11/4/10
When you launch a brand with Levi Johnson as a spokesperson, what do you do for a follow-up? If you’re Wonderful Pistachios, you call Snooki and Rod Blagojevich. Hoping to build on the success of last year’s campaign, which resulted in a whopping + 233% increase in sales versus year ago, and seeking a greater focus on 20-25 year olds, Roll Inc. has decided that Snooki is the way to go.
In addition to :15 second spots, which will run in prime, sports, and late night, the campaign includes the dubbing of Perez Hilton as the “official Wonderful Pistachios blogger”, and an invitation to viewers to create their own “edgy” commercials. Clearly courting controversy is part of the strategy. (Lukovitz, 2010)
What do you think? Is it a good idea? Did you try pistachios last year? Will you now?
Lukovitz, K. (2010, November 2). Wonderful Pistachios Goes For The Twitter Crowd. mediapost.com. Retrieved November 3, 2010, from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=138777&nid=120358
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6 comments:
I love Pistachio, I have bought them and will continue to buy them. I am not a Snooky fan however and I have never seen the Jersey Shore, so although this is reaching out to my demographic, I would never eat a food just because Snooky does, especially because I see the show as pointless and a waste of time.
HOWEVER many of my friends have watched the show so if they are trying to focus on 20 to 25 year olds, Snooky may be the right spokesperson. I am not a particular fan but she is reaching the right demographic. But is Snooky health consious? I see nuts as a healthy food choice, so I would rather see someone who is healthy and fit showing off the product. haha I don't want to look like Snooky
I'm not really sure how well drawing controversial attention to your brand intentionally works. If people don't like the person you've chosen to represent your brand, why would they feel more inclined to try your product? I think the key to this campaign is their intention to use these to proliferate buzz through assumed conversation over things like Twitter. Though this may spark a discussion, I'm still not sure it will influence people to try the product. Apparently this has been working for them though and since it seems to have proven itself as a tactic, I think they made a great choice of spokespeople considering their target age group.
This one really made me think.. I don't necessarily think that I would start using anything Snooki endorses, especially because if you watch the show, it is clear she has no preference on her type of Pistachios. I think this would be different if it were something that she loved - say, pickles - that she were endorsing.
I think the idea of them using political figures also factored into this - this has been a hot couple of years for political discourse, and tapping into that, in addition to the notoriety of the candidates, may have been their actual stroke of genius. On the political front though, I think I would be less inclined to buy these because Rod Blagojevic is endorsing them. I think the same could be said for a lot of people and Perez Hilton. So I am pretty torn on this one.. but I think that it has to be said if I feel so passionately about NOT buying it because of Rod endorsing it, then perhaps there is someone out there who IS buying it because he is.
This certainly wouldn't get me to buy Wonderful Pistachios, but I suppose that using third-tier media stars worked for them in the past, so maybe it'll work again. Or it could get very stale and backfire horribly. I don't know if I'd want my product associated, even ironically, with Johnson, Blagojevic, Snooki or Hilton.
Wow interesting! I have honestly never purchased a bag of pistachios before. I also do not recall ever seeing an advertisement for pistachios last year or ever. I googled this product to see the products packaging and I was surprised to see their commercial with famous football player and reality star Ocho Cinco running on their main page. I am surprised because I have never seen that ad. I do not know if that is due to the fact that Pistachios has never been a snack choice for me so I never cared to pay attention or maybe because I am not a big football fan. But I guess with that being said, as a fan of Jersey Shore, including Snookie in their advertisement will defiantly be a good idea. I am not in the target group they are focusing on but it will still catch my attention. I do not know who Rod Blagjevich is, but Perez Hilton and Snookie are controversial reality stars who command attention in whatever it is they are doing. Also, giving viewers the opportunity to feel like they a part of something as big as creating their own commercial is a good strategy to bring awareness to a product. But will I purchase this product? I would not run out to buy Wonderful Pistachios, but If I happen to pass by a bag in the grocery store I might just pick up a bag out of curiosity.
I saw this commercial the other night and it did make me laugh. If I remember correctly they ran 2 of them back to back and they thing is I can't remember the other person. So, to have Snooki endorsing the product isn't such a bad thing. It makes people remember about your product, talk about it around the water cooler ie." Hey, did you see that pistachio commercial last night with Snooki?", and maybe cause them to try the product as an impulse buy while at the drug store or grocery store. The key is to get people to remember your product, have them try it, and then hopefully after trying the product they become a continued user. Because their target market is the 20-25 year olds this probably will work and if it can draw others in as well then even better. I have to say I won't make it a point to buy the product, but as I mentioned, if it is there while I'm shopping, I just may put some in my basket.
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