Earlier this month, Frito Lay announced it was bowing to consumer demand and discontinuing its compostable bag for all but one flavour of Sun Chips brand in the U.S.
When news of the U.S. rollback broke, the story was widely reported in Canada as if it was happening here too. Now Frito-Lay Canada, with partners Capital C and Fleishman-Hillard, is embarking on a wide-reaching awareness campaign to let consumers know that the compostable bags aren’t leaving shelves on this side of the border. The company is running full-page ads in La Presse, Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star for an open letter explaining the situation to Canadian consumers.
On the brand’s Facebook page {www.facebook.com/sunchipscanada}, consumers are asked to voice their opinion of the bags, and if anyone isn’t convinced that Sun Chips should keep the compostable bag, the brand will send them a free pair of earplugs.
The brand is also reaching out to environmental bloggers and has produced a web video PSA appearing on various news websites.
“We wanted to stay true with what we’re trying to do,” said Frito-Lay Canada’s vice-president of marketing Tony Matta. “We didn’t want it to be a clever marketing campaign. We want this to be an absolutely transparent communication campaign. We felt that starting it with this letter and putting the facts in print was the most real way to do that.”
The brand unveiled the new packaging earlier this year, winning ad awards and plenty of mainstream media attention for the bag that boasted complete compostability in 14 weeks.
Matta said there have been conversations with his American counterparts, but that there wasn’t enough complaint in Canada to justify a change.
“We certainly got a few calls and e-mails complaining about the noise of the bag, but the overall point of view we heard was that, ‘Yeah, the bag is noisy but given how much better it is for the environment, isn’t it worth it?'”
Scott McDougall, president/CEO of environmental marketing consultancy firm TerraChoice, said that it’s common for consumers to act negatively towards change in the product experience.
“Negative consumer response to change in their product experience has always been a problem in green innovation,” said McDougall. “There’s a historical stigma that if a product is truly green there will be some sort of compromise, whether that’s in performance or taste or something else.”
With that in mind, McDougall said Frito-Lay Canada’s move is bold and should be rewarded.
“This awareness campaign in Canada will be a really interesting strategy to watch,” said McDougall. “It’s all about trying to change the customer’s experience and expectation and, if it works, we’re likely to see much more of this technology in the mainstream. But it’s a steep hill to climb.”
Matta doesn’t think the U.S. move to discontinue the bags was a bad decision, just one that reflects the company’s respect for its consumers. However, he also sees the value of a consistent message.
“You have to keep consumers happy, but we know we’re doing the right thing and sometimes part of that means being a little ahead of the consumer,” said Matta. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If, as a brand and company, we’ve said we have this commitment to the environment… then I think the consumer will respect us for that. It might take some a little longer to get there, but they do get there.”
TerraChoice’s McDougall, for one, certainly hopes they do.
“We need to see this draw attention to the issue of compostability in the first place, and we need to see Frito-Lay rewarded for having tried it at all,” said McDougall. “Frito-Lay needs to win enough of this green market to develop some economies of scale so that the technology can be adopted more widely and ultimately regulators can require it of all bags.”
