Nannerpuss
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About
Nannerpuss is a joke advertising mascot featured in a TV commercial for the chain restaurant Denny's. The character can be best described as a banana with googly eyes and a mustache that is cut up to look like an octopus sitting atop a stack of pancakes.
Origin
Nannerpuss first appeared in a commercial for the American chain restaurant Denny's, which aired during 2009's Super Bowl XLIII. Created by the Goodby, Silverstein & Partners agency[1], the ad was the first time[2] Denny's bought commercial time during the Super Bowl. A portmanteau of the words banana (nanner) and octopus (puss), Nannerpuss is supposed to represent a typical breakfast made for a child, and is juxtaposed against Denny’s Grand Slam meal, asking "isn't it time for a serious breakfast?"
The commercial advertised a promotional event for a free Grand Slam breakfast on the following Tuesday of February 3rd, 2009. The broadcast of the ad reportedly brought an increase to Denny's website traffic by 1679%[3] and a turnout of two million people[4] to Denny’s restaurants for the free meal.
Spread
A Twitter[5] account was created for Nannerpuss on the day the commercial aired, replying to users who were tweeting in confusion about the commercial. The official Denny's website[6] made the video available for download[7], encouraging users to share the commercial spot. On February 6th, a YTMND[8] was created from the commercial, which has nearly 18,000 views as of January 2012. Several other[9][10] YTMND pages were created that month, but received less than 3000 views each.
Nannerpuss was defined on Urban Dictionary[11] on February 10th, 2009. Over the course of the month, the commercial was also shared on AdWeek[12], and food sites Serious Eats[13], and The Hot Dish.[14] In May 2009, a user on the Craftster forums[17] posted a knit version of Nannerpuss, complete with felt pancakes. At the end of the year, advertising blog Ad Nauseous[15] nominated the commercial for Ad of the Year and in early 2012, the Daily Beast[18] included the commercial in a list of the top 20 most effective Super Bowl ads. A Facebook fan page[16] for Nannerpuss currently has over 11,000 likes.
Notable Derivatives
Search Interest
Search for Nannerpuss and its alternate spellings peaked in February 2009 when the commercial aired and dropped off quickly.
External References
[1] Goodby, Silverstein & Partners – Denny's Case Study
[2] New York Times – A Taste for Breakfast and the Super Bowl
[3] Read Write Web – The Real Winner of the Super Bowl? Dennys.com
[4] Bloomberg Business Week – Two Million People Swarm Denny's for a Grand Slam Breakfast
[5] Twitter – @nannerpuss
[6] Denny's – Now Showing archive
[7] A Whole Lot of Nothing – You Can Call Me Nannerpuss, Nanerpus
[8] YTMND – IT'S NANERPUSS! (or: Why does Denny's hate fun?)
[9] YTMND – Guess What? Nannerpuss loves…
[10] YTMND – Nanner Puss!
[11] Urban Dictionary – Nannerpuss
[12] AdWeek – Nannerpus inches toward world domination
[13] Serious Eats – In Videos: Nannerpus, Denny's Super Bowl Commercial
[14] The Hot Dish – Denny's Nannerpuss inspires a following
[15] Ad Nauseous – Best Ad of the Year Nominee #5: Nannerpuss
[16] Facebook – Nannerpuss
[17] Craftster – You Can Call Me Nannerpuss, Nannerpuss
[18] Daily Beast – Super Bowl’s Top 20 Effective Ads, from Betty White to Budweiser
![NANNERPUSS [BANANA OCTOPUS] Nannerpuss is the banana octopus that appeared in Denny's Super Bowl commercial during Super Bowl XLII ATK/1900 DEF/1200 ©2009 DENNYS](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/000/028/144/Nannerpuss.jpg "Nannerpuss.jpg")
