My first two weeks: NYC – D.C.

Hello there. I’m currently sitting shotbun with Cold Cut Cady driving Big Bun. We’re en route to Cleveland, OH right now, where we will remain until Monday (then it’s off to New Jersey). Figured I’d take some time to give a low down on what I’ve been up to during my first two weeks (give or take a few days, here in WienerLand our work weeks are layed out a little different).

So what have I actually been up since I’ve graduated Hot Dog High? I suppose to answer that, I’ll have to lay some foundation on what my training was like, what I do everyday, etc. Onward!

I officially started this gig on June 4th, when I flew from my beautiful cousin Sarah’s wedding the night before right to Madison to start training Sunday. You could say I was slightly “jet-lagged”. When I jumped off the plane, I had a whole slew of past and present Hotdoggers greet me with the Oscar Mayer Jingle. You know the one (youtube it if you don’t). Then we got crackin’ for two weeks, traveling between Madison and the Kraft-Heinz headquarters in Chicago for training. We covered everything things like messaging with our friends at Olson and McGarry-Bowen (PR and advertising firms), daily how-to’s on the job, legal (things we can and cannot state as official spokespersons), and – you better sit down for this one – HR PAPERWORK! Bam! Told ya I’d make this interesting. The two weeks flew by, as we started each day around 730 or 8 in the morning and went as late as 7 p.m. at night. Typically we would have a giant team dinner or something. During that time we also got decked out with all our awesome swag.

At night, we hung out with our fellow hotdoggers and peanutters (peanutters drive the Planter’s NUTmobile. They are our sister program and do the same work as us). 12 Hotdoggers, 9 Peanutters. Each and everyone cool as they come, from all corners of the US. We quickly formed friendships vital to this life we’ll be living on the road, and those bonds will continue for many years I am sure.

After the blur of Hotdog High, Cady and I set sail for the East Coast via United Airlines (don’t worry, we made it ok after a few setbacks). There we picked up “Big Bun”, our 2012 Wienermobile! WOW! (Ladies (and fellas), keep in your pants)! I was excited to say the least. Our first market was New York City. Here’s how our work week goes down: Typically on a Monday we’ll drive into our market city. We’ll get a few days off Tuesday and Wednesday, and then from Thursday to the following Sunday we’ll work all sorts of events, from retail (grocery stores typically), to parades and festivals. Our main job is spread the magic that is the Wienermobile via Wiener Whistles and pics with Big Bun. It’s pretttty tough Don’t worry – on the back end we pitch media (click here or here for a taste) for the markets we are in, work with sales teams to coordinate on events, book all the logistics for our travel, and keep up to date on messaging from our PR and ad firm.

So, NYC. We kicked off our year with the unveiling of Super Hotdogger, the latest addition to our Wienerfleet. Essentially, he is a jet-pack powered superhero who’s on a mission to deliver hot dogs far and wide. It was cool. He actually has a jet pack, with jet fuel and everything. The folks in NYC were psyched about it. We did one day with him where he launched a few times from Seaport District in NYC while onlookers sampled hot dogs. For the rest of the week we went around with media doing interviews with folks from Jerry Media, Daily Beast, and Jeff Mauro (food network hotshot). I also met the producers from Impractical Jokers, so that was kind of cool (one of em grew up not 5 minutes from my house).

After the blur of NYC and driving in Manhattan, we felt ready for anything. We moved on to D.C., where we set up for Saturday and Sunday’s BBQ Battle down by the Capital. It was hotter than heck, and the lines never ended. We practically had to fight the fans of with a stick, both the young and old. Everyone wants them dang Wiener Whistles! Can’t hardly blame em. I met up with good friend Paul from UW, and spent my off days in the city checking out all the monuments and the alike. Verrrrry cool place, reminded me a bit like Madison (roll Badge!).

I’ll wrap it up here for now. Next post will fill you in on my time here in Cleveland as well as what I’m up to outside of work.

Have a bunderful evening,

Fordad