The idea for Travelocity's Roaming Gnome - another theory

Where did that idea come from?

There has been speculation.  I thought the inspiration was the excellent movie "Amelie" which featured a shy but clever trickster who swiped her dad's garden gnome and sent it off with a stewardess friend.  The dad received photos in the mail of the gnome from scenic tourist destinations and was eventually encouraged to do some traveling himself, thus Amelie's ultimate goal was achieved.

But, there's another theory.  Almost exactly a year ago an item appeared in the Wall Street Journal that said the idea for Travelocity's Gnome came from stories about an Australian in the 1980's who took a neighbor's gnome and sent back photos of it in various locales.  You can see that article reproduced on these pages back on August 25, 2004.

But, now comes another theory.

The Harry Hood caper

Tom Demeter emailed a fascinating story of events that occurred in the 1970's at the advertising agency of Hill Holiday Connors Cosmopulos in Boston, Massachusetts.  It's a great story.

Let's let Mr. Demeter tell it:

I think that it was inspired by an incident at Hill Holiday Connors and Cosmopulos.  It seems that HHCC handled Hood Milk a local New England dairy's TV campaign for years back in the early 70's.

The ads  featured a small claymation figure of a milkman called Harry Hood.   One day a group of writers and art directors at Hill Holiday kidnapped Harry from the creative director on the account.

They took Polaroids of poor Harry in precarious positions under semi tires, in manholes, on iron beams at the top of skyscrapers being constructed in Boston.  Harry was always only seconds away from eminent disaster.  With every picture that was mailed to the agency was attached a ransom note asking for thousands of dollars.

Harry was a one of a kind claymation figure complete with his own custom carrying case.  The kidnapping actually held up production of the TV campaign.  And as weeks went on Harry started showing up in exotic places all over the world.  In Brussels he was blind folded with a gun to his head,  In Paris he was teetering precariously on the railings of the Eiffel Tower.  The agency even received pictures of Harry from Istanbul in the presence of drug lords.

It seems the whole incident was leaked to the Boston Globe and became a news worthy item on the evening news for weeks.  Eventually a ransom was paid which turned out to be a contribution to a local charity and Harry found his way back to Paul Regan's office, the Creative Director on the account.

This happened long before garden gnome rip offs became popular.  It seems that Hill Holiday under Steve Cosmopulos had established a world wide reputation for out of the box creativity.  Most people thought Steve Cosmopulos thought up the whole kidnapping idea as a brilliant PR stunt.  But he didn't.  He just provided an atmosphere that allowed creatives to do legendary out of the box TV and magazine ads.  The art directors and writers involved in the great Harry Hood caper remain nameless to this day.  I know most of the original guys involved having been a creative director for Stavros (Steve) Cosmopulos myself for over five and a half years through the 80's.  I really believe this incident inspired the whole gnome phenom.

You may be right, Tom.  However, it's a fascinating story on its own regardless of the possible inspiration for the Roaming Gnome.  It's one of those tales that's so good that it makes a reader hope it's true.

Mr. Demeter is an artist and is currently the Executive Creative Director at Parker Sahhar Demeter.  You can see his artwork and read more about him at  TomDemeter.com.

Comments

[Gullyborg]

someone stole a garden gnome from a yard in England c. 1980 and took it on a round the world vacation, sending the owner photos of the gnome, along with handwritten letters. it made the news, and for a few weeks, people actually tuned in to the news just to see where the gnome would write from next. then one day, he was back in the yard, with a freshly painted tan.

[Geo]

Thanks Gullyborg. That's very interesting, especially about the tan!

[Steve]

I found a website that is a play on the travelling gnome. Check out http://www.GnomeOnTheGo.com. They sell gnome magnets that each issued a unique tracking code. The owners of the gnome can then track his travels on the website.

[Guy in Buffalo]

There was a case in 1986 in the town of Clarence, New York, near Buffalo. A woman had a lawn gnome, actually a small planter with a gnome figure attached, and she called it "Boss."

A couple of pranksters stole the gnome and drove it across the country in the back of a pickup truck and took photos of it next to various national landmarks, like the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, and so on.

They left the gnome on the woman's lawn upon their return, with sunglasses attached to its face and a pile of photos in the empty planter next to it.

The elderly woman contacted the media about the prank, and NBC actually flew her and the gnome out to New York City, and she got to recount the story on David Letterman's show.

Meanwhile, the local media in Buffalo was having a field day with it... apparently they'd never heard of anyone doing a prank like that, and the fact that it had gotten brief national attention was a pretty big deal for a small town like Buffalo.

That's the first instance I've ever heard of that type of prank, too, and I remember it vividly because the guy who did the prank was a friend of mine from high school. Every time I've seen the prank repeated it has reminded me of him.

I recall a few of the pranks he pulled on me and our other friends, and he was an irrepressible prankster.

[providence]

tom Demeter is delusional and a liar. We hope he gets help.

[Tony]

It came from the movie..."Amelie"
The main star persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having an air-hostess friend send pictures of it from all over the world.

[Matthew]

I know this is a little old, but we just interviewed Brad Brinegar, the CEO of McKinney (the agency that came up with the ads). In our interview he talks about where the idea came from! Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/rq779hmOVUg?t=3m21sAd

[Geo]

That's great, Matthew. Thanks.

[Cynthia Hoover]

In early 2000 my husband I took my sister's garden Gnome (Tiny)with us on a trip in our Airplane. We were in Bullhead City while a Big Boat Race was taking place. The Budweiser Team stayed at the same Hotel. Then in our travels we were stuck for a few days in Sacramento during a huge Jazz Festival. We took many photos along the way. When we arrived back home with Tiny, we had the photographs developed, called a Taxi who picked up Tiny and his photos and took him home.. I've always thought some advertising genius heard about what we were doing!

[Jo]

I just finished watching Amellie, and believe it came from the movie

[firstfly]

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