Consumer campaign earns better dividends for Lay's than brand campaign

Lay's has changed its focus from brand campaigns to scale engagement. The trend started in 2008 with Lay's, 'Fight for your Flavour' campaign, followed by the 'Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour' campaign in 2009.

Lay's, the potato chips brand of PepsiCo India, has shifted focus to consumer engagement programmes through scale engagement, rather than brand programmes. The trend started in 2008, with Lay's 'Fight for your Flavour' campaign. Consumers were asked to vote for a flavour of their choice. The flavour which won maximum votes continued to be in the market. In 2009, Lay's launched the 'Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour' campaign. Spread over three phases, the campaign, in its first phase, asked consumers across the country to send in their entries between November 2009 and January 2010. Four winning flavours were selected by a panel of celebrity judges.

Lay's has once again launched its consumer engagement campaign, this time, in an effort to engage the consumer in the forthcoming Cricket World Cup. The company has launched six flavours for the mega sports event -- Australia's Herb 'n' Lime, South Africa's Peri Peri Sauce, Sri Lanka's Sweet Onion Sauce, England's Grilled Cheese, West Indies' Hot & Sweet Chilli and New India's Magic Masala. With this, Lay's has also launched its 'Be a fan' campaign.

Says Ruchira Jaitly, executive vice-president, Frito-Lay India, "We have gradually realised over the years that rather than a simple brand campaign, scale engagement programmes such as 'select your flavour', supported by other mediums, help in attracting more attention. For example, 'Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour' campaign, which was highly successful, received 1.3 million entries. Consumers are no longer interested in watching a simple brand story. They would rather be a part of it in some way."

'Be a Fan' campaign has been launched in three phases and will continue for 13 weeks. The first phase includes three teaser campaigns which have been on air for a while now. The second phase comprises the launch campaign, which includes a television commercial and an on-ground activation programme, in which consumers can visit Lay's mobile vans and booths, taste the flavours and later vote for their favourite flavour through an SMS to 9880298802, call 18002098802 or write to beafan@laysflavourcup.com. The second phase of the campaign will be rolled out through outdoor, print and digital media, a page on Facebook and a televison commercial.

The third and the last phase of the campaign will have 49 winners who will have the honour of walking with the captains of the teams playing at each match during the tournament. Says Jaitly, "The World Cup has 49 matches. Each time a match is played, one of the 49 winners will walk into the field with the captains. The winners will also get the chance to watch the match live and share their experiences on the Facebook page."

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