Lay’s Shapez Heartiez To Have A 100% Digital Push

Introducing a new dimension to its product range, Lay's India, has introduced Lay’s Shapez Heartiez, featuring the brand's inaugural 3D heart-shaped potato-based pellet. This launch signifies the debut of Lay's Shapez, a sub-brand dedicated to exploring innovative shapes, textures, and flavours in the snacking world.

Talking exclusively to BW Marketing World, Saumya Rathor, Category Lead – Potato Chips, PepsiCo India reveals that Lay’s is the OG chip, and is proud of the fact that it kind of pretty much created the culture of snacking in India.

“Consumers love experimenting. They like multi-textures and multi-formats. And we realised that since the time Lay’s have come into the country, we've not looked at any disruptive shape. And I think for us it was really about this if we have to operate as a category leader, how do we really differentiate on different levers and different vectors? And shape was one of them,” she says.

With the platform of Shapes Heartiez, one is going to be seeing a lot more exciting shapes coming from the house of Lay’s. And when we talk about true differentiation, one of them could be the format. Rathor points out, “But I do feel that we are also guardians of all the flavours in India. In the sense that Lays is known for its flavour story. And, I think with this platform as well, what we're going to be doing is we're going to be disrupting and differentiating on that vector of flavour as well. So when you look at the two flavours that we're launching Shapes Heartiez with, one, of course, is masala.  But it's a very unique masala. It's spicy, it's got notes of very interesting and differentiated spices as well in masala. So I think it's going to be a very different and unique profile. And the other one for us is caramel.”

Rathor brings out that they've never ventured into a sweet flavour bucket in India. “For us, it's about really pushing the envelope when it comes to formats, pushing the envelope when it comes to flavours, and also pushing the envelope when it comes to really looking at different ways of building this brand from a ground-up perspective.”

R&D

When it comes to research, Rathor feels that Lay’s Shapez Heartiez is a pathway for innovation. “It can't be so black or white. So of course, when we were researching the space, we could pick up learnings from other markets - we have to do it from a lift and shift perspective. Then let's pick up what has worked in the other markets and see if it kind of makes sense from an India point of view.”

She gives credit to her R&D team in India for creating something that's very proprietary. “We've picked up this whole trend that Indian consumers are also savoury snackers. And it could be a small number, but it exists in the country. So, if we had to target that audience, which has a bit of a sweet tooth, then how do we do that? Huge credit goes to the R&D team that has helped us create something very unique and it's not been a very easy shape. I feel that it's a heart and it is sweet and it's a difficult combination to get.”

100% Digital strategy

Rathor is clear about wanting to build this largely as a digital brand. “I want to play new age channels of distribution, and brand building and see where it goes from here.”

She emphasises that she is actually looking at a 100 spend on digital marketing for Lay’s Shapez Heartiez. “I would want to create it ground-up from a digital perspective because I do feel that this is a great opportunity for us to experiment and try out this model along with sampling etc.”

Innovation

Rathor thinks innovation is going to be central to the brand. “I do feel that Lay’s is a massive love mark. And for us to really think of the future, we have to ensure that innovation is at the heart of it right now. That innovation could come from flavours, textures, different kind of formats, etc.

We are a brand which is always trying to push the boundary when it comes to innovation and innovation not only from a product perspective but also innovation from the way we want to build the brand.”

Campaign perspective

Rathor brings out that the brief was really simple - how do you own that shape in the minds of consumers? “But more than the shape, I think I'm a big believer in finding out the human truth and the cultural truth.

Because I feel that stories have to be told that resonate with the target audience that you're reaching out to. And I think with this campaign, we have this beautiful insight that you don't want to share the things that you love.

And this platform, which is the Shapez Heartiez platform, is also very similar to that - that I will give you my love, I will give you everything that I have, but maybe I don't want to share my pack of Shapez Heartiez. So I think the operating brief was how do you appropriate something from culture but stay true to what the overall mother brand is talking about - which is about product stability, product love, and the non-sharing aspect. We have Ranbir and Alia as well in this. And his operating brief was, you can take my heart, but maybe you don't want to take my Lay’s Heartiez.”

She says that the agency gave them a good script, “Leo Burnett came up with it, and we worked with Vinil, who's our director; he nailed the brief. And I'm very happy about how we've crafted the proposition. I just hope that consumers see the insight in the film and they like the product so that all the elements kind of come together.”

Ranbir-Alia back again

The son-mother duo, Ranbir-Neetu Kapoor was seen in the latest campaign for Lay’s. Also, three years back, Ranbir-Alia lit the screen with their presence for the brand in the ‘Smile’ campaign.

Rathor explains that the relationships that they've explored are very different. Getting Ranbir and Neetu was about the mother and son. And I think with Ali and Ranbir, we're talking about a husband and a wife in their house setting.

She deems that they have been able to craft this campaign and this proposition very cohesively. “There has been a journey that the audiences have also had from the Smile campaign to now because in the Smile campaign, Ranbir-Alia were just coming out and telling people about their relationship. That's happened – and now, they've gotten married. There has been that difference from an equation perspective. And I do feel as a brand, we've been able to leverage that.”

Trends expected to disrupt the category

The biggest trend that Rathor foresees is that the category is going to be increasingly competitive. “I do feel that a lot of unorganised players are going to be getting into this segment and they're going to be backed by a lot of VC (Venture Capital) money as well. I do feel that in India, while it is about experimentation, the country has also got a lot of appetite from a start-up point of view. That's why it's going to be really important for us to constantly disrupt ourselves as opposed to someone else doing that disruption for us.”

She also thinks it's going to be a good year because she considers this as a year of positive optimism. “We're getting into the election season as well. So I'm very buoyant about the category, consumption and the overall macroeconomic factors. This is the India that's thriving and booming. This, in turn, is going to also impact impulse purchase and impulse consumption because that's where a lot of the discretionary spending will go towards.”

She bets on innovation as a disruptor as well. “It's going to be a category wherein consumers possess more disposable income, are more aware, etc, where they would want more choices. The strength or the control of the market is going to be very consumer out. So consumers would be ruthless when it comes to the kind of things that they want - and they would be willing to pay for it.”

Digitisation in India, she understands, is happening at a supernova speed, especially in terms of digital transactions. “I think there's no market, no country in the world like India. The number of wallet transactions that happen in a day is equal to what probably happens in a year in the US.”

Health is also a factor, which is being taken into consideration in a big way, by brands, she reveals.