The below-freezing weather on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus didn’t stop the appearance of familiar hot dogs on wheels last week.
From honking at strangers on the street to making them smile and posing for pictures, being a brand ambassador for Oscar Mayer does not always have to be serious. The official spokespeople for the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile — called “Hotdoggers” — cherish moments of levity while on the job.
“It’s like our little PR firm on wheels,” UW-Madison alum Bridget Berens and current Hotdogger told The Daily Cardinal. “You could be having a tough day, but somebody comes up to you and they’ve never seen the Wienermobile before, and you get to share that moment with them so it's really special.”
As I rode along with the Hotdoggers, students across campus laughed and FaceTimed their friends to show them a glimpse of the Wienermobile.
Hotdoggers drive the Wienermobiles and promote the company by talking with the media, attending events in big cities and small towns all while “spreading smiles along the way” in a 27-foot-long vehicle that travels across the country.
Berens works with fellow Hotdogger Cooper Albert, known by his hot-dogging name Coop Dog, who wants this experience to help in his future endeavors.
“My focus, hopefully in grad school and beyond, will be more in brand and marketing management, and this has a lot of translatable skills,” he said.
Berens has similar aspirations for her future career. After graduating from the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications with a strategic communication degree, she wants to go into brand development.
“You learn so many soft skills in this job, whether you’re talking to 10 or 10,000 people a day,” Berens said. “We’re reaching out to media on our own, and we are going on air. You name it, it’s part of the job.”
Albert and Berens are just two of 12 Hotdoggers who were selected out of thousands of applicants to work across the country. Hotdoggers work for one-year contracts and are assigned to two regions of the country with a new partner for each rotation.
“The nice part about this job is you are in a new city every week,” Berens said.
A day as a Hotdogger could entail going to grocery stores, driving for Meals on Wheels or attending the funeral of someone who worked at Oscar Mayer for over four decades.
In addition to learning skills applicable to their future careers, both Albert and Berens have fond memories of their experiences so far as Hotdoggers.
“I have driven a kid around for his birthday before, and I actually took the Wienermobile caroling in Portland, Maine,” Berens said. “We got to go around singing the Wienermobile jingles while also going door to door to see if people wanted to donate to Meals on Wheels.”
Albert recalled his time at the horse racing track Colonial Downs to watch the first annual wiener dog races.
“They had hundreds of wiener dogs racing, and we were there in the middle of all it. There were probably 30,000 people there in total and the stadium ran out of hot dogs,” Albert said,
If you did not get to see the Wienermobile, do not worry. It will be making its way back to Madison between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30.
