Situation & Brief:

Lay’s is the category leader for potato chips in China. Normally, Lay’s would keep consumers keen through sampling new flavors.

However, our new “Lay’s Simply” was launched with 50% less saturated fat, but with nearly no difference in taste. So how do we make a complex and tedious R&D story sound interesting to consumers?

Communication & Marketing Objectives:

Lay’s hoped the launch of this new product innovation would build up awareness of Lay’s healthier image in higher-tier markets among the white collar segment through the key message of “50% less saturated fat”.

Lay’s Simply 2.0 contains 50% less saturated fat while retaining its original taste. So it’s hard to reveal the effort and ingenuity behind the creation of Simply 2.0 in an entertaining way.

Our strategic insight emerged organically in the post-COVID zeitgeist of Chinese youth. They actively questioned their role in a society that came to a standstill during the pandemic. With this in mind, we found a topic that young people today care deeply about, and through that, we showcased the effort behind the creation of Lay's Simply 2.0, and created resonance with Chinese youth.

We found influencers who have the attention and admiration of young people , and then raised a topic that young people care about, “Is It Worth the Unseen Effort?”

Data Gathering & TA: Existing and potential health-conscious consumers, especially the young white-collar segment working and living in high-tier cities.

By analyzing the demographic data of “Lay's Simply 1.0” in 2021 and 2022, third party data demonstrated that the higher tier is the main incremental source of “Lay’s Simply” volume. And the white collar segment accounts for 64% of demographic % of volume.

Relevance to Platform: We took TikTok as our main channel, where widespread discussion and buzz were generated due to young consumers’ social media behavior preference for short stand-up comedy clips.

Approach: We found influencers who have the attention and admiration of young people, and raised a topic that young people care deeply about.

Implementation: To shape public opinion, Lay’s Simply R&D staff teamed up with China’s top comedians from Rock & Roast, a show beloved by the young white collar segment. Together we created a short film and a Lay’s stand-up comedy show to share the tales of the potato chip craftsmen and the countless hours of unseen effort behind creating Lay’s simply 2.0.

Timeline: Our short film (brand video) “Is it Worth the Unseen Effort?” was released on Nov. 13th. Lay’s Stand-Up Comedy Show was released from Nov. 15th until Nov. 19th with 4 episodes in total.

Placement: Lay’s social media platforms including TikTok (as the main platform)，WeChat, Weibo and Kuaishou, as well as purchased online ads on TikTok and Kuaishou.

Our stand-up comedians/Influencers also posted on their Weibo accounts and participated in live-streaming to help drive consumer engagement and transactional conversion.

After the campaign’s launch, “Is It Worth the Unseen Effort” attained excellent performance among young consumers in terms of reach and engagement.

All data generated between Nov. 14th 2022 – Nov. 26th 2022.

1. The campaign improved the brand awareness of Lay’s with its core audience, increasing sales dramatically.

- Lay’s brand sales on TikTok e-commerce platform grew by 1000% prior to the launch.

- Lay’s brand sales on the T-Mall e-commerce platform increased by 222.3%.

2. The topic #Is It Worth the Unseen Effort has generated engagement of more than 26,500,000.

3. The topic #Is It Worth the Unseen Effort has more than 860,000,000 views and the brand video achieved more than 1 million likes on TikTok.

4. TikTok brand interest index (TA: those who spontaneously searched for brand information) clinched the number 1 spot in food & snack from Nov. 14th – Nov. 20th)