Sunday 10 April 2011

Carl, Professional Wing Critic for Boston Pizza

Last week Boston Pizza launched a new advertising campaign to announce a new menu improvement: chicken wings. And they have a new spokesman, Carl - Professional Wing Critic.



Who ever is the advertising agency for Boston Pizza is flippin' brilliant. For years they've had some excellent commercials that are quirky enough to get your attention, but not annoying to be hated (well, not me anyway). From the Talking Baby to Sasquatch to Finger Cooking with Bill they keep building characters into their restaurant chain.


But their latest with Carl is different. They have taken this to a whole . . . new . . . level.

"Carl" (actor Regan Burns, who used to have a funny game show called Oblivious" is part of  "Flatties & Drummies" a "Professional Wing Critics Association". But Boston Pizza didn't just create a TV character, they created a whole new website for Flatties & Drummies.



This is quite the website.  I love the Wing Cartography section:




I can't believe I'm not a part of this society.

Now for the commercials. Funny, simple, and a lot of chicken wing critics inside jokes.



I have heard stories about the '92 Charleston Incident . . . what a time for wings.





Doesn't everyone know what a Nib and Nub are?




Oh LeRoy Bouchlette, a pioneer in chicken wings.


I enjoyed Boston Pizza's old wings but I will have to review these wings myself and see if they are all the hype that my counterpart Carl says they are.

20 comments:

Chris said...

Hilarious. They need to get you and him together for a commercial, that would be funny.

Lord of the Wings said...

@Chris - I agree.

Teena in Toronto said...

I've never had Boston Pizza's wings ... lemme know how they are.

We had so-so wings that I got in the grocery store on sale today.

Anonymous said...

LOTW: Boston Pizza's ad agency is TAXI. They're a great Canadian-born creative shop with offices across the country and also in NYC and Amsterdam.

http://www.bostonpizza.com/en/about/pressreleases/2010/10-01-18/boston_pizza_announces_taxi_canada_inc_as_new_creative_agency_of_record.aspx

Lord of the Wings said...

@Teena - Where were the so-so wings from?

@Anon - Thanks for the info!

Anonymous said...

whats the gilmorgan?

Lord of the Wings said...

@Anon - My definition of the Gilmorgan is the meat to bone ratio. Or was that skin to meat ratio?

Unknown said...

This campaign was made by TAXI Advertising. (taxi.ca)

Unknown said...

Gil Morgan was a pro golfer whose position at the top of his swing once was said to look like a chicken wing...

Lord of the Wings said...

@Ben - thanks!

@Georges - ahhhhh that makes sense. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hey, the first ad is different in Edmonton. He says "Knock me down and call me Susan. That's a wing!" with no mention of the '92 Charleston Incident. What is better than Brilliant? Our version of the ad. (Go Carl!)

Lord of the Wings said...

@Anonymous - That's the same add we see here in Ontario - I don't know why the web one is different?

Anonymous said...

the sasquatch commercials were awful since we already had the sasquatch from kokanee beer. the baby commercials weren't much better, and howie mandell sucked. Things started getting better with finger cooking with bill, and finally they hit a home run with the wing reviewer and his nice gilmorgan

Lord of the Wings said...

@Anonymous - Glad to see your enjoying the progression - I like Carl too.

Unknown said...

Can someone tell me why the chicken wing critic commercial is so funny?

Lord of the Wings said...

@El-Mango - for me, its funny cuz I'm a wing critic. For others, a wing critic seems like a fake thing. I also like all the fake references too.

Tom J said...

The green jacket may well be a tie in to the golf reference. You are awarded a green jacket for winning the masters.

Lord of the Wings said...

@Tom J - Good to know . . .

YoureGayLordofTheWings said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Lord of the Wings said...

I am not in the practice of removing comments - I have no problem with people criticizing my blog, but homophobic comments will not be tolerated.