Case Study: With 750+ influencers Lay's product packaging campaign attempted an Instagram roadblock

Lay's product packaging campaign titled, Smile Deke Dekho implemented an influencer roadblock on Instagram. A look at why it worked for the brand.

Leveraging their biggest asset — product packaging — Lay's was able to create waves in both the online and offline worlds. The brand worked with over 750 influencers to bring #SmileDekeDekho campaign. Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were roped in to be the faces of the campaign.

Category Introduction

The potato chip category is currently valued at INR 69,000 Million and is growing at a CAGR of 15%. Lay’s has been a part of this category for over two decades since its launch in 1995 in India.

Brand Introduction

Lay's is one of the marquee brands from PepsiCo India. The brand offers snack products in various local as well as international flavours, catering to a wide base of consumers and fans in India. Lay's claims to be a youth-oriented brand with a digital-first approach.

Summary

The Smile Deke Dekho campaign is an effort by Lay's to connect with consumers with new and innovative brand storytelling and packaging.

The thought behind it is simple — smiles lead to connections and a pack of Lay's can bring a smile to one's face.

Therefore, different flavours of Lay's can lead to different smiles, leading to different connections. Product packaging was at the core of the campaign.

Objective

The objective of the Lay’s Smile Deke Dekho campaign was to create another avenue for the brand to take forward its mission of adding a joyful interruption to consumers’ lives – this time, not just through its flavours, but also through its new packaging. The concept was in line with the brand’s marketing objectives of bringing the brand closer to its consumers. The aim was to create extensive engagement as well as a space for demonstration of brand love.

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Brief 

To generate visibility and awareness for the new Lay’s Smile packs and position them as the new means of communication.

Execution 

Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were brought in as brand ambassadors. They featured in the TVCs that were key to taking the campaign to the masses as well as helped in targeted the young target audience through a massive influencer-led campaign on Instagram.

Post the mega-announcement of Ranbir and Alia as brand ambassadors, Lay's kicked off a mass influencer outreach program, wherein they reached out to 750+ influencers and shared the limited edition packages with them.

Here, the brand mapped each influencer's smile and matched it to the flavour that fit them well. Personalised packs were produced, featuring the smiles of these influencers that were then sent out to them, offering a money-can't-buy delightful experience.

The #SmileDekeDekho influencer outreach was planned a couple of days prior to the launch of the TVCs featuring Ranbir and Alia in different setups.

Challenges 

Planning began months in advance, where social media was scanned to identify the most fitting influencers. The brand then reached out to them for high-resolution images, whilst ensuring that finer details weren't revealed. Getting their individual smile packs produced and delivered within time, in the form of an exclusive hamper, was also a challenge. The brand also had to keep tabs on the engagement and timing of these posts to ensure maximum conversations, within the time frame.

Results 

Lay's was able to garner extensive visibility for the limited edition product packaging with other celebrities joining to share #SmileDekeDekho posts organically. It also led to massive consumer engagement that included organic memes.

• 750+ influencers from across genres and regions
• 185 million impressions
• 8.2 million engagement
• 1300+ social media features 

“#SmileDekeDekho has been a brain-child of days and months of planning, strategizing and executing what can be called one of the biggest influencer outreach programs of all times. We have a host of interesting activities lined up for the coming few months and are very excited to share the same with Lay's fans across the country”, said Dilen Gandhi, Senior Director and Category Head – Foods, PepsiCo India.