2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

With no detailed data or monitoring of Branded Entertainment within the Middle-East, forecasting or providing an accurate summary of the market is somewhat difficult. However, from our own research (both brand & audiences) and of course BE campaigns, we’ve seen that there is a real appetite for creating and consuming content in the region. In terms of the restrictions, the rules around what can and can’t be done by brands vary significantly around the region such as KSA, but in many markets there is a lack of regulation (or governing body) that means a brands presence can be easily placed, associated or integrated within a piece of content. However, topics, themes and even situations must be taken into consideration when planning and producing any piece of Branded Content. These includes • The clothing and appearance of females • The proximity between female & male presenters • The treatment of culturally sensitive topics such as marriage and national dress • The use and discussion of Religion • The exclusion of any subject matter relating to sex & alcohol in KSA

Results

Lay’s, the #1 chips brand was launching a new flavor, and the task was to influence potato chip fans in the GCC and getting them excited about it. Since everyone has different tastes/opinion on the perfect flavor of chip, the challenge was to craft a platform for all to get engaged. The way forward was clear, have consumers choose the next Lay’s flavor! To develop a big idea, we spotted a relevant insight that Arab consumers could relate to - finding a life partner! Tradition-bound, marriage is a challenging step with much parental pressure, and of course personal tastes involved too…. This led us to idea of Liza Lay’s - a bubbly and delicate potato who is searching for her one time soul-mate. Together, they will form the new Lay’s flavor. The Execution The campaign ran in three phases: first – using Liza to encourage the public to suggest new Lay’s flavors, second – building consumer involvement and immersion in Liza’s search and finally, announcing the winning flavor to become Liza’s soul mate! Multiple touch-points and initiatives were used to bring all three stages to life including TV, PR, content, PR, print, outdoor, packaging, sampling, social media, online, events and partnerships such as using celebrity chef Osama as our very own ‘Flavorologist’. Liza Lay’s was everywhere: on packs, on shelves, and on special displays, and consumers loved it! On May 10, at the same time on major TV stations, our flavors’ consultant Chef Osama el Sayed announced the winning flavor! The results were revealed simultaneously on digital and outdoors. ‘Pizza’ was the most voted flavor, and both Him and Liza lived happily ever after in our new Lay’s pack!

Through ‘Flavor Me’, we provided our target audience with entertaining content that was both compelling and relevant. This was achieved by a thorough understanding of our target audience and unearthing key insights that were used to form the basis of our strategy and subsequent idea. Full details of these insights, along with the challenge and creative execution can all be found in the next section.

‘Flavor Me’ smashed all campaign targets from both a brand and business perspective, successfully bringing chip fans closer to Lays and involving them in the creation of new Pizza flavor Lay’s. Liza Lays received an amazing 269,863 flavor suggestions – the population of Barbados (three times initial targets)! We added 429,000 new fans to the Lays Facebook page and increased brand image measures by an average of 14%, exceeding all expectations. Finally, from a business perspective, sales volume grew by 40% over the Flavor Me period, whilst Lays market share grew by an impressive 3.4pts. SOURCES: 2012 Consumer Tracker Research “CTS”, Facebook, Retail Audit Nielson May 2012