Emvies 2012: Managing 'sibling rivalry'

This was the idea behind an extensive media plan executed by Mindshare for chips brand Lays and Lays Baked, the new entrant into the category from the same parent company.

When PepsiCo's Lays came out with the baked variant of its flagship brand, it had a mammoth challenge in hand. The challenge was to create a space for itself in the market that was cluttered and at the same time had to ensure that the main brand does not negatively impact the new product's performance. The agency, Mindshare, had the task of coming up with an innovative media strategy that would ensure a smooth entry of the product into the market.

Mindshare presented its case, titled 'Managing a successful sibling rivalry', in the Best Media Strategy- Consumer Products category at the Emvies 2012 case study presentations.

The brief given to the agency was to create a strategy that differentiates Lays Baked from Lays without negatively impacting it. The strategy the agency came up with was simple - create a differentiator that will push the brand as a new entrant in the category instead of it being projected as a product variant or extension, so as to keep cannibalism of the brand at bay.

The concern for PepsiCo was that the health peg given to the new product could have an adverse effect on the existing product, which could be perceived as less healthy.

Extensive consumer research done by the agency revealed that 70 per cent of the lapsers are women, who are predominantly more concerned with health and weight. The insight from the research resulted in a strategy that was targeted at a new set of target audience - young women in the age group of 15-24 years who are go-getters and are health conscious. The agency decided to tap the digital medium in a big way to achieve its objective and devoted 20 per cent of the total marketing spends to digital, and 50 per cent to spreading brand messages through niche TV channels.

To make the product more visible, the agency chose to launch it through a fashion show instead of the accepted route of a press conference. The fashion show angle gave the brand a way to connect with the target group as it placated weight and health conscious women by implying that if the product was good for the models, it was good for them, too.

Television and digital campaigns were designed to drive women to cash in on the platforms to indulge in activities such as gossip, fashion and girl bonding. The brand came up with homepage innovations on major news websites that invited women to interact and gave them a platform to discuss and initiate conversation on topics of interest to them.

According to the agency, the campaign garnered tremendous response. Apart from ensuring a successful launch of Lays Baked, it created 70 per cent awareness and 64 per cent trial rate in the core target group. While bringing in new users to the fold, the brand campaign also managed an increased penetration for the portfolio by 15 per cent.

Addressing the major challenge of ensuring that the new product does not adversely impact the core brand, the agency managed to execute the campaign with zero cannibalisation on the sales volume of Lays. In fact, the campaign had a positive rub off on Lays' imagery, with 10-15 per cent statements like "Is different from other brands"; "Is modern, trendy and fashionable"; and "Is better for you".

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