Lay's Local

We cracked the code on mass customization with a concept for Lay's that was close to home.

THE CHALLENGE

Lay’s potato chips are an American icon. No picnic or party is complete without a bag of potato chips, and they are a staple in 70% of homes. But Lay’s core business, along with potato chips sales in general, have been slipping. Dragged down by the weight of health and wellness concerns, Lay’s, the leader in the potato chips category, had become a symbol for junk food. At the same time, threats from private label and regional competitors were intensifying. In order to thrive in the face of a trend for healthier foods, Lay’s needed to reconnect emotionally with target consumers, specifically females 35-44, and to do this we needed to reposition the brand.

THE SOLUTION

Our team discovered that Lay’s grows potatoes in 28 states and makes them in 22. Until that point, this was another fun fact at Frito-Lay, but weknew we had a core ingredient for a new, emotional connection.We created the Lay’s Local campaign, which educated consumers on the fact that Lay’s potato chips are made from real potatoes and Lay’s is part of local communities across America.

Lay’s Local Core Idea: Leverage the rising local movement by positioning Lay’s as the potato chip that’s part of the local community by communicating that Lay’s is made locally from real potatoes, grown by local farmers.

The Lay’s Local promotion objectives included:

1. Change consumer perceptions by increasing awareness of Lay’s local credentials:

• Lay’s grows potatoes in 28 states

• Lay’s makes potato chips in 22 states

• Lay’s employs people in all 50 states

2. Drive business results - grow sales and potato chip share

3.  Increase Frito-Lay field and retailer excitement for maximum support, involvement and incremental space in-store.

We told our local story through 3 tiers of claims, customized to every state/region across America:

• Tier 1: Proudly Supporting STATE NAME HERE Farmers

• Tier 2: Proudly Made in STATE NAME HERE

• Tier 3: Proudly Supporting STATE NAME HERE

 These messages were conveyed to consumers from via:

• 42,000+ customized thematic in-store displays

• 6 TV spots (1 national and 5 regional)

• 78 billboards in 15 states

• 90MM+ PR impressions

• 65+ Regional customer ads

• 100+ community events

• A chip tracker website that enabled consumers to enter their bag code to find out where their chips were made; along with showing the locations of our 80+ farms across the country

THE RESULTS

The Lay’s Local campaign made Lay’s the strongest performing brand in the Frito-Lay portfolio and helped Frito-Lay earn the title of Fastest Growing CPG Company in the U.S. by Candy and Snack Today.

Lay’s Local succeeded in changing consumer perceptions: Of the general population unaware of the campaign, 27% agreed with the message: “Lay’s celebrates their local farmers, while 37% of the population aware of the campaign, agreed with the message, resulting in a 10% change.

Lay’s Local drove unprecedented business results for Lay’s:

• 127% to Net Sales YAG on Lay’s XXL

• 122% Unit Growth

• 111% Pound Growth

• 106% Perimeter Pound Growth

• 1.7 Pts of Potato Chip $ Share Growth

• The entire Frito-Lay North America portfolio reversed a 15-month trend of perimeter display losses

• Lay’s Local became the largest activation in Frito-Lay history with unprecedented field and retailer excitement and involvement

• We caught the lightning of “local,” exactly when retailers wanted to fill their store with the local store: Over 400 different pieces of POS, shipped across 16 regions during 5 periods

• Unprecedented regional partnerships and communication: Best in class communication coupled with regional flexibility (regions were allowed to choose activation tactics)

• Activated with untapped key regional customers that rarely get headquarter support with over 65 executions with Roundy’s, Harris Teeter, Save Mart, etc.

• We cracked the code on Frito-Lay mass customization