Get Crackin'

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or just haven’t turned on the radio, television, or YouTube since the end of this past year, you know of PSY and, of course, Gangnam Style. PSY is a singer, dancer, rapper and record producer from South Korea and on December twenty-first, his music video for his single, "Gangnam Style," hit over a billion views on YouTube. No video on YouTube, even to this day, has ever received so many views.

PSY just happens to be the star in my favorite Super Bowl commercial this year. The commercial advertises “Wonderful Pistachios” with the catch phrase, “Get Crackin'.” In the commercial, PSY sings Gangnam Style, but with a bit of a twist. Instead of singing, the phrase, “Oppan Gangnam Style,” he sings “Get Crackin’ Gangnam Style.” He also replaces some other words later in the original song with words relating to cracking pistachios.

There definitely were valid consumer needs identified in this commercial. It is simple, but the need was basically for food, even it were just a snack. I think the target market could be just about anyone because as I said before, just about everyone knows or has heard “Gangnam Style.” Everyone that saw the commercial has access to these pistachios, as well. I think it was smart of Wonderful Pistachios to take advantage of the Super Bowl and advertising at that time. I think they did so because they knew the commercial would be viewed by all kinds of people, at all different ages, everywhere. All these different people are their target audience. There is also the fact that pistachios are a snack, and the Super Bowl can’t be watched without food and snacking.

I certainly thought that the commercial was effective in getting the attention of the target audience because it was something the audience could relate to, already having knowledge of PSY. The commercial did present a call to action by the consumer simply by saying, “Get Crackin’.” It was kind of like saying, “Hey, you just saw an awesome commercial, so what are you waiting for? Go out and buy Wonderful Pistachios and get crackin!!”

I loved how the commercial grabbed my attention right away. These commercials only have a few minutes to get their point across, so they must use the time wisely. When the game goes on commercial break, that means its time to get up and get more snacks so if a commercial is attention grabbing right off the bat then I’m more apt to stick around in the living room and hear what they have to say.

 

I definitely think the ad can be used again, mainly because it had nothing to do with football, nor did it mention football. I know that the ad really just wanted to get the Wonderful Pistachio name out there because most people don’t say, “Hey, I’m going to go to the store to pick up some pistachios.” I think that the ad will, however, increase sales because when people see them in stores and remember the commercial they will be more likely to buy them. I think they made the ad as effective as possible.

 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psy_(entertainer)