Dinnertime can be difficult. Ore-Ida, America’s favorite fry brand, knew this better than most, having helped countless families through this struggle for over 65 years. But the brand was in a precarious position. It was suffering from a severe supply crisis, new competitive entrants taking hold and modern parents being more tapped into nutrition than ever before. Compounding everything, they hadn’t advertised in over a year, so they were off shelves and out of mind.

Our objective was to relaunch the Ore-Ida brand in a powerful and distinct way. We needed to show how Ore-Ida's product superiority allows parents to regain the upper hand at mealtime, a moment when it feels impossible to make everyone happy.

Getting kids to eat is no easy task. It’s often a game of tactics, techniques and bribery. So to simplify the struggle, we turned this truth into a smarter, more socially acceptable way for parents to win at mealtime: Potato Pay, a new currency that turned Ore-Ida fries into bargaining chips. Simply pay your child the fries they love to eat for bites of the foods they don’t. We launched our unethical approach with an online film, website, TVC and social content that took a tongue-in-cheek approach to the subject of bribery. Pretty soon, our crispy currency was on everyone’s lips as we drove people online to TryPotatoPay.com to embrace the future of “frynance.” Here, the ins and outs of how to make a Potato Payment were unveiled, with all the tools and tips needed to begin transacting with your very own child and win back control.

We spoke to millennial parents across America to identify a credible role for the fry. A powerful tension surfaced: mealtime is their greatest daily struggle. It’s the one time of day that often ends in tears and tantrums and derails the rest of the evening.

Conversation centered on the intricate, frustrating and often funny ways in which parents would try to get their kids to eat their dinner. This uncovered a new insight around our audience: mealtime is a battleground and the central struggle is often control. Parents were constantly trying to convince their kids to eat, which meant the child was often in the power position.

While the category depicted ’50s-era aspirational mealtimes, we could connect with parents with a more honest and realistic approach. And Ore-Ida’s role could be more than a complement for modern meals—it could become a parent’s secret weapon to win back control.

To make an impact at launch, we introduced Potato Pay on National French Fry Day, releasing a shareable online film and supporting social content that celebrated this new “parenting payment technology.” To maximize reach against our target, we partnered with key parenting influencers, Scary Mommy and the Dad, who shared the film across their social handles. The film directed consumers to a dedicated landing page, TryPotatoPay.com, that unveiled all the tools and tips for making a Potato Payment, bespoke product demonstrations, a downloadable Mealtime Bribery Chart and coupons for trial. In addition, we supported socially optimized cut-downs of the film on social platforms—Facebook and Instagram—as well as Hulu and YouTube.

“Potato Pay” was celebrated online for its refreshing honesty. The campaign successfully reached our target audience of millennial families and resulted in 101M total video impressions, 10.1M video views and 2.8B earned impressions. Our sales increased by 1.40% while competitors decreased. For example, private label decreased by 1.40%, Restaurant Fries decreased by 0.24%, Alexia decreased by 0.16% and McCain decreased by 0.05%. While, Grown in Idaho, only saw a marginal increase of 0.05%. The campaign not only brought back heavy category users, accounting for 54% of sales, but also brought new consumers into the brand, with one-third of the sales coming from new and lapsed buyers. We successfully relaunched the Ore-Ida brand to a new wave of parents in a memorable and distinct way, becoming the number-one consumed frozen potato brand in 2018 and, most importantly, helped parents nationwide win back control.