Lay’s Cola Chicken was a flavour innovation that expertly married Pepsico.’s two flagship brands; Pepsi and Lay’s. The campaign was the first of its kind that brought together two brands in a single campaign.

To appeal immediately to the target, the commercial featured well-known celebrities from each brand, creating an element of surprise as viewers expecting to see one brand featured in the ad, saw both.

A teaser introduced the concept and left viewers in suspense as the stars, who were romantically involved, had a falling out.

A website then encouraged viewers to exercise their creative side and write how they imagined the story to unfold. Other users voted on their favourite story, which became the basis for the actual TV commercial.

At the same time, for every pack of Lay’s sold, 0.1 RMB was donated to building libraries for impoverished children in rural China.

17.9 million people saw and shared the teaser, more than 40 million people saw the viral film and participation on the website exceeded targets by 53%.

As a result of the campaign, more than 4 1/2 million posts about Lay’s Cola Chicken were shared on China’s microblog platform.

Sales exceeded targets by 99%, shifting more than 40 million packs of Lay’s Cola Chicken potato chips within the campaign period, meaning that over 4 million RMB was donated to building children’s libraries in rural China.