Pack of chips to pack of smiles. Behind Lay’s’ change in communication strategy
The 90’s kids of today in India, will remember the 2 iconic brands that ruled the potato chips market at that time. One was with the iconic campaign and jingle,
“Bole mere lips, I love Uncle Chips”
and other equally promising was when Lay’s was Ruffles Lay’s and the main message was the indulgence that comes with eating potato chips
“Lay’s, no one can eat just one”
Lay’s was launched in India in 1995 and soon in the span of 5 years acquired it’s only competitor at that time “Uncle Chipps” and became the largest player in the Indian potato chip market.
Lay’s however did many things right in reaching where it is today, when it comes to India
Like any new brand must, Lay’s concentrated on getting the basics right and found their sweet spot early on. The basics being
- cracking the product-market fit upfront
- defined and pursued the right TG
- strong focus on communicating the right RTBs consistently
- innovated from time to time
- never compromised on product quality
Let’s learn about each of the above points in detail.
Cracking the “product-market fit” upfront
Lay’s did not enter with a simple copy paste solution for India neither did they do a me-too with the already existing competition. They entered with a plan. They understood the diversity in topography and taste buds both. At a time when Uncle Chipps only sold a classic and a spicy version of their potato chips, Lay’s slowly developed and marketed close to 7 flavours with their runaway hit being “Magic Masala”. A flavour name and product cannot get more Indian than that. The quality of chips was uncompromising, not just in taste but even the shape and the texture.
Identified and evolved their core target audience with time
Uncle Chipps, as is visible from their communication below did not concentrate on any particular single demographic. All they had going was an iconic jingle and great media money backing that jingle, which worked.
1999 — Kids and collectibles
Lay’s set their eyes straight on children and slowly over the years moved to youth. Again to jog back the memory of the 90s kids, we would all remember how Lay’s stormed into every child’s heart with the invincible collectible named TAZO
This 1999 article perfectly elucidates how importing these discs in a packet of chips was a strategy that turned out to be a masterstroke for Lay’s at that time which resulted in a 50% growth in sales and within 4 months of it’s launch there were close to 20 million “tazos” floating in the market.
To quote from the above article
PEPSICO has received kids’ letters from as far afield as Ferozpur and Patiala in the north, and Hubli and Davangere in the south. It has even set up a tazo redemption centre at its Gurgaon headquarters where pint-sized collectors can walk in and complete their sets by buying directly from the company. There are, in fact, enough cases of kids buying Lay’s and throwing the wafers away — after all, how much potato chips can a pre-adult homo sapiens have? — and keeping the tazo.
That was 1999, and there has been growing consciousness about marketing junk food to kids.
Lay’s as a product for children was never going to work long term. It had to seep into layers of indulgence, occasions and bonds that a pack of chips can be a part of. It had to go wider.
since then Lay’s has given their global “no one can eat just one” an Indian relevance with Saif Ali Khan and a strong cricket connection
2003 — No one can eat just one — India version
This was the launch of a long standing partnership of Lay’s with Saif Ali Khan and at a time where he was riding high with the successes of Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Salaam Namaste and Hum Tum. He was starting to relate to the average college going audience that Lay’s had decided to go after. Abig move from being just a brand for “kids” and distributing collectibles inside a pack of chips
Flavour : Lay’s proof of the pudding
It was not just about using a celebrity because there is one. Lay’s never rested on giving up the reason why people cannot have just one. They went deep into flavour marketing with Saif as the face of the brand.
From marketing it’s HERO flavour — Magic Masala
to crowdsourcing ideas for new flavours
or even asking people to vote for their favourite flavours
Lay’s commercials were always a slice of life tonal campaigns with a strong focus on their “reason to exist”. The variables kept changing as per the ongoing conversation, be it multiple cricket worldcups or IPL in 2003, 2007 or 2011 or an election in 2014 which became a part of the overall theme for the commercials
However, there was always one thing constant
Consistent communication of the product benefits
so even when it came to showing bonding and sharing that happens over food with a campaign like “Pal Banaye Magical” the amazing quality potatoes and flavours were given the credit.
or even when they decided to become the go-to snack for every occasion with “What’s the program?”
soon after, Ranbir Kapoor was onboarded to be the new face but it was like old wine in a new bottle as the overall theme remained focussed on bonding over chips and indulging because of it’s core RTBs which were interesting flavours and quality.
even when their tried and tested formula of Bollywood + Cricket was renewed with Ranbir Kapoor they did not give up on linking the same with their product
Why the sudden change in proven playbook in 2020?
and was the change required?
In the late 2019, Lay’s not only onboarded Alia Bhatt as their brand ambassador alongside Ranbir Kapoor but moved away from their tried and tested formula of bollywood + cricket + taste
In quite a radical change, Lay’s not only released a Bollywood styled choreographed and produced 3 minute song but also changed it’s packaging and took a positioning that does not talk about product benefits at all.
It tied up with close to 750 influencers to amplify this narrative of how a smile and sharing food is instant bonding. This was not just about influencers randomly posing but the packaging had each of the influencer’s smiles which got the users asking for their smiles to feature in Lay’s packaging.
It also uses travel as a theme, going away from cricket and home settings, highlighting that the biggest use case for chip consumption is while people are on the go and also a little more indulgent.
Apart from the communication, what becomes an integral part of the campaign concept is the change in packaging. Since the time they decided to include the TAZO collectible inside their packaging, it was clear that Lay’s wanted to focus on creating communities. While children at that time were easy to convince, it takes an additional effort to convince today’s selfie generation to make the brand as a part of their social media feed and story.
As of today, the #SmileDekeDekho on TikTok has around 40.5 B views.
Let’s break down on why this change
The market scenario is no longer the same in 2020. Lay’s now faces competition with not just the largely unorganised potato chip market but also new incumbents that have sprung up in the last 10 years have started to breathe down it’s share especially in smaller towns and tier 2 cities.
- Bingo
- Yellow Diamond
- Balaji Wafers
- Parle’s
- Haldirams
Some of the above brands also have the required star power in Salman Khan and Ayushman Khurana. In fact, Balaji Wafers just recently launched a “Fogg” like war against the age old social media meme of “Lay’s being more air and less chips”
The Balaji Wafers ad might be spot on with it’s simple communication however, come to think of it now would the millennial consumers be seen holding a pack of Balaji Wafers or Lay’s
or when you see an entire snacks aisle of your next door supermarket for a party at home, what would you rather pick up from the horde of options. Lay’s is beyond marketing it’s brand benefits, it now wants to become a lifestyle and this is in that direction.
To quote from a Business Standard article,
Fun, taste and indulgence, for years these are the brand attributes that PepsiCo India has projected onto its brand of chips. However, with consumption habits and concerns in a swirl, these are no longer seen to be sufficiently compelling characteristics, especially for bringing new, millennial consumers into the Lay’s fold.
As a brand which enjoys a good top of mind for “potato chips” and a proven sense of their product, this is a bold step and might also be in the right direction.
What do we know? What have we learned?
- Any new brand entering a “commodified” market needs to first establish a strong product market fit which Lay’s did with “Magic Masala” and other flavours
- Consistency in your product and promise to the right set of TG in the early days will help you build scale which Lay’s managed to achieve by banking on celebrity power and cricket
- Eventually, like all leader brands should do, paving the way to unlock new behaviour and consumption pattern
