Crispin Loses Orville

Well, that sure didn't take long. From Ad Age:

The agency that "reanimated" the late popcorn founder Orville Redenbacher for ConAgra Foods has lost the brand, along with Slim Jim beef jerky in a $34 million account shift.

ConAgra shifted the two brands from Crispin Porter & Bogusky to independent Venables, Bell & Partners, according to people familiar with the accounts. Crispin created a lot of buzz for the brands -- not all of it positive -- as ad reviewers, blogs and the general public debated the relative creepiness of the computer-generated pitchman quickly dubbed "Deadenbacher."

Can we finally bury the idea of bringing dead people back to life in commercials?