Lay’s® is a beloved American brand and the undeniable salty snack category leader. When people think of Lay’s, they immediately think of potato chips. But the brand wanted to expand consumers’ perceptions when considering Lay’s. We wondered… could we take an iconic brand like Lay’s and push it into new, culturally relevant territories that could break through to a consumer whose attention has become progressively harder to obtain?

The challenge was set, but matters were complicated as we found ourselves competing to accomplish this goal during one of the most crowded time frames of the year - the holiday season. How do we innovate an iconic 75-year-old chip brand that has made every potato chip form and flavor imaginable?

What if Lay’s took its one-of-a-kind proprietary potatoes and transformed them into something unexpected; a product to rival the iconicity and premium quality synonymous with Lay’s Potato Chips themselves. And just like that, Lay’s Vodka was born. From there, Lay’s moved swiftly to forge a partnership with Portland-based Eastside Distilling – a producer of high-quality, award-winning craft spirits – to develop its very own small batch, premium potato vodka.

An offering this noteworthy needed a packaging aesthetic to match the craft spirits inside. With Millennial consumers in mind, the design team took a sophisticated approach, delivering a premium, small batch look and feel for Lay’s Potato Vodka.

The label is beautifully foiled with Lay’s signature yellow central to the pack, showcasing the iconic logo embossed in a sleek black. The brand’s red accent color touts the use of Lay’s proprietary potatoes along with Eastside Distilling’s Portland Potato Vodka, which makes it wholly unique. A red-notched label on the lower portion of the bottle indicates Eastside as the distiller and highlights the small-batch statistics, reminding consumers they own a bottle of Lay’s Potato Vodka out of a run of just 1,300.

For this project, the design team also developed an exclusive influencer kit to promote this limited-time offer, complete with a beautifully branded golden-hued cocktail shaker to enhance the Lay’s Potato Vodka beverage-making experience. Lay’s leaned into Drop Culture to deliver its new vodka to the marketplace in a way that would generate maximum excitement for both consumers and the news media alike.

• 1.6B+ earned media impressions

• 115 media placements

• 90% of coverage includes 2+ key messages

• Lay's is the lead or featured brand in 94% of its coverage

• 88% of coverage included brand assets