Why PepsiCo India ditched celebrities for Lay's Gourmet campaign debut

PepsiCo India has launched a premium slow-cooked kettle chip brand, Lay's Gourmet, accompanied by a new promotional film conceptualised by Wunderman Thompson.

Through the film, Lay's aims to highlight that Lay's Gourmet is not a regular chip. The film shows a young tourist outside a palace. While doing so, he takes out a packet of Lay's Gourmet. Two guards see that and confiscate his pack and escort him into the palace. In the palace, he's handed a jacket and made to look formal, as he's being served these premium chips alongside the queen. The film ends with the queen saying: 'This is not just chips, it’s Lay’s Gourmet'.

Campaign India caught up with Shailja Joshi, the director of marketing for PepsiCo India's potato chips category to learn more about this campaign:

What was the brief given to Wunderman Thompson for this campaign?

Lay’s has always been a youth-centric brand that is widely loved across the nation for its irresistible taste and innovative flavours. Our innovation is well-represented in not only in our flavours but also our brand campaigns, which guides us to create unique experiences that are tailor-made for our consumers.

Lay’s Gourmet is made from carefully selected; high quality potatoes that is crafted for an experience that delights the senses. Thus, our brief to the agency focused on positioning Lay’s Gourmet as “Not just a chip but a truly crafted experience” for making your snacking moments special.

Lay's traditionally has a brand ambassador. Any reason for steering clear of one for the gourmet range?

Lay’s has executed iconic campaigns that have received heartening response from our consumers who enjoy and even relate to the youth-centric theme of our campaigns. In our campaigns, we have worked with multiple leading celebrities and brand ambassadors including Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ishaan Khatter and many more.

However, for our new range of Lay’s Gourmet, we have taken a distinct approach; The star of this campaign is Lay’s Gourmet with its three flavours.

How much of Lay's sales do you expect from this category?

With the premium snacking segment witnessing a steady growth, we are targeting high quality and premium outlets which will help Lay’s Gourmet reach the right set of consumers. We are not limiting it to the value-conscious consumer but diversifying to a finer and more premium strata of audiences. So, while we may not be able to share an expected percentage, we are expecting higher sales from tier one markets.

The gourmet category is filled with local players. How will Lay's take them on?

While there are various players in the premium snacking category, we believe that Lay’s has long established itself as a brand that is loved by all for its irresistible taste and innovative flavours. Our market research along with strong consumer insights drew us to the category, and we noted that it was a niche yet a fast-growing segment for us to tap into.

We’ve penetrated the market with our latest offerings at INR 30 (55 grams) and INR 50 (80 grams) across all retail stores and e-commerce platforms in the country and will continue to position it as a unique, sensorial treat, perfect to celebrate through innovative flavours and robust 360-degree surround campaign across multiple platforms.

Along with the film, what else does the campaign consist of?

Along with the film, Lay’s will bring the campaign to life through a robust 360-degree surround campaign across multiple platforms. From TV, media to digital including social media and influencer engagements, our robust approach will connect with the intended audience through the right touchpoints.