The Kiwi classic Ches and Dale advertising jingle was created after a copywriter and art director came back from smoking "some half decent weed" in an Austin A30 car in the then unfashionable suburb of Ponsonby.
Fifty years after creating the farmer cartoon characters and catchy jingle, copywriter Robert Jenkins has revealed for the first time how "these boys from down on the farm" were born.
Back in 1969, Jenkins and art director Don Couldrey were working for the Auckland-based advertising agency Dormer Beck when the company was asked by Butland Industries to come up with a television commercial for Chesdale Cheese.
Jenkins told the Herald on Sunday he had recently returned from three years as a copywriter in London and Couldrey from a spell at the American animation studio Hanna-Barbera, famous for creating shows like The Flintstones and Top Cat.
Art director Don Couldrey from around the time he worked at Dormer Beck in Ponsonby. Photo / Supplied
Jenkins said the agency's creative director Bruce Ginders gave him and Couldrey the task of creating the commercial.
"Seeking inspiration, we popped across the road to Don's "Jellybean" Austin A30 and whilst contemplating the nice view of Auckland Harbour, lit up some half-decent weed.
"Back in the office, suitably inspired and tongues firmly planted in cheeks, we came up with the idea of creating two cartoon characters called Chester and Dale while Dan used his well-honed cartooning skills to create two suitably garbed Kiwi dairy farmers.
"I then set about coming up with the appropriate doggerel for a jingle to help position processed Chesdale Cheese against less expensive block cheddar," he said.
Chesdale's innovative processing and packaging meant it could be sliced thinly and kept fresh in a foil wrapper. It did not dry out and become crumbly.
Copywriter Robert Jenkins from around the time he worked at Dormer Beck in Ponsonby.
Consumers needed to be reminded, said Jenkins, that Chesdale, though processed, was made from good-quality cheddar.
Here's what Jenkins came up with (millennials look away now):
We are the boys* from down on the farm We really know our cheese, There's no better value than Chesdale It's always sure to please Chesdale slices thinly Never crumbles There's no waste And boy it's got a mighty taste! Chesdale Cheese. It's finest cheddar, made better.
*Changed to "Blokes" at a later date.
Jenkins said the creative duo took their idea to Ginders, who flatly rejected it and said he would not present it to Butland.
"Pumped up with de-mob bravado we said 'okay, we'll present it to him without you'.
Armed with Don's pictures, a small tape recorder and support from the agency's TV producer Sam Gardiner, Jenkins said they set off to present the commercial to Butland, who was later knighted.
"Facing Sir Jack across his extensive desk we presented, a tad nervously, the genesis of the Ches'n'Dale advertising campaign, quite expecting to be laughed out of the room," Jenkins said.
"Mr Butland listened patiently, not cracking a smile or a frown and then said after a brief pause, 'That's one of the best advertising ideas I have ever seen'. We were suitably shocked.
The lyrics were set to music by Terry Gray, who later became director of music for Television New Zealand. The song was recorded by the folk group The Yeomen at Mascot Studios in Ponsonby.
Jenkins and Couldrey did not stick around to nurture the lives of their boys - Jenkins went to another Auckland agency and Couldrey to Singapore - and other creative figures like Keith "Nobby" Clark and Dick Frizzell have had a hand in Ches'n'Dale.
Jenkins went on to work in advertising agencies around the world and now lives in the Philippines and about to turn 80. Don Couldrey, an artist, photographer, designer and adman, died a few years ago.
Ches and Dale were retired from television advertising in 1975. Chesdale Cheese is still available from supermarkets throughout New Zealand.
