Lay’s Iconic Restaurant Flavours

1. Market situation

Lay's is market leader in Salty Snacks in Belgium and in the potato chips segment which represents the vast majority of Salty Snacks. However, the market is saturated and competition is fierce, especially within that segment. Cheaper private labels (supermarket own brands) are competing with premium brands by introducing new flavours in quick response to the most successful flavours on the market.

Flavour being the first category driver, it was essential for Lay's to focus on elevating its flavour credentials delivering unique flavour experience and drive variety and dynamism within the category.

Lay's has always been a frontrunner when it comes to flavour. However, consumers are increasingly unwilling to pay more and private labels are gaining ground at the expense of the A-brands and therefore Lay's brand.

2. Objectifs

Despite these tough challenges, we started from an equally strong ambition. Our main objective was to strengthen our leadership position by 1) driving consumer engagement, 2) boosting brand penetration and 3) gaining market share. Plus, we wanted to outperform successful introductions in recent years.

To achieve this, we needed to market the new flavours impactfully, ensuring mass awareness and appeal whilst actively involving consumers and ideally generate free publicity (word-of-mouth).

3. Strategy

We know from research that 'eating-out' is a big, growing and appealing occasion, even bigger in younger target audiences in Belgium. Yet due to the covid-19 pandemic, it has been impacted severely and Belgians missed the food, the taste and the social excitements they bring and are craving for.

Therefore we decided to turn a bag of Lay's crisps into a restaurant food experience – by bringing the most-loved crisps and iconic global restaurant signature dishes together to ensure everyone can enjoy their favourite flavours anytime, everywhere!

Together with our partners, we created 3 new distinctive and exciting flavours :

• Lay's KFC^® Original Recipe Chicken
• Lay's Pizza Hut^™ Margherita
• Lay's Subway^® Teriyaki

The introduction goes beyond simply launching new flavours in Belgium: it is an unprecedented co-branding that maximizes the power of the brands involved. We wanted to remain relevant and to keep the dialogue with the consumer throughout the year. Therefore we created a brand-new launch strategy for Lay's: a true consumer-oriented strategy with several phases to create buzz, drive awareness and maximize consumer engagement. We built a 'Crescendo' campaign: we started by seeding/teasing, then amplifying, engaging to finally end with a big reveal. Our focus was on creating enough impact and keeping a consistent approach across multiple channels and touchpoints.

In every phase, we leveraged our iconic power of 4 (Lay's + the 3 partner brands): from using the iconic brand assets on our packaging or communication materials and our media touchpoints selection to the banter with our partners on social media.

Phase 1: Tease

We opted for a completely different approach: starting the campaign before the flavours even hit the shelves. A tease phase was implemented to arouse consumer interest and involve them in the campaign as early as possible.

Phase 2: Launch & drive to purchase

For a successful launch, we did not only have to raise awareness but also spark enthusiasm for the individual flavours across different audiences. We combined TV with OOH and the relevant digital channels for maximum reach and impact, based on the media consumption of our target audiences. This was complemented by impactful advertising on fully branded trams in Brussels and Antwerp aimed at the young and urban target audiences.

The on-pack promo offering a 2-for-1 meal deal generated traffic to the partner restaurants once they were allowed to re-open. Lay's crisps were also sold there for the first time, an extra touchpoint to increase our physical availability and visibility.

Phase 3: Sustain & engage

In the 3rd phase, Belgians could vote and decide which flavour would stay in our assortment. We generated engagement and traffic to the Lay's landing page through TV, digital channels and social media. We also created interactive formats that allowed users to interact with the advertisement directly. In addition, we asked well-known Belgian influencers to engage their followers using Instagram Stories. Consumers were able to impact Lay's assortment but they could also win iconic and unique co-branded merchandising.

Phase 4: Reveal

After three months of voting it was time to reveal Belgium's winning flavour. After a brief teaser period we announced the winning flavour: Lay's Pizza Hut Margherita via high impact digital ads and social media. And last but not least, we unveiled the winning iconic flavour with an equally iconic fashion item: The Lay's Crispy Puffer Jacket - the first jacket made entirely from recycled crisp bags and filled with real Lay's Pizza Hut Margherita crisps. We even exhibited the jacket in a Pizza Hut restaurant, where it was raffled among loyal fans.

4. Results

This introduction surpassed our ambitious objectives and expectations. The factory was unable to meet demand and supermarkets were reporting out-of-stocks as early as the first week. On social media, people were asking and sharing tips on where to find the products. Even supermarkets themselves shared the availability of the flavours on their own social media.

We reached a never seen before penetration level in a very short period (i238 vs objective). Despite Lay's already high penetration in Belgium, we were even able to attract new exclusive buyers to the brand. In addition to that, we sold 23% more than the total number of crisp bags sold during the successful Lay's 'Maak je Smaak' campaign (Belgian Golden Effie in 2012).

Moreover, 2/3 of the volume has been incremental to Lay's, mainly sourced from PL, and almost 25% incremental to the salty snacks category. In addition to this, Lay's increased its potato chips market share with +0,9PP!

The campaign was distinctive and highly successful. We outperformed all benchmarks, such as campaign awareness (i126) and campaign activation (i265). Meaning the campaign received a lot of attention and linked exceptionally well to the Lay's brand, which is always a risk factor in co-branding.

The campaign also managed to generate free publicity and involve people in other ways. It totalled more than 27,7 million impressions and a 9,8 million reach in PR, resulting in a very high ROI (i322). Even a starred Belgian cook decided to taste and give a score to the flavours generating a lot of free visibility with a reach of more than 1 million!

According to Nielsen, Lay's Iconic Restaurant Flavours has been the most successful innovation in sales value within Food in Belgium in 2021 and holds second place in the top 30 value sales ranking within food over the past 5 years. That is what we call - iconic!