• Ad Age , Monday, January 26, 2009 11:15 AM

Laugh, if you will, at its direct-response TV spots. Wince, if you will, at the "As Seen on TV" spam. Mock it on YouTube and sneer at the down-market sensibility of it all but the Snuggie blanket is a warm-and-cuddly success story in the frozen tundra of marketing headlines this winter.

"The quirky little blanket with sleeves has become the raiment of the zeitgeist, with more than 4 million units sold in just over three months," Jack Neff reports. That's just under $40 million in retail sales, according to Scott Boilen, president of Allstar Marketing Group, the Hawthorne, N.Y.-based company behind the Snuggie, which is made in China. He says Allstar is having trouble keeping up with demand.

"We weren't afraid to have a little fun [with the advertising]," says Fred Vanore, president of Blue Moon Studios, which produced the Snuggie ad. Scenes like a family wearing Snuggies to a football game were intentionally over the top, he says. A similar product developed in 1998 -- the Slanket -- is still sold online and through retailers. But its positioning is largely as a green alternative, and it costs $44.95.

Snuggies cost $19.95 for two -- and come with two book lights.

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