Critiquing The Commercial: Let's Break This Down:
A) Drew Cerza
First off, a lot of people have no idea who Drew Cerza is or why he has my title. So that doesn't really help the commercial. For those that don't know, Cerza is the man who started the Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival every Labour Day weekend in, you guessed it, Buffalo. That's where his title of Wing King comes from.
B) AWARDS
Drew Mentions that the wings are award winners. What awards?
- Best Medium Traditional Wing Sauce (2008, 2006) @ National Buffalo Wing Festival.
- Best Take-Out Wings with Medium Sauce (2007), The Denver Post.
- Best Hot Traditional Wing Sauce (2007) @ National Buffalo Wing Festival.
- Best Medium Sauce and Best BBQ Sauce (2007) @ Atlanta Wing Festival.
Not that many awards. The Denver Post one seems a little weak. I mean, Denver and wings don't seem like a selling point. But clearly some props for them winning in the past at the NBWF.
C) COMMENTS
- The 'My Name Is Earl' look-a-like: "It's so good"
- Jason Hawes from Ghosthunters: "It has a nice crunch to it"
- Schmarmy Dude: "I can easily eat about 50 of these "
100 people in the crowd and that was the best comments they got. Really? Then Drew gathers everyone's attention and reveals the wings are from Pizza Hut's Wingstreet:
- Crazy White Girl "What!?!?!!" <--- Did you see her ridiculous reaction, as if she's just been told she won $1 000 000? Even I don't get that excited about wings.
I've read some people complaining that these are a fraud because Pizza Hut wings are baked and how could a Buffalonian like Cerza shill them? Well, people make their first mistake by not realizing that while Pizza Hut does have wings and does bake them (tiny little wings btw), the wings being advertised are Wingstreet wings, which are deep fried. It may be confusing because Wingstreet operates out of some Pizza Hut's. But the wings are not the same.
I tried Wingstreet about a year ago, and the sauces were just too high-fructose corn syrupy for my liking. But they don't even have one of the sauces I tried anymore. Maybe I should go back and re sample?
The point of the whole commercial is that you can have restaurant-quality wings at home (via delivery). To me, they didn't really sell it to me. I mean I'm curious, but the mere mention of wings on tv starts me salivating. What about you? Have you had them? What do you think of the commercial? Does it make you want Wingstreet?
I had some of these a while ago (sometime in the last two months)and they were pretty good. I mean they were big and surprisingly crunchy despite being drenched in sauce, which by the way was tasty...don't really remember the details, I just remember the hot had a nice bite too hot for my colder blooded cohorts, but the medium (or was it mild) was tasty too.... Definitely check them out, you might be surprised. But I get the feeling there might be a bit of uncertainty in quality due to delivery time and distance and how long they're sitting in their foil pouches before they get to you.
ReplyDeleteI think they are marketing to the lowest common denominator for the 18-34 y/o male demographic with this and some of their other current commercials (like the $5 lunch).
ReplyDeleteI knew who Drew was from his appearance on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. He came across to me as a little too "self promoting". It seems like an image he is trying to sell vs how he really would be at home.
Ricky - Ok, I might try them once again and eat them closer to the source . . .
ReplyDeleteChris - YES! 'self promoting' is what this guy is all about. You nailed it.