Campaign: Love to Love It
Brand: Lay’s
Company: PepsiCo India
Agency: JWT
Chandni.Mathur@expressindia.com
The Ad
The TVC opens with a breathless Ranbir Kapoor missing his ferry. Watching the situation from afar, a boatman agrees to take him to his destination. Once on the boat, Kapoor starts enjoying his pack of Lay’s, which tempts the boatman and he tries to reach out for it. However, Kapoor refuses to share. They break into a mimed quarrel with the boatman ultimately yanking a rope and using the mast to throw Kapoor off board. The boatman then coolly grabs the Lay’s pack.
Our Take
Lay’s’ new campaign, Love to Love It sticks to the brand’s key template once again — the love for Lay’s and what its temptation does to the consumer. This is the second film in the current campaign with Ranbir Kapoor. His acting is effortless as he showcases the ‘finger-licking’ goodness of the chips.
The campaign idea is based on the insight that a delicious snack like Lay’s is tempting enough to trigger a change in people’s demeanour as they try to lay their hands on a pack.
According to Partho Chakrabarti, vice president, snacks category, PepsiCo India, “We have shown that the great taste of Lay’s is so alluring that its mere sight gets you attracted to it and makes you behave out of character to get it.
The setting used for this ad is very different from our other ads. The humourous interplay between the protagonists brings out the love for Lay’s in a quirky and endearing way.”
The campaign is a natural progression in the evolution of the brand which has always focussed on taste. After all, taste and flavour are among the most important drivers for products in the food and beverage category. Although the TVC is visually appealing, it is in want of a new idea.
The concept of this current ad film takes one back to 2004, when parent company PepsiCo had an eerily similar TVC to promote Pepsi. The boatman in this case was Amitabh Bachchan, while his ‘customer’ being ferried was Arshad Warsi, with a crate of Pepsi. As Warsi refuses to share a bottle with Bachchan, the latter cleverly creates holes on the surface of the boat.
With water seeping in, Warsi is forced to plug these leaks with his feet and hands, thus rendering himself immobile, while Bachchan enjoys a bottle of Pepsi.
This similarity, therefore, goes beyond nostalgia — it is probably the same thought, even the same ‘sea/boat’ setting, repackaged for Lay’s.
Interestingly, food and beverage advertising is increasingly witnessing a play of ‘temptation’ as an underlying theme. While Lay’s has been at it since its No One Can Eat Just One days, even Maaza, from rival company Coca-Cola has dabbled with it in the Laalach for Aam? Maaza Hai Naam campaign.
What Lay’s perhaps needs to do is take on the category leader stance for once, moving beyond the overdone taste/temptation category themes.
With a huge fan following built over the years, Lay’s needs to push the pedal on creativity, and keep an overt focus
on taste only when launching a new flavour.
Rating: **1/2
@chandni_mathur
