’ve done that.”
Charlotte Observer
Nobody knows what “spong monkeys” are supposed to be, but for Quiznos sandwich shops, they’re a pop-culture hit.
Quiznos has logged more than 14,000 e-mails, letters and telephone calls about them.
“Some people love them, and others just want to know what they are,” Ms. Lange says. “People ask: ‘Are they hamsters? Are they potatoes?’ ”
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No one really knows, says Kerry Feuerman, vice chairman and group creative director for the Martin Agency, Quiznos’ advertising firm. “It’s part of their mystique,” he says.
Their creator – a 27-year-old British animator named Joel Veitch – calls them “spong monkeys.” Again, no one knows why, and Mr. Veitch couldn’t be reached to explain.
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