Since its founding in 1932, Lay’s has been the quintessential potato chip. The signature bright-yellow bag can be found in nearly every grocery store and gas station across the United States. A key factor of their ongoing success is their rebranding strategy. In particular, they emphasized the use of real potatoes in their products. Unlike other companies that highlighted gimmicky flavors and flashy endorsements, Lay’s focused on the fundamentals.
In this article, we will explore Lay’s rebranding strategy, its effectiveness, and how businesses can implement those tactics into their marketing campaigns.
What Was Lay’s Rebranding Strategy?
At the core of Lay’s rebranding strategy is a focus on authenticity. Snacks like potato chips are considered ultra-processed foods. With a recent pivot to healthier lifestyles and diets, Lay’s aimed to emphasize that its products are made from high-quality, real ingredients.
As part of their rebranding, each Lay’s bag includes “Made with Real Potatoes.” This factors into the focus on reshaping its identity. Despite being the most popular potato chip brand in the US, they were still lacking a true brand identity.
For example, Ruffles is known for its ridges and partnerships with famous athletes like LeBron James and Jayson Tatum. Pringles has its iconic and recognizable mascot and its unique product packaging.
With this new rebranding campaign, Lay’s has an established identity: The authentic chip brand made from real potatoes, grown by real farmers.
During its rebrand, Lay’s redesigned its logo. There is an additional drop shadow to the lettering, which makes “Lay’s” stand out more. The bright yellow bag was replaced by a golden hue that better resembles natural sunlight. There are also sun rays shining out from the red banner, and the bag has a wooden panel design.
Instead of going modernist, Lay’s went rustic. The sunlight and wood design make the product feel natural and authentic. In an age of health trends and whole ingredients, Lay’s has successfully pivoted and found its identity.
The Effectiveness of Lay’s Rebranding Strategy
Has the Lay’s rebranding been effective? Undoubtedly, yes, it has. This recent effort to highlight real ingredients has been quite effective.
In particular, it has increased their brand visibility and awareness. While Lay’s is globally popular, most customers didn’t know that its products were made from real potatoes.
However, with the rebrand, customers are now more aware of Lay’s ingredients. This helps create brand identity and connection, which can result in increased sales.
Speaking of ingredients, Lay’s has announced that it will remove all artificial flavors and colors by 2026. Moreover, Lay’s Baked will use olive oil, and their kettle chips will contain significantly less fat.
Why does this matter?
It is important because it ties into their rebranding and shows effort from the company. Lay’s listened to their customers and are removing harmful, artificial ingredients from their products.
While changing a logo and making good promises is great, following up on them is what builds customer loyalty. This has been a majorly successful and effective rebrand because Lay’s has taken the steps to not only improve their products, but also actively listen to their customers.
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