Frito Lay Canada has launched a television campaign to promote the fact its chips are made from Canadian potatoes.
Created by BBDO Toronto, the two 30-second ads introduce viewers to two families of farmers from a different region of the country–both passionate about their job and the fact they supply potatoes for the Lays brand.
The Nakashima brothers, for instance, hail from Alberta and playfully tease one another as they explain that it takes a great potato to make a great potato chip. Viewers also meet the Murphys who have been growing potatoes in Ontario for generations.
Frito Lay Canada sources its potatoes from 40 farmers across the country and each was invited to participate in the campaign, said Tim Welsh, vice-president, group account director at BBDO Toronto.
Those that agreed received a camera to film their own story. The agency and Frito Lay evaluated the submissions, looking for “fun” stories to shoot for the final TV spots, said Welsh.
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Beyond the Nakashima and Murphy families, additional farmers were selected for point-of-purchase materials.
Welsh said the TV ads are “loosely scripted” to seem more genuine and to allow the farmers to tell their stories “in a natural way.”
Frito Lay started heavily promoting the fact its chips are made from homegrown potatoes in 2008, and last year launched a farmer-focused TV campaign called “Simply Made. Simply Good” that ran during the Canadian broadcast of the Super Bowl.
“It became apparent that product quality was important and that we had a really great story to tell in terms of the pride that our farmers bring to the product and production process,” said Andrew Sutherland, the snack company’s marketing director for core brands.
The move, he said, was sparked by consumer interest with locally grown fare, and “fit with an opportunity for us to reinforce our relationship with farmers so it was sort of the perfect storm.”
Previous ads, however, were more tongue-in-cheek, using a call-in talk show format with fictional Lay’s potato farmer Joe Oulton as host.
This time around Frito Lay included real farmers so consumers can see and understand the pride that goes into making these chips, said Welsh.
