Case Study on the Successful Campaign by Lay’s #SmileDekeDekho

It is believed that when you make someone smile it can go viral! Yes, smiles are contagious so are the yawns! And, this is what Lay’s did! They spread a smile across with a fun campaign!

We all have known about the hashtag magic in the past blogs this week, now it is time to know about the success of the campaign ran around fun and impressive hashtag - #SmileDekeDekho. 

You might have heard of this song and even would have come across the influencer roadblock on Instagram. And, I just couldn’t get enough of it too (internally singing smile deke dekho dekho deke deke dekho!)

Yes, it took over everyone. And, we are going to discuss how it worked for the brand. Taking advantage of their biggest asset, which is the product packaging, lay’s created a whirlwind in the digital or online world. And, the brand worked with a whopping over 750 influencers to bring #SmileDekeDekho campaign into action. While Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were the faces of this campaign! 

About Lays -

Lay’s is the brand name for a number of potato chip variations, as well as it is the name of the company that was founded in the U.S. Launched in India in 1995,  it has been a part of this category (potato chips) for over two decades. The potato chip category is currently valued at INR 69,000 Million and is growing immensely with a growth rate of 15%.

It is one of the prime brands from PepsiCo India and the brand offers amazing, yummiest snack products in different flavors, which are local flavors as well as international flavors. They are catering all over the different countries and have a crazy wide fan base in India. 

The thought behind the #SmileDekeDekho campaign -

It is an effort by Lay’s to connect with the consumers in a new and innovative way! They came up with this idea of connecting everyone with a smile, to be precise and to quote it well - “Smile leads to connections and a pack of Lay’s can bring a smile to one’s face! ”

They made different prints on each of the flavors of Lay’s so that it leads to different smiles, different connections.  The product packaging was done to perfection! The small faces on the packaging really was a good trick to lure into a fun conversation and a fun selfie. 

Objective -

The objective of the Lay’s behind the Smile Deke Dekho campaign was super clear and concise! They wanted to create another way for the brand to spread smiles while also creating engagement amid the consumers. And, this time it was not through a new flavor in the potato chips but through a joyful packaging. Their aim was to be closer to their consumers and have massive, I repeat, massive engagement. And, through this, they also wished to find out the love consumers hold for their brand. 

How it was executed -

To start with, their hashtag was super unique and catchy, I mean, anyone can read #SmileDekeDekho and it lingers on the mind for the longest. Moreover, the brand ambassadors were the newest couple in the B-town, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. They featured in the TVCs that was the key to take the campaign to the audience in a wider and more precise targeting. ‘How?’, you ask? 

Well, the iconic couple speaks a lot to the younger target audience. They reached out to 750+ influencers and shared the limited edition packages with them firstly. And, everyone was involved in the campaign with their limited edition packages to pick and pose! Influencers, like Kusha Kapila, Shikhar Dhawan, Anmol Parashar, Fatima Sana Khan, and many other TikTok as well as young TV actors and actresses were in the run too. 

The limited-edition packages given to the influencers by Lay’s were decided in a way and it was - Lay’s matched and mapped each influencer’s smile and matched it to the flavor that fits them perfectly and then the personalized packages were produced which featured the smile of these 750+ influencers. 

Post the mega-announcement by the brand ambassadors and the personalized packages sent to the influencers to pose with, the campaign kicked-off instantly! Everyone went crazy on Instagram to post a picture with the pose with the Lay’s packet and a hashtag #SmileDekeDekho. 

The idea that kicked off really nice -

Creating personalized, individual packages to the influencers that matched influencer’s smile also a flavor variant that goes well with them!

This idea really kicked off well! The ‘Pick up the pack. Pose. Post’ became famous and went viral.

Results - 

Lay’s was able to generate great results that not only involved extensive visibility but also brought everyone together to share a smile. It led to massive consumer interaction too. People created memes over it and also clicked selfies to be a part of the #SmileDekeDekho. 

These were the results -

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

Lay’s has been winning hearts and the #SmileDekeDekho has been one of the best approaches. This is how they ruled hearts with a unique hashtag and months of planning and strategizing. 

Learning from this case study -

One should always come up with ideas that are easy, simple and highly shareable. Plus, to support any campaign you require a hashtag!

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