Consumers to lead new Lays campaign

PEPSICO   CAMPAIGNS   AFAQS

India - PepsiCo's snack food division, FritoLay India has announced the launch of 'Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour' campaign for its branded salty snack, Lays.

Under what FritoLay India is touting to be one of its biggest ever consumer outreach programmes, consumers will get the opportunity to decide the next flavour of Lays' potato chips.

In the first phase of an eight-month long engagement programme, consumers will send in their entries, suggesting flavours. Four winning flavours will be selected by a panel of judges - comprising Aditya Bal, celebrity chef; Anuja Chauhan, vice-president and executive creative director, JWT; and TSR Murala, director, research and development, PepsiCo India.

In the second phase, the four winning entries will be launched in the market and the eventual winner will be decided by consumers, who will vote for the best flavour.

While the four selected entries will each win Rs 5 lakh, the winning flavour, which will be launched by the end of May 2010, will fetch the entrant Rs 50 lakh and 1 per cent of the sales turnover.

"The campaign is unique, because the winning flavour will be from the consumer and by the consumer. With this, we are giving the consumers a right to procreate," Deepika Warrier, marketing director, PepsiCo India, Frito-Lay India division told afaqs!.

The initiative also brings to memory a similar campaign for Kurkure, another snack food brand from the company, wherein consumers were asked for recipes, and the winning entrant's family was featured on packets of the snack.

"That was our first step into a campaign like this. This one is a more confident move," Warrier said.

The campaign is being supported by a 360-degree marketing mix, consisting of television commercials, radio, online, outdoor and print advertising.

The new creative for the campaign features brand ambassador, actor Saif Ali Khan. With the thematic thought, 'Be a Little Dillogical', the commercial shows Khan being pursued by consumers, whose bodies are painted with their flavour ideas. As they demand that Khan pick their flavour, he turns around and tells them to not suggest the flavour to him, but to Lays.

"India has got a chance to get their own flavour. I am excited to find out how the campaign will go. From the entries coming in, to the four flavours in the market and in the end where India votes for one winning flavour, it has all the ingredients of a great thriller," Khan said in a press statement.

The creative agency for the brand is JWT, while Mindshare handles the media duties.

The expenditure on the campaign could not be ascertained; but Warrier says that the company is investing a "significant amount" into 'Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour'.

Afaqs