Heavenly Coffee, Indeed

Some promo opportunities come along once in a lifetime. Specifically, at the end of that lifetime.

That's what Dennis Crawford, marketing director for the parent of Chock full o'Nuts coffee, is finding out. Last year Crawford was sitting in a theater watching “The Bucket List,” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson as two terminal cases determined to live life to the full. And he was amazed to see his company's packaging featured not just in the opening shot, but in the final one too — as funeral urns for the main characters' ashes. Freeman even quotes the old jingle: “Better coffee a millionaire's money can't buy.”

“You can't buy that kind of placement, I thought,” Crawford says.

But the other half of the surprise came a few weeks ago, when the company got a handful of requests for the same old-style cans seen in the movie, and for the same purpose: storing the remains of loved ones.

Two consumers wrote in to ask for vintage cans; another wrote to ask permission to use the Chock full o'Nuts logo on a memorial patch for his son. A Florida pastor wrote to say two of his ailing congregants wanted Chock full o'Nuts cans present at their services.

“We were both stunned and honored that people would want to include our brand at this serious time,” Crawford says. “It's not morbid. Like the movie, it's a celebration of life.”

The company does its best to fulfill requests for the vintage cans, but decided putting them back into production would be unseemly. Instead, it has dedicated a page on its Web site to some of these stories (www.chockfullonuts.com/stories/), including a toll-free number to contact.

“Bucket List” came out on DVD at the end of June. Crawford and company are bracing for more heartfelt requests.