Research showed that while other spicy chip brands existed in the intense chip category, they fell short of delivering the complexity and creativity that multicultural Gen Z Canadians were seeking, leaving the snack aisle uninspired and boring.

The brief was to create and launch an intense flavoured snack brand for Frito Lay Canada, their first brand launch in over 10 years. HAVOC was a brand built for multicultural Gen Z Canadians who are looking for intense, multisensorial and multicultural flavours.

When creating the brand, we knew we needed to make an impact with a launch that wouldn’t break the bank. As the first new brand Frito Lay Canada has launched in 10 years, the pressure was high to make an impact. We needed a stunt that would drive awareness and trial. Because once we gave people a taste, we knew they would love the complex flavours and variety of textures.

The HAVOC brand was built on a single insight; Gen Z was born into chaos. A time of information overload, when everything has been seen, done and over-explained… Gen Z wanted something new. Something unexplained and unimaginable that they could call their own. Tapping into that insight, we set out to create a phenomenon with the launch. Dropping a never before seen brand launch out of Nowhere.

On Leap Day (an ancient calendar phenomenon) we unleashed HAVOC by dropping a 15-foot monolith in the middle of Nowhere. Literally. We found a place called Nowhere; an island in Ontario, Canada. Then, we streamed the landing live across OOH at Yonge Dundas Square without any explanation. Just when everyone’s interest was peaked, we opened the monolith to unveil HAVOC inside, leaving Canadians stunned. The monolith wreaked HAVOC on headlines and chaos in the media by appealing to Gen Z’s sense of imagination.

Gen Z was born with every answer at their fingertips, creating a fascination with the unimaginable and unexplained. Tapping into that insight, we created an “out of this world” earned media moment to announce the launch of HAVOC and send a message: HAVOC is a never before seen snack brand that is out-of-this-world.

We purposely selected a day that was born out of chaos, Leap Day. Then we dropped a 15-foot monolith (a structure that has always sparked supernatural fascination) in a place with a name too unbelievable to exist… Nowhere, Ontario.

To expand reach, the landing was streamed live on OOH at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. Oh… and we didn’t explain any of it, as if the monolith appeared out of nowhere. On Leap Day, the monolith opened to reveal HAVOC snacks. By leveraging Gen Z’s fascination with the unimaginable and unexplained, HAVOC created a phenomenon in the media

On Leap Day, a calendar phenomenon, we dropped a 15-foot monolith in the middle of Nowhere, Ontario (a place that shouldn’t exist). We streamed the landing live on screens at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto with zero explanation. When everyone’s interest was peaked, the monolith opened to unveil HAVOC, leaving Canadians stunned. Although it stood for 24 hours, it stayed in the headlines for days and led to a massive media impression.

With a small budget and big aspirations, we created a phenomenon by leveraging Gen Z’s fascination with the unexplained. We could have done another :30 spot like other brands, but that wouldn’t have moved the needle for Gen Z. The monolith created a phenomenon in the media by capturing over 250 million earned impressions. After hitting 50% of our total annual sales goal in just 7 weeks, we were forced to cancel sampling because we didn’t have enough product.

Once we unleashed the HAVOC brand in Canada, there was no going back. Our monolith PR launch stunt earned 251,557,999 total earned media impressions, plus 422 total earned editorial hits (including wire and unique hits). From national news outlets to Nowhere Island’s local newspaper, The Fort Frances Times, people across Canada took notice of the monolith launch and traced its source to discover HAVOC.

Our Gen Z-focused strategy paid off, earning HAVOC a TikTok engagement rate that was 4,812.83 times better than benchmark average, leading HAVOC to become the #1 most followed PepsiCo brand on TikTok in Canada.

What’s even crazier? After hitting 50% of our total annual sales goal only 7 weeks following our launch, we we’re forced to cancel our sampling program because we didn’t have enough product.

We took a massive bite out of the category market share, gaining over 12 share points in the Total Intense Chip Category.

Now that Gen Z Canadians have had a taste of HAVOC snacks, there’s no telling where it’ll go next.