• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, January 8, 2007

Look for Emerald Nuts to go viral with entertainer Robert Goulet before the Feb. 5 Super Bowl. That's what Marketing Daily gathered after a chat with Andrew Burke, vice president of marketing for Diamond Foods, which produces the Emerald brand.

The company is keeping details of its online marketing campaign close to the vest. Diamond has purchased 30 seconds of time during the Super Bowl for about $2 million to showcase its Goodby & Silverstein ad, but it says the spend is for more than a 30-second ad. "It's an event," said Burke.

The online element is still in development, Burke said--but will launch before the Super Bowl, continue during the Feb. 5 game, and after. "This is much bigger than a 30-second spot."

The Stockton, Calif.-based company has been in the Super Bowl twice before, and has seen its "brand performance" rise after each appearance. According to market researcher IRI, sales of Emerald Nuts were up 36% last year in the weeks around the Super Bowl versus the year before, Burke said.

"The Super Bowl is an awareness builder," he said. "It's peak snack time and nuts don't get their fair share. It's a way to get immediate audience. There's no stage bigger than the Super Bowl."

The company is banking on Goulet's humorous ads to pull it through from pre- to post-game awareness. The theme this year focuses on the energy that nuts can provide mid-day.

This year's game, said Burke, is really a platform from which to launch the company's new strategy. The ad will appear during the crucial third quarter, when the audience is still likely to be there. If the game is a blowout, audience tends to disappear in the fourth.

Look for viral to launch, along with print, billboards and in-store elements, on Jan. 14.