FRITO-LAY
GOES
By Michael Connors
Au Natural
How the Snack Food Company is Remaking its Portfolio
for Today’s Consumer
O
ne of the largest food companies in the world,
Frito-Lay has been incorporating healthy
innovations into its snacks for years. From
eliminating trans fats and reducing salt to
cultivating potato varieties that absorb less oil,
the company has made steady progress in updating its brands to
be better for consumers without giving up the great taste people
love and expect.
+ Tostitos redesigned its packaging to reflect a new all-natural
positioning, using the window on the bag that reveals the chips
as a key communication tool.
But Frito-Lay’s most significant change came at the end of 2010
when the company announced plans to make 50 percent of its
product portfolio with all-natural ingredients. Beginning with
Lay’s flavored potato chips, Frito-Lay turned to our team to
reflect that shift on its packaging.
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Listening to consumers
The risk of alienating brand loyalists is high when considering
any kind of transition, especially for an iconic brand like Lay’s. In
these instances — more than any other — it’s critical to evaluate
and listen to consumer input upfront.
We began by using qualitative testing to understand both the
core packaging brand equities and to explore a range of visual
and verbal concepts that conveyed the idea of “all-natural.”
Although previous qualitative research studies showed that
all-natural translated as "not as tasty," our 2010 research showed
that consumer perceptions of all-natural products have evolved
greatly because of such factors as increasing nutrition awareness
driven by government mandates, increasing transparency from
the 24/7 feedback loop of social media and big retailers like
Walmart jumping on the natural/organic bandwagon.
Consumers now understand that all-natural can mean quality
ingredients and good taste.
Our goal was to walk the fine line between communicating the
innovation and over emphasizing the all-natural claim. We
determined that the best approach for Lay’s was to maintain as
much equity as possible but to evolve the brand’s natural cues
through a more realistic treatment of photography, slightly
altered bag colors and a simplified layout. We then
quantitatively tested the final package designs using eyetracking studies.
A new way of snacking
What first began as a Lay’s redesign project soon turned into a
partnership to reflect the new all-natural positioning across
much of Frito-Lay’s snack portfolio by the end of 2011. This
involved more than six dozen varieties, including all flavors of
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+ A stamp and band
Lay’s potato chips, Tostitos tortilla chips, SunChips multigrain
snacks, Baked! snacks and Rold Gold pretzels.
Frito-Lay recognized an opportunity to shift consumer
perception of salty snacks and drive change in the category by
using the scale of its portfolio. The scope of change was massive,
but the implications were clear: With the visibility created by
the largest integrated marketing campaign in Frito-Lay’s
history, competitors would need to scramble to follow the
company’s lead.
Several projects were rolled into one and we were soon updating
brands and redesigning Lay’s, Tostitos, SunChips and Rold Gold
packaging simultaneously to better reflect the all-natural
messaging they would carry. We collaborated closely with the
Frito-Lay brand teams to hold true to the differentiating
character of each individual brand while working from some
common tenants: simplicity, the iconic equity and positioning of
each brand, clarity of messaging and evolving natural cues.
Communicating
the experience
Over the years, packaging trends for natural products have
evolved from stereotypical cues like tan papers and scratchboard
illustrations to lots of white and, now, to more sophisticated
color palettes and uncluttered designs. Today, “natural” is
communicated through simple, honest design and open layouts.
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graphic prominently
conveys the all-natural
message but allows
each brand to retain
its equities.
We kept true to this with the Frito-Lay portfolio — approaching
each brand’s packaging a bit differently, respecting its strengths
and identifying its challenges.
While the Lay’s redesign remained similar to its original version,
Tostitos benefited from an extensive redesign that used natural
textures and colors to emphasize and reinforce the product
experience. The window revealing the product — so critical to
shopping in the tortilla chip category — became the key
communication tool. On the classic line, the window evolved
into the opening of a chip basket with a bowl of salsa next to it.
On the proprietary shapes like Scoops!, the window became the
chip itself, half immersed in a bowl of dip.
Rold Gold was designed to appeal honestly and simply to loyal
pretzel lovers. We also created packaging for a new extension, the
Rold Gold Bakery. The line includes baked-in flavors inspired by
bakeshop favorites like cinnamon raisin and the everything
bagel, so we incorporated a unique background pattern, warm
colors and “post-applied label” to dial up the natural story and
product experience.
We got back to basics on Frito-Lay’s flagship natural brand,
SunChips. The markedly simple design accentuated the strength
of the brand and warmth of the glowing sun. We used a subtle,
woven background to set off the chips and real food cues to
emphasize both flavor and the whole grain attributes of these
light multigrain snacks.
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>
+ Packaging for the Rold
Transforming
the snack aisle
While consumers are now willing to embrace the benefits of
all-natural, the challenge was to shift their perceptions of how
that fits into the snack aisle itself. To do so, we needed to create
an all-natural message that could be communicated in a
consistent, prominent and motivating way across the entire
portfolio. One of the main goals was to create a sense of
blocking on shelf, so we explored solutions at the top, sides and
bottom of the bag that ranged from ingredients photography to
bold graphics. We ultimately landed on a simple, but very
prominent, graphic: an all-natural stamp and band, which
could work across all the brands’ packaging without
overwhelming communication of each product experience. Our
new graphic could be placed on any of the packages
consistently, in a way that’s as straightforward and easy to
understand as it is quick to read.
There was understandable apprehension about making such a
strong and bold statement on the front of these iconic packages.
Would consumers still recognize their favorite brands? Would
they be able to find their flavors? Would the snacks still read as
tasty and fun to eat?
Ultimately, we found that the new designs could do all of the
above. In fact, the new designs resulted in significant increases
in perceptions of taste and purchase intent compared to the
previous packaging.
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Gold Bakery line extension
features a “post-applied
label” to dial up the natural
story and product experience.
All signs point to consumers seeking a wider range of products
made with all-natural ingredients. Frito-Lay has led the way for
the category, defying convention to continue to update existing
products and innovate new products, while giving all of us more
ways to enjoy all-natural snacks. BP
Michael Connors is the vice president of design for Seattlebased design firm Hornall Anderson. Michael brings more
than 25 years of extensive expertise collaborating with clients
such as Frito-Lay, Quaker, Tropicana, Pedigree, T-Mobile,
Janus, ConAgra, CitationAir, PayPal, California Closets,
Amgen, and Getty Images; and introducing them to the world
in emotionally compelling ways through branding, graphic
design and advertising.
Hornall Anderson (part of Omnicom Group, Inc. – NYSE:
OMC) specializes in the design and execution of "customer
experiences" within built and virtual environments, as well as
through print and packaged goods. From iconic buildings like
Madison Square Garden, Sydney Opera House and the
Empire State Building to Fortune 500 companies like
Starbucks, Pepsi-Co. and Microsoft, some of the world's most
remarkable brands have trusted Hornall Anderson to develop
and capture a powerful narrative to help create an emotional
connection with its customers. www.hornallanderson.com
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