Lay's debuts 8 regionally-inspired flavors for 'Tastes of America' tour

Dive Brief:

PepsiCo's Lay’s brand is releasing eight new chip flavors inspired by popular foods representing different parts of the country for the “Tastes of America” campaign, per details provided to Marketing Dive. The campaign marks the most new chip flavors that the brand has released at one time.
Lay’s is debuting the new flavors starting in late July, when the brand kicks off the Tastes of America Tour. The brand is visiting local food festivals across the country, starting with Bite of Seattle on July 20. YouTube creator and Food Network star Hannah Hart will make appearances along the tour. The new regional flavors will be available in stores through September 23 and can be pre-ordered online at laystastesofamerica.com, where consumers will also have a chance to win daily prizes.
New flavors include Cajun Spice inspired by the Gulf Coast, Chile Con Queso inspired by the Southwest, Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice representing the Mid-Atlantic, Deep Dish Pizza of the Heartland, Midwest-inspired Fried Pickles with Ranch, New England Lobster Roll, Pimento Cheese representing the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest-inspired Thai Sweet Chili. Lay’s is also bringing back some of its past regional flavors, including Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries, Ketchup in the Northeast and Wavy Fried Green Tomato in the Southeast.

Dive Insight:

Lay’s marketing approach seems to be targeting millennials, who are known as foodies and are regular food festivalgoers. Younger audiences also have diverse palates and appreciate spicy and exotic flavors. The “Tastes of America” tour and food festival visits will give millennials the chance to try the new flavors and encourage them to snap photos of the product to post on social media.

Hannah Hart, known for her comical “My Drunk Kitchen” YouTube series, where she prepares recipes while intoxicated, seems like a well-suited partner for promoting Lay’s quirky chip flavors. Lay’s also has an opportunity to tap into her large following of 2.5 million YouTube subscribers to drive social media engagement and sales of the limited-edition chips. Hart recently partnered with Glad on an upside-down cooking video.

Lay’s “Tastes of America” is the brands latest attempt at coming up with unique limited-edition flavors intended to drive excitement and sales. The “Do Us a Flavor” competition launched in 2012 to give fans the chance to suggest new flavors for the chance to win prizes. With Tastes of America, Lay’s is releasing more flavors than ever and broadening its marketing approach to include a nationwide tour, food festival activations and a popular food influencer to engage fans in real life.

Highlighting the unique flavors of America is a trend other packaged food brands are embracing. This week, deli foods brand Dietz & Watson launched “All-Star Dogs,” which features recipes for 30 different hot dogs inspired by Major League Baseball teams and their city’s local flavor.