Lay’s was under-indexed in spice bucket, in a country that loves spice

As the world’s biggest spice consumer, Indian’s take their spice seriously. Indian Gen-z is also increasingly seeking extra spicy flavours. But while the spice flavour was expanding in India and category players had ~32% share in spice flavour bucket; Lay’s was under indexed with only 18% share of the flavour bucket being spice. We needed to drive share in spice bucket and build further on flavour leadership.

Campaign Objectives:

A. Business Objectives:

A. Target: Get share of +2 PPS in spice bucket

B. Target: Gain market share of 1% of potato chips

B. Channel Expansion:

1. Target: Grow channel share by 1% in MT and 2x in e-com

C. Consumer Metrics:

1. Target: Get an incremental consumer reach of 5%

2. Target: Have an industry standard 0.2 CTR

What’s spicy enough for a nation that loves spice?

While our Sizzlin' Hot product was getting all set for India; we needed to deep dive into what the 'spice' and 'heat' meant and did to a spice loving nation.

Through consumer work we realized that snacks with disruptive levels of spiciness were being sought as ‘high spice tolerance’ is a marker of pride in India.

Thus, we decided to position Lay’s Sizzlin’ Hot, as the hottest new sensation showcasing the intense jolt of chilli which, while not for the faint-hearted, was also anchored on our brand code of irresistibility with our creative idea- TOO HOT TO STOP

Using the creative magnifier of ‘tears’ we wanted to shake up the market by creating a differentiated ‘teekha’ (spicy) experience while depicting light-hearted fun amongst friends- Just like other fun spicy moments that liven up their camaraderie and create joyful moments.

The opportunity to get Indian youth excited was right under our noses with Lay’s iconic, globally successful Flamin’ Hot flavour. The challenge was to launch it in a locally relevant way in a country with a legacy of spice.

We leveraged global learnings on Flamin’ Hot to lift & scale in India and renamed the platform, as Flamin’ Hot Trademark was unavailable in India. Thus, was born Lay’s Sizzlin’ Hot!

To maximize impact for our creative idea TOO HOT TO STOP, we used data-based segmentation to identify 3 most relevant consumer cohorts and created a content strategy to target them with personalized content:

1. Spicy Food Lover (17mn): Creatives that hit high notes of heat on India’s most popular streaming and lifestyle websites

2. Thrill Seekers (8mn): Assets that connoted gaming lingo from racing and shoot games

3. Young Online Gamers (90mn): Popular online gaming lingo during tournaments

Adding fire with a powerful connected content strategy through the hero, hub & hygiene model-

Hero:

• Teaser featuring Ranbir Kapoor in tears leading to high intrigue

• TVC to drive awareness, showcasing a never-before twist in an Indian wedding

• Visibility in biggest impact media properties in India like IPL, Kapil Sharma Show, and Satyamev Jayate etc.

Hub:

• Behavioral and psychographic segmentation using 1st party data to arrive at sharp consumer cohorts – Spice Lovers, Thrill seekers & Online Gamers

• Innovative format on YT Bumper Ads

• Shorties across social media to drive relevance

Hygiene:

• Exclusive launch with biggest e-com partner Swiggy

• Activated IPL on Qcom to drive occasion relevance

• Strong shelf presence in Modern Trade & Traditional Trade

Moment Marketing: Sparked a national conversation on April Fool’s Day about how an actual chilli was found in a Lay’s Sizzlin' Hot.

A. Business Performance:

1. Target: Get share of +2 PPS in spice bucket

Result: Gained share of +2.6 PPS to win in the spice bucket

2. Target: Gain market share of 1% of potato chips

Result: Swung a market share of 1% of potato chips in the first month alone!

B. Channel Expansion:

1. Target: Grow channel share by 1% in MT and 2x in e-com

Result: Channel share grew by 2% in MT and 3.5x in e-com

C. Consumer Metrics:

1. Target: Get an incremental consumer reach of 5%

Result: Had incremental reach of 10% by tapping into cord cutter cohort

2. Target: Have an industry standard 0.2 CTR

Result: Achieved 3x CTR with cohort targeting, surpassing industry standards