Deja Vu All Over Again: Marketing Malverne

Once upon a time, the merchants in the tiny village of Malverne, N.Y., needed a marketing boost.

So when the newspaper publisher Jaci was working for admitted Groundhog Day was his favorite holiday as a child, an idea took hold: No longer would Long Island be subjected to secondhand news coming from Pennsylvania. As home to 3 million people, Long Island deserved a prognosticator of its own!

Jaci Clement penned the tale of Malverne Mel, the estranged brother of Punxsatawney Phil. It was Mel who had the talent for foretelling the weather (and the law degree from St. John’s); Phil was a fraud who just liked the spotlight. Sibling rivalry continued until Mel was ready to come out of the shadows in the early ’90s.

With the story of Malverne Mel about to go public in the weekly paper, it set the stage for creating a publicity event unlike any other: the publisher went about getting local merchants to offer Groundhog Day specials. The paper’s marketing guy created Malverne Mel merchandise, and a sales guy who liked to sing and strum guitar went home and wrote “The Ballad of Malverne Mel.” The newspaper article served as inspiration for creating the event and that’s important to know, because it all was based on a true story.*

As early as 5 a.m. on that fateful Groundhog Day, radio and television stations throughout New York were waiting for Mel’s expert testimony. The Shadow traffic helicopter overhead the small park near the train station in Malverne, where a gazebo served as Mel’s headquarters. Local politicians showed up in tophats and long coats. School children turned out by the dozens, carrying handpainted signs that pleaded for an early spring. (OK, it looked a lot like a scene from ‘Groundhog Day,’ the movie. That was the whole point.)

Mel was covered by every local affiliate of the evening news, with radio and newspaper outlets throughout the country picking up what the official Long Island groundhog had to say about the next six weeks. (No one noticed how grumpy he was, and years went by before he actually bit anyone.)

Nearly two decades later, Malverne Mel is a tradition in the village of Malverne. And Stuart Markus still performs the ballad live every year.

First time out of the box, Mel predicted an early spring. Not surprisingly, so did his brother.

*Not really.