MSU graduates travel across U.S. in Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

Editor’s note: Derek O’Leary is a former cartoonist and advertising senior account executive for The State News.

If Derek O’Leary doesn’t pick up his cell phone, expect to be greeted with a less-than-typical message.

The message begins with “Hi, you’ve reached Derek from the Wienermobile” — essentially telling the story of O’Leary’s first year out of college.

After graduating in May with an advertising degree, O’Leary set off for Hot Dog High — the two-week training program in Madison, Wis., where a person enters a normal citizen and leaves a hotdogger.

Ever since June 1, he, his partner hotdogger and their Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, have been traveling the Southwest.

“It seemed like such a really good opportunity, because I was thinking about going to grad school and then figured it would be a great opportunity to take a break, collect my thoughts and kind of learn about myself,” said O’Leary, 22, of Wayne.

And out of 14 total hotdoggers nationwide, there is another MSU grad. Allison Dreiband, who graduated in May with a communication degree, has taken on the Midwest with her 27-foot-long Wienermobile.

“It’s a really unique opportunity, not many people get to do it,” said Dreiband, 22, of Rockford.

“It’s a very competitive position, so I feel very honored to have it, but it’s really just an adventure every day.”

For instance, Dreiband and her partner, Adam Annen of the University of Texas, maneuvered the giant weenie through the streets of downtown Chicago.

“We were trying to drive through the street and people were just running in front of us and taking pictures,” she said.

“It was insane how many people were around and how many people were drawn to the Wienermobile.”

When O’Leary was traveling through a small town in Missouri, a family offered them dinner and their kids called O’Leary their hero.

“Smaller towns seem to really get excited over it,” he said. “It definitely catches everybody by surprise.”

Ed Roland, mobile marketing manager at Oscar Mayer, said being a hotdogger is a prestigious opportunity for any college graduate seeking an adventure.

“It’s the ride of their life kind of thing,” Roland said. “It’s an adventure that can’t be duplicated. They become little celebrities. When you drive into town on a 27-foot-long hot dog, everybody wants to talk to you.”

Hotdoggers must have a college degree. Although most hotdoggers have degrees in the communications field, Roland said they have had hotdoggers with computer science and history degrees as well.

“You need to cut the mustard and be a good fit for the program,” Roland said. “That’s what’s important about it.”

The job is comparable to many entry-level positions. For instance, hotdoggers work five days a week, spending about eight hours a day in the vehicle.

Roland said the base salary is between $20,000 to $30,000 a year, but with benefits it’s close to $50,000.

“It’s very competitively paid,” he said.

The Wienermobile is the employees’ only vehicle during the stint so whenever a hotdogger goes to the grocery store or the mall, it always attracts attention.

“It’s kind of a parade everywhere we go. There’s a lot of cameras coming out and people are waving and smiling,” Dreiband said. “It draws a lot of attention.”

Both O’Leary and Dreiband have plans to bring the Wienermobile together with their MSU roots. O’Leary wants to bring it to the football game Saturday in Berkeley, Calif.

Dreiband plans to bring the Wienermobile to MSU on Oct. 3 for the homecoming parade.

“I’m pretty excited for that, obviously being an alumni coming back to State is going to be tons of fun for me,” she said.

“Being able to bring the Wienermobile will be something extra.”

Both O’Leary and Dreiband will continue their travels until June 2009, and Dreiband said it hasn’t gotten old.

“I’m just really enjoying myself and I’m looking forward to the whole rest of it too because I don’t think I’m going to get sick of it,” she said.

Published on Tuesday, August 26, 2008