Lay's delivers 'flavor trip' on social for travel-starved fans

Brief:

Lay's is giving social media users a chance to win potato chips with flavors that typically are only available in foreign countries. The PepsiCo-owned snack brand's "Lay's Flavor Trip" promotion can be found on its Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
Lay's is asking people to respond to its social media posts that ask which country they most want to visit, including Germany, Greece, Mexico or Thailand. Respondents can win flavors including beer and bratwurst from Germany, tzatziki from Greece, lime and sea salt from Mexico or Thai basil chili from Thailand.
The giveaway began on Aug. 20 and will last until the supplies run out, according to the announcement.

Insight:

The "Lay's Flavor Trip" promotion is designed to reach a target group of younger consumers who are more likely to eat snack foods and who use social media to follow their favorite brands. With about 6.5 million followers on Facebook, 960,000 on Instagram and 455,000 on Twitter, Lay's has a niche audience on social media that's most likely to engage in the campaign to win limited-edition flavors.

The move follows the brand's numerous other campaigns to introduce new flavors that get people talking on social media and maintain interest in the brand. Lay's last month introduced five flavors inspired by food from famous restaurants in different cities, while also donating money to help those restaurants support their respective communities. The "Flavor Icons" include "New York Style Pizza" inspired by Grimaldi's Pizzeria in New York and "Carnitas Street Taco" based on food from El Torito in Los Angeles. Specially marked bags including those of other Lay's flavors give people a chance to win $1,000, per a separate announcement.

Lay's "Flavor Trip" campaign on social media arrives after other recent efforts targeting a younger audience. Lay's snacks this year were featured throughout "Endless," a docu-series on photo-messaging app Snapchat. The brand also created six-second, non-skippable ads that ran throughout the season. Before that, it ran a marketing campaign to coincide with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League tournament, which was subsequently rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lay's also promoted new flavors in a campaign integrated with the season debut of NBC reality-competition show "The Voice" that urged viewers to visit a website and answer trivia questions to win prizes.

Frito-Lay has been a bright spot for parent company PepsiCo this year as consumers in the pandemic's early days loaded their pantries with snack foods and ate at home more often. Frito North America, which markets the Lay's brand in the U.S., saw 6% organic sales growth in Q2 from a year earlier, a quarterly report notes. The gain contrasted with PepsiCo's 3.1% revenue decline as fewer people bought soft drinks at restaurants or convenience stores, management said in a call with analysts. PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said he expected the snacks business to remain resilient through the rest of the year.