Dhoni in a Lay’s appearance

MS Dhoni’s talent refuses to confine itself to a cricket ground any more. The cricketer is becoming quite a brand sensation, too. At the moment, you can see him fighting for his share of space in the television commercial for the new flavours of Lay’s, the snack brand of Frito-Lay, along with actor Saif Ali Khan. Khan has been the face of Lay’s for a while now.

In the new TVC for the promotion of two new Lay’s flavours, Dhoni and Khan are shown supporting Balsamic Blast and Spunky Pimento, respectively. The marketing campaign, called Fight for Your Flavour, has both Dhoni and Khan asking people to vote for their favourite flavour through SMS (to vote for Dhoni's Balsamic Blast one has to SMS FFFD to 09972040000, and to vote for Khan's Spunky Pimento, one needs to SMS FFFS to the same number) as well as online on www.whatstheprogram.com.

JWT was asked to come up with a creative with two aims: to launch the two new flavours and create awareness about the unique marketing initiative, Fight for Your Flavour, which, for the first time, gives consumers the right to choose which product they would like to see in the market.

This is Dhoni’s first association with the brand. Ruchira Jaitly, vice-president, marketing, Frito-Lay, says, “Dhoni’s pan-Indian appeal, confident, can-do attitude and responsible yet fun image make him one of India’s most loved youth icons. The challenge for the agency team was to introduce Dhoni, the new brand ambassador, and establish this unique consumer engagement initiative with some standout for the brand’s creative – in both on-air media and on-ground and digital media. Considerable time was spent detailing each activity and ensuring that every creative delivered against the creative idea: ‘Use your tongue!’”

Lay’s is known for its consumer centric innovations, which are a strong growth driver in terms of both the core brand and the incremental value each new carefully selected product brings to the portfolio, says Jaitly.

Lay’s potato chips come in several flavours. Magic Masala, Spanish Tomato Tango, American Sour Cream and Onion and Classic Salted were the first lot. Chaat Street was launched in 2005. Lay’s Wafer Style, the premium range in two flavours, Hint of Butter and Toasted Garlic and Hint of Roasted Red Chilli and Coriander, were launched in 2006 for adult consumers. In 2007, a summer flavour, Mint Mischief, was launched. In February 2008 came Lay’s Stax, a premium brand in six international flavours, Salted Solo, Cajun Beats, Cream ‘n’ Cheese Crave, Cheese Jalapeno Jive, Paprika Pizzaz and Salsa Swing.

This isn’t the first time Lay’s has brought in an ambassador to launch a new variant. In 2005, Chaat Street was brought into the market with Bollywood actors Preity Zinta and Rahul Khanna, along with permanent brand ambassador, Saif Ali Khan.

Lay’s and Khan have had an extremely strong and fruitful association; he is an intrinsic part of the Lay’s brand communication DNA.

Jaitly says, “As we have seen in the past, bringing on a new celebrity adds news to the brand and helps to drive a connect with consumers on specific marketing programmes. We hope to build a strong connect between Lay’s and Dhoni going forward and will continue to leverage the relationship.”

Lay’s is looking at a 360 degree campaign, including thematic TVCs, the Internet, radio, modern trade, SMS and interactive activation at 50 locations across India.

Jaitly adds, “The uniqueness of the concept – Fight for Your Flavour – lies in the high engagement that it brings for the consumer who can vote and make himself heard. Hence, the scale alternative media plans on radio, Internet and digital.”

While Frito-Lay continues to support the campaign with heavy spends on TV, the Lay’s communication will comprise alternative and new media in order to make it more engaging.

As for Dhoni, his basket seems to be full these days. In addition to Lay’s, the cricketer is endorsing Pepsi, Videocon, Exide Battery, Godrej Sara Lee’s Brylcreem, Reebok, Sonata, Big Bazaar and Reliance Communications. Whew!