Nestle, Carnation and Drumstick are three ice cream companies that came together in the 1990s under Nestle ownership. As the multinational player rivalling Unilever, Nestle wanted to gain manufacturing capacity -- which the Carnation business gave them. (Carnation's Bakersfield plant was the largest ice cream factory in the world). And they wanted to add ice cream brands and brand marketing experience, which the Drumstick acquisition gave them. (The Drumstick, Flintstones pushups, and the experience to turn Nestle's own candy brands, Crunch and Butterfinger, into ice cream novelty gold).
Two of the three companies had not been profitable in years. Carnation was distressed; Nestle had been in growth mode, and only Drumstick had consistently been profitable. So Nestle put the Drumstick management in charge of the marketing and top C-level offices of the company. This gave me the opportunity to see first hand what was happening as the three very different corporate cultures began to clash a bit.
About a year after the merger, I suggested to the President that a video could help the employees understand each other better. He asked for a proposal so in researching the history of the three firms I suggested that we tell the story of the birth of all three companies, define the corporate cultures of each, and then show how all three are coming together in a corporate team approach that capitalized on the strengths of all three: the manufacturing/quality traditions of Nestle, the sales/merchandising strengths of Carnation, and the creative product innovation and marketing savvy of Drumstick. He bought the idea, so in 1992 I went to Switzerland to shoot a dramatization of the birth of Nestle, then came back to Ohio to shoot the birth of Carnation (standing in for northern Washington State). This exerpt covers the first portion of each of those stories, and the remaining 14 minutes of the piece wove those stories together with contemporary footage shot in Bakersfield, Frankfort, Paris, Veyey, and Bern. The final presentation was given to all the company employees.
This production was shot on 16mm film with Owen Kindig serving as writer/director, Jeff Barklage as DP of the European shooting and birth of Drumstick segments, Owen Kindig as DP/ camera operator of the birth of Carnation and contemporary US segments.
The cast was selected from Nestle employees who are active in community theatre in Vevey.