• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, September 8, 2017

Wonderful Pistachios’ offbeat humor is on display again in a series of new ads featuring Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.

The ads, from the brand’s in-house Wonderful Agency and its new chief creative officer, Darren Moran, will debut on Sept. 10 during the season’s first game between the two teams.

In the “Put A Smile on Your Snackface” campaign — the brand’s largest football campaign to date — the players star in separate ads. In each, Sherman or Matthews narrates the lowlights from the sad life story of an unfortunate soul. But the subject is oblivious, as he or she is absorbed with blissfully munching on Wonderful Pistachios.

The players deliver the stories — actually a series of one-liners that are so over-the-top “tragic” as to be funny (reminiscent of Rodney Dangerfield’s “I don’t get no respect” shtick) — in total deadpan fashion.

Samples: “Randy has had a rough life. He was neither bottle fed nor breast fed. His blood type is just negative… He was the one child left behind…”

Jean: “The first time she sat on Santa’s lap, he cried… It was her fault her parents got divorced… Today, she found an actual frog in her throat…” 

Benny (full ad below): “He was raised by wolves that were hired by his parents… One of his moles tried to have him removed…” 

All of the ads end with the upbeat message that, despite all of their misfortunes, each of the eight subjects depicted “feels like a champion” because he or she is eating “protein-powered Wonderful Pistachios.” The tagline: “When you feel better about your snacks, you feel better about yourself.”

Moran describes the ads as continuing the brand’s “history of funny, offbeat, celebrity-driven work that both reflects and drives pop culture.”

All four 30-second and eight 15-second versions of the ads can be viewed on YouTube and (once they make their television debut) on the brand’s website, GetCrackin.com.  

The new “Snackface” TV/video creative is being supported by print and digital advertising, PR and in-store merchandising. 

It is part of a larger, $55-million campaign that includes ads featuring “Ernie the Elephant,” who is voiced by WWE star John Cena, and the Wonderful Nut health campaign that appears in New York’s Times Square, print and in-store.