Field Marketing
Pineapple Pete
I've had an interesting life and I like to think that I'm pretty much game for anything. I've jumped out of planes, bungee jumped off huge bridges and even been shot, but as I went to the office on my first day of being a fruit for the Sourz promotion I have to say that I was actually quite nervous. I think it was the fact that I had no idea what to expect. At least when you're sat in the doorway of a plane at 10,000 feet you have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen when you jump out, but as I entered the office I was pretty clueless and the butterflies were reminding me of this!A typical day would be split between the afternoon activity and the main evening activity. The afternoon activity, done in conjunction with the local radio station, Forth One, would see me being driven out to the location in the branded people carrier where, upon arrival, I would be dressed as the fruit of the day. I preferred the apple myself. Once in the suit I would commence my walkabout at the agreed time with my minder close behind in case I fell over; getting up could be tricky! I then wandered about in a high-profile location just larking about playing golf, shaking maracas or even joining an open topped bus tour of Edinburgh. At some point, usually sooner rather than later, someone would spot me and call into the radio studio to say they'd spotted me. At this point I'd get a call to say that I was a free fruit so then we'd get out of there before someone realised just how easy it was to trip me up.
The evening activity took a bit longer but was just as much fun. It involved me getting into the chosen fruit suit outside the bar or club and then entering to stand by the bar and order a drink, a Sourz and lemonade of course! I'd then wander about the venue making sure that everyone had seen me while sipping away on my drink. Actually getting the drink to my mouth was an interesting challenge, which was finally overcome by sourcing out some huge straws that just reached from my hand to my mouth. Once I'd been around the venue for a while then the sampling team would come in and commence the sampling part of the activity, making sure that everyone got to try the new peach and pineapple flavours. Once that was done we'd all pile out of the venue, I'd jump out of the suit, which would leave me standing in the street wearing tights, usually surrounded by lots of drunk people ... and then we'd head off to the next venue to do it all again ... and again ... and again!
Hope that covers the whole day in the life of a fruit thing. I'll answer your individual questions now.
What was the funniest thing about being a fruit? The fact that all the kids loved the fruit and wanted to cuddle me and shake my hand but I wasn't allowed to because I was promoting an alcoholic beverage. One girl actually burst into tears because I was blatantly ignoring her!
Were there any problems with being in the suit (restrictions/heat etc)? It got quite warm in there, especially in the bars and clubs, but it was bearable. Running was a problem, due to the huge shoes and the restrictions on my legs.
Did you receive any chat-ups/abuse/comments? Quite a few people, mostly hen nights, thought it would be fun to try and pull a fruit, but I managed to resist most advances! Abuse ... just the usual obvious stuff ... a few times guys thought it would be funny to use me as a punch bag, but you just laugh along with them and make them feel like they really are the first person to try and do that!
Have you done any other jobs like that or worse? This was the first promo job where I had to get suited, but I really enjoyed it. When Arc booked me for the job, my agency, Colours, said it would be a bit like Trigger Happy TV and it was – only I didn't get to beat anyone up! I've done much worse jobs than this one. If the promo was on permanently then I'd jump at the chance to do it. Imagine filling out the occupation space on a passport application .... Occupation: pineapple!