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It caught on, “you know”
The week after the Manny Pacquiao - Ricky Hatton fight has been very interesting for us at ASPAC/LAW.
As you might have noticed (and if you were a red-blooded Pinoy we’re pretty sure you watched it) the Manny Pacquiao Vitwater ad aired quite a few times during that all-too-short fight. In case you didn’t, here it is so you’re up to speed:
What made the week interesting: “You know” caught on, big-time.
(To be technical and geeky about it: “You know” became a meme, “an idea or value or pattern of behavior passed from one person to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation)” More on memes at Wikipedia. If that sounds Greek to you, think of a meme as an idea that gains popular usage.)
It began on Twitter and Plurk, two of the most popular microblogging sites used by tech-savvy young Pinoys with people using “you know” (and its iteration “now you know”) to punctuate their post-fight thoughts.
(Check out how Vitwater is doing on Twitter by clicking here and sifting through for the ones that reference the ad.)
Then we also noticed how fight-related postings on forums, blogs and even Youtube uploads referenced the TVC.
Here’s what a guy put on the “About this video” section of his Youtube upload:
Here’s something from Yahoo Answers:
It even made its way into John Nery’s column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer (2nd paragraph, last line):
Of course, it also became the punchline for numerous Hatton-related jokes like the one where Manny tells Ricky: Now, you know. (How many times did you hear that last week?)
And here’s the most elaborate one we’ve seen yet: Ricky Hatton lost his memory after the fight, handlers say
In some cases, the explicit reference to the brand isn’t even there, indicating an assumption that the Vitwater material had achieved a status of “everyone has seen it and therefore knows what I’m talking about”
… as this post from MarketMan of MarketManila (Pacquiao for President)
… and these columns from the Philippine Star’s Federico Pascual and Bobby Motus will show.
Today’s Inquirer Libre even references it in its sub-head: “You know?! Padami na ng padami mga titulong iginagawad kay Pacquiao”
Add to this the times we’ve heard ordinary, non-advertising types, regular people on the street using it to end their statements (”blahblahblahblahblah… you know? … now you know!”) and we realize we’ve entered popular culture with this material.
Why did this happen? You might say that it’s a combination of things.
First: Pacquiao fights are like the U.S. Superbowl: everyone watches them
Although the TVC actually started airing in March for a limited run, it was only during the Pacquiao - Hatton fight that most people saw it for the first time. Also, this match was the biggest thing to happen lately and everyone had been continuously primed to watch it for the last month by the media. Consequently, the people were there to see the TVC.
Second: A different Manny Pacquiao, you know?
Manny Pacquiao has been in his fair share of commercials over the years, endorsing sports gear, pain relievers, motorcycles, socks, etc. What we did in this material was use him in an almost wholly different way from everything he’s ever done in the past. This ensured that the material and the brand would stand out vis-a-vis his previous endorsements.
The first two reasons gave “You know” the Eyeballs and the Attention. The last two gave it the Pass-Along.
Third: Seeing Pacquiao speak English was amusing and even charming (John Nery calls it “self-deprecating”) for a vast majority of the people we monitored online and off. People generally gave him credit for having the courage to go beyond his comfort zone, in his choice of boxing opponents as well as in English (as anyone who’s seen his post-fight interviews no doubt knows).
Here’s what a boxing fan had to say about Manny’s English at Philboxing.com:
Fourth : The signature phrase: “You Know” Pacquiao watchers (or Pac-fans) recognized the use of his signature phrase. And for everyone else, “you know” is a phrase that not only Pacquiao but almost everyone of us down to the masa use on a daily basis. It’s almost signature Pinoy when you think about it, so there’s really no wonder really why people took to it easily.
At the end of the day, “you know” is a fitting cap to a TV material that had to do several things all in one go:
1. explain a new product and category to an audience that previously DIDN’T know
2. maximize the endorser for the brand
3. reach a mass market
4. generate buzz
5. massive sales
Of course it’s a bit early to tell how big a winner the brand is sales-wise, but we know this much: we’ve seen dramatically increased sales since the TVC first aired in March. What more now that everyone’s seen it? And if the following screencaps are any indicator, all the money and the effort spent on this project was very well spent.
From Twitter again:
From the comments section of a blog post about how to get a job as a barista (which is as far removed from Manny Pacquiao and boxing as you can get) :
http://www.mukamo.com/barista-job-starbucks-philippines/
Now you know.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.aspac-law.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-micro4.png "It caught on, you know"){kind=icon}
![[Post to Plurk]](http://www.aspac-law.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-plurk-micro3.png "It caught on, you know"){kind=icon}
