Dive Brief:

• Tostitos, the brand of tortilla chips marketed by PepsiCo's Frito-Lay snacks unit, is promoting its new spicy habanero pepper flavor with a multichannel campaign starring comedic actors Kate McKinnon and Dan Levy. The "For the Love of Chips and Dip" effort for Tostitos Habanero — billed as the brand's spiciest chip yet — includes an upcoming augmented reality (AR) lens on Snapchat and TV commercial, per an announcement.
• The campaign creative is inspired by the idea of having unforgettable moments with friends, as McKinnon and Levy try to one-up each other in their humorous descriptions of how eating Tostitos Habanero chips makes them feel. Tostitos posted a preview of the commercial on its YouTube channel.
• Hoping to engage younger consumers, Snapchat users can try to one-up their friends with an interactive AR lens in the photo-messaging app starting April 6. Tostitos Habanero is now available at retailers nationwide, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Tostitos is offering a humorous take on the spice level of its new habanero-flavored tortilla chips with its "For the Love of Chips and Dip" campaign starring Kate McKinnon from "Saturday Night Live" and Dan Levy from "Schitt's Creek." In addition to raising awareness for the product with its TV commercial, the brand seeks to engage younger consumers with its interactive AR lens on Snapchat. As app users share messages with each other using the lens, Tostitos can extended the exposure to its branding and integrate it with social media conversations.

PepsiCo's Frito-Lay this year has ramped up its marketing efforts with higher-profile campaigns. Last month, it launched the first TV campaign for its Ruffles brand of ridged potato chips in almost a decade, and partnered with Boston Celtics all-star Jayson Tatum on the release of Ruffles Flamin' Hot BBQ. The same month, Frito-Lay for the first time ran three commercials during the Super Bowl with spots for Doritos, Cheetos and its portfolio of snack brands. A month earlier, Frito-Lay brought back a cone-shaped version of Doritos that had been discontinued in the mid-2000s, as consumers sought familiar brands and comfort foods from the pre-pandemic era.

With the campaign, Frito-Lay seeks to maintain sales momentum for its snack brands, which saw stronger growth last year as homebound consumers spent more time cooking their own meals during the pandemic. With the economy reopening as more than 2.5 million people a day get vaccinated for COVID-19, consumer habits are likely to shift again, though it's unclear how many people will revert to their former habits of going out to eat. Much of the shift will depend on how often people continue to work from home, even if it's a few days a week. Seventy-three percent of workers worldwide want flexible remote work options to stay, Microsoft found in a study released this week.

Amid rising demand for snack foods, Frito-Lay has helped parent company PepsiCo to drive higher sales and earnings. The company's profit rose 4.5% from a year earlier to $1.85 billion in Q4 as revenue climbed 8.8% to $22.46 billion. Frito-Lay North America saw 5% growth in organic sales, but its operating profit slipped amid higher costs and restructuring charges, per its quarterly report.