PepsiCo India has launched a premium slow cooker chip brand, Lay’s Gourmet, accompanied by a new promotional film conceptualized by Wunderman Thompson.
Through the film, Lay’s aims to highlight that Lay’s Gourmet is not a regular chip shop. The film shows a young tourist outside a palace. As he does so, he pulls out a package of Lay’s Gourmet. Two guards see him and confiscate his package and escort him to the palace. At the palace, he’s donned a jacket and made to look formal as they serve these premium fries alongside the Queen. The film ends with the Queen saying: ‘This isn’t just chips, it’s Lay’s Gourmet.’
Campaign India caught up with Shailja Joshi, PepsiCo India’s potato chips category marketing director to learn more about the campaign:
What was the brief given to Wunderman Thompson for this campaign?
Lay’s has always been a youth-centric brand that is widely loved across the country for its irresistible taste and innovative flavors. Our innovation is well represented not only in our flavors but also in our brand campaigns, which guide us to create unique experiences that are tailored for our consumers.
Lay’s Gourmet is made from carefully selected; high quality potato that is designed for an experience that delights the senses. Thus, our brief for the agency focused on positioning Lay’s Gourmet as “Not just a chip, but a truly crafted experience” to make your snacking moments special.
Lay’s traditionally has a brand ambassador. Any reason to stray from one for the gourmet range?
Lay’s has executed iconic campaigns that have received encouraging responses from our consumers who enjoy and even relate to the theme of our youth-centric campaigns. In our campaigns, we have worked with many celebrities and brand ambassadors including Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ishaan Khatter and many more.
However, for our new Lay’s Gourmet range, we have taken a unique approach; The star of this campaign is Lay’s Gourmet with its three flavors.
How much of Lay’s sales do you expect from this category?
With the premium food segment witnessing steady growth, we are targeting high quality and premium outlets that will help Lay’s Gourmet reach the right consumer group. We are not limiting it to the value conscious consumer but diversifying it to a better and more premium layer of audiences. So while we may not be able to share an expected percentage, we do expect higher sales from the tier one markets.
The gourmet category is filled with local players. How will Lay’s get them?
While there are various players in the premium food category, we believe that Lay’s has long established itself as a brand that is loved by all for its irresistible taste and innovative flavors. Our market research coupled with strong consumer insights drew us to the category and we noticed that it was a fast growing segment for us.
We have penetrated the market with our latest offerings at INR 30 (55 grams) and INR 50 (80 grams) across all retail stores and e-commerce platforms in the country and will continue to position it as a unique treat , sensual, perfect. to celebrate through innovative flavors and powerful 360 degree surround campaign across multiple platforms.
Along with the film, what else does the campaign consist of?
Along with the film, Lay’s will bring the campaign to life through a powerful 360-degree surround campaign across multiple platforms. From TV, media to digital, including social media and influencer engagements, our powerful approach will connect with target audiences through the right touch points.