Wilkins Coffee
From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum
Descriptions by
Charlie Fiddlesticks
Compiled by
Charlie Fiddlesticks
Captures by
Charlie Fiddlesticks
Editions by
Rainbow Puppy
Video captures courtesy of
michael heaps
Charlie Fiddlesticks
Compiled by
Charlie Fiddlesticks
Captures by
Charlie Fiddlesticks
Editions by
Rainbow Puppy
Video captures courtesy of
michael heaps
Background
Wilkins Coffee was a brand of coffee founded in 1899 by John Wilkins in Washington DC. The company was perhaps best known for its commercials created by Jim Henson, which featured two Muppets named Wilkins and Wontkins and often featured the latter character being injured or killed in various ways by the former for disliking the brand. After the success of the Wilkins Coffee commercials, Henson sold the concept to coffee companies in other local markets around the US.
Logo (1957-1969)
Visuals: On a table, there is a jar of Wilkins Coffee. It usually consists of a black jar with a white label covering most of it. A picture of a simple, geometric coffee mug pouring coffee into a cup is displayed on top of "Wilkins" in a cursive font, alongside "INSTANT COFFEE" in a stacked format.
Variants:
- Sometimes, a different shot of the Wilkins Coffee will appear.
- One features the logo next to a coffee maker.
- Another features it with the text "Rich...Rich...Double Rich" beside it.
- Sometimes, a transition is added from the commercial to the logo.
- Starting in 1961, Jim Henson would sell the commercials to other brands. The brands include Nash's Coffee, Kraml Dairy, Taystee Bread, Faygo Soda, Dugan's Bread, Community Coffee, LaTouraine Coffee, and Red Diamond Coffee (the latter and Community Coffee having colored commercials). In these commercials, the Wilkins Coffee product would be replaced by that of the brand's product.
- Sometimes, the Wilkins logo and the other brand logos are next to a TV station logo.
Technique: Live-action, either a photograph or footage, sometimes accompanied with a printed graphic. The LaTouraine Coffee variant uses live-action photographs for the jars, while everything else is a drawn graphic.
Audio: None for the most part. On the Wilkins News Report commercials, a trumpet fanfare is heard with a xylophone tune at the end.
Availability: Can be seen on their commercials from the period, including the other brands commercials. These include "Cannon", "PSA", "Blow Up", among many others.
Legacy: This logo, along with the commercials, have gained a bit of a reputation due to the rarity of some of their commercials and their "meme" status.
