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Frito-Lay’s strategic challenge was clear: to create an emotional connection and commitment to between the brand and the next generation of U.S. snackers, the target being 25-34 year olds. But to be successful, they had to do this in a way that would engage them through a meaningful experience they would value. Lay’s has been America’s favorite potato chip for decades. It is a truly iconic brand that has been a central part of the US. Even so, being the best-tasting potato chip out there just wasn’t enough. With new macro-snack brands entering the market and private labels slashing their prices, competition was nipping at Lay’s heels. They needed to be more than just a high-quality product; they needed to be a brand that the next generation of snackers would emotionally connect with. Our target needed a reason to stop and take notice of Lay’s, a reason to engage with the brand. Lay’s immersed themselves in the world of their consumers and identified three key drivers of American culture that were largely influenced by Millennials: a desire for self-expression and individuality, a desire for authenticity, and a desire for recognition, Americans today want to be part of the cultural conversation. To tap into the target’s desires Lay’s needed to do it in their world – social, digital and personal. The “Do Us a Flavor” campaign emerged as a program that had repeatedly been successful at engaging Lay’s consumers across the globe over the years. However, they needed to launch this program in a fresh way, a way that would engage our target through a meaningful experience that would give them a reason to emotionally connect to the Lay’s brand. So Lay’s asked the next generation of snackers to “Do Us A Flavor” but we did it in way that was never done before. They reinvented the program by tapping into our snackers social world and asking them to come up with the next great Lay’s potato chip flavor. Dream it up, name it, share it and tell us about it. We will pick three to make and ask America to vote. The winner gets instant fame in the snack aisle, a whole lot of bragging rights and potentially one million dollars or 1% of their winning flavor’s sales. Lay’s paired up celebrity restaurateur Eva Longoria and, The Chew’s Michael Symon. We featured them in all of our TV, online and in-store efforts, and Eva and Michael were members of an elite judging panel of chefs, foodies and flavor experts who helped narrow down the flavor submissions to the final three. An easy-to-use Facebook application was created completely centered on the user and their circle of friends, and gave them something worth sharing. All these efforts helped make Lay’s top-of-mind by putting them squarely in the social world that the target audience was living in. And it worked. Lay’s experienced over 3.6 million flavor submissions and a +1% increase in household penetration, +2% among the target millennial audience. The Lay’s Facebook page averaged 25K people per day talking about it with an increase in visitors of 4500% year over year.
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