• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, November 2, 2010

Hoping to build on the success of its humorous "Get Crackin'" campaign launched last year, Wonderful Pistachios is investing $20 million on new TV creative and social media efforts that reflect a greater focus on the 20-to-25 demographic. 

Most of the new campaign executions rely on what the marketer terms "Twitter-centric talent" to generate attention and buzz among young adults in particular. At the same time, the campaign quite intentionally follows the celebrity reality competition show formula of offering a "wide net of talent ... with someone to appeal to everyone," with the goal of influencing both the women who buy most snacks and the men who influence the types of snacks purchased, summed up Dominic Engels, VP, global marketing of Paramount Farms, producers of Wonderful Pistachios.

While "talent" and "appeal" may not be the first descriptors that come to many people's minds in relation to the subject of the first-aired commercial, former Illinois governor/convicted felon Rod Blagojevich, the 15-second spot has certainly succeeded in generating media coverage and buzz. The spot, which debuted during game 4 of the World Series, shows Blagojevich opening a briefcase proffered by an unsavory-looking character, finding it filled with pistachio nuts, and cracking and eating one. Voiceover: "Rod Blagojevich does it innocently."

Other commercials star a grab-bag of personalities-of-the-moment, including Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of MTV's "Jersey Shore" reality show "Snooki does it with UV rays"); end zone-dancing NFL wide receiver and "Dancing With the Stars" contestant Chad Ochocinco; former drill instructor R. Lee Ermey (also currently starring in a ubiquitous GEICO commercial); and comedian/actor Lewis Black. Rounding out the cultural touchpoints, the remainder feature Peanuts characters, a comely female vampire and YouTube's "Keyboard Cat."

Asked about the response thus far to use Blagojevich, in particular, a Wonderful Pistachios spokesperson supplied a statement noting that the brand "knew that it was opening up a bag of nuts when [it] cast personalities like Snooki, Chad Ochocinco and Rod Blagojevich. They are polarizing characters that transcend their respective professions and have become part of the pop culture conversation. Obviously, with the election, Rod's spot has been getting a lot of attention and has the blogosphere buzzing. While some people have expressed their negative feelings about Rod, many find it funny and appreciate the fact that he can laugh at himself."

The commercials will begin airing in rotation on Nov. 15 on prime-time shows including "30 Rock," "Grey's Anatomy," "Big Bang Theory," "Modern Family" and "Monday Night Football," other network sports broadcasts and late-night shows, and on targeted cable networks. The brand will also reprise two popular spots that fit the young-adult target focus: one ("Beauty queens do it without a clue") featuring Lauren Caitlin Upton, who is now on CBS's "Amazing Race"; the other featuring Wee-Man, now being seen in the movie "Jackass 3D."

According to Engels, last season the "Get Crackin'" campaign helped drive a record-breaking 233% year-over-year increase in the brand's sales and moved it into the $8-billion, heavily chip-dominated salty snack category.

The campaign also includes social media initiatives, starting with signing celebrity blogger Perez Hilton to be the "official Wonderful Pistachios blogger." Hilton conducted celebrity interviews during the shooting of the brand's new TV commercials, and readily sharable vignettes from these will be featured on PerezHilton.com on Nov. 16. As part of the brand's advertising buy, during the week the commercials go into rotation, a "page takeover" will wrap the Hilton blog site to maximize impact and click-backs to GetCrackin.com, the company reports. (The videos of the new commercials are also viewable on the GetCrackin site.)

The brand is also collaborating with filmmaker/animator community Poptent to encourage consumers to create their own, "edgy" online versions of Get Crackin' commercials. Wonderful Pistachios will select and buy one or more of these for use in generating more viral action, and Poptent will pick five additional videos to be given "editors' choice" awards.

Wonderful Pistachios is also working with online video product placement company Tadcast. Several amateur makes of top-viewed videos (500 million-plus combined views to date) have been chosen to produce a "slew" of videos for the brand, ranging from music to "entertaining educational" formats, according to the brand's spokesperson.

Wonderful Pistachios maker Paramount Farms is owned by Los Angeles-based Roll International Corp., makers of Pom Wonderful. Roll has been getting substantial press coverage itself of late for having sued the Federal Trade Commission. Roll is alleging that the FTC, which maintains that Pom's health claims are deceptive, has set new health-claims standards that violate Roll's freedom-of-speech rights.