Lays: Do Us A Flavor, 1

Credits & Description:

Category: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Media: TV, Online, Radio
Agency: OMD, Energy BBDO
Client: Frito Lay
Brand: Lay’s
Company: OMD, Energy BBDO, Chicago
Target: USA · North America
Group Account Director, PepsiCo Foods: Kristen Colonna, OMD
Group Director, Communications Planning: Stephen McKnight, OMD
Associate Director, Digital: Mandy Murawsky, OMD
Chief Marketing Officer, Frito Lay US: Ann Mukherjee, Pepsico
VP Marketing, Global Brands US: Ram Krishnan, Pepsico
Sr. Director of Marketing, Lay’s: Jennifer Saenz, Pepsico
VP, Creative Director: Jonathan Linder, Energy BBDO
VP, Director of Technology: Garth Bender, Energy BBDO
Digital Strategy Director: Zach Graham, Energy BBDO
Features: Apps, Ads and Sponsored Stories, Pages
Language: English (US)
Objectives: Awareness, Intent, Product Development
Tags: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), North America, USA, English (US), Apps, Ads and Sponsored Stories, Pages, Awareness, Intent, Product Development, TV, Online, Radio  
America’s love affair with Lay’s was long-standing, but younger snackers weren’t connecting with the brand. The 'Do Us A Flavor' promotion had been successful at engaging Lay’s consumers across the globe, but needed to be reinvented for a millennial consumer.
Tapping into our snackers’ social world, we asked them to come up with the next great Lay’s potato chip flavor on Facebook. We created an easy-to-use Facebook application centered around the user and their circle of friends. Submitting a new flavor was quick, simple, and social, and took less than a minute. At the end of the process, we gave people a way to show off their new flavor creation with their own personalized Lay’s bag.
People competed against their friends in 'Flavor Showdowns', and an 'I’d Eat That' button let fans broadcast their favorite flavors to the world. All these efforts helped make Lay’s top-of-mind—and top of feed—by putting Lay’s squarely in the social world where our target audience lives. Finally, fans competed to get their flavor on the shelf and judged by America in 2013, with a $1 million grand prize and ultimate fame!
Campaign Performance
“Why do I Care, Why Do I Share” was a guiding force in our strategy. Leveraging open graph in the creation of the app and the media strategy, we ensured the best creative design and media strategy drove success and scale.
The results blew us away: on sales, on participation, and on performance!
Lays, a $2.8 billion brand, saw a +1% increase in household penetration, and +2% increase among millennials, reversing a six-year trend of declining sales! On participation, this was the most successful DUAF in history, with over 3.62 million flavor submissions in 12 weeks, destroying the original goal of 1.3 million by three times!!!
US engagement on Lay’s Facebook Page has increased 4,500% year-over-year, especially with millennials. Lastly, Facebook media was the second highest growth driver, proving the effectiveness of social media on Facebook to drive purchase and sales!