Frito-Lay, the $14 billion chip-and-dip division of PepsiCo, wants to engineer 360-degree marketing programs.
Ram Krishnan, CMO of Frito-Lay North America, recently outlined a 70-20-10 plan, which will enable it to do so. The brand will allocate 70% of its resources to proven methodologies, 20% to partners who prove value (Krishnan called it “validated risk”) and 10% toward experimenting with transformational ideas.
“We get excited about newer platforms like Snapchat and Periscope, but we look at that as part of the 10%,” Dana Lawrence, senior director of North America marketing for Frito-Lay, told AdExchanger.
“That 10% allows you to test and experiment, but the bulk of your budget remains invested in the platforms you know will deliver the ROI you’re tasked with.”
As exclusive chip and dip sponsor for the NFL, Frito-Lay brand Tostitos kicked off a season-long “Party Like A Pro” promo earlier this fall, blending traditional investments in TV with codes on packages in-store and digital redemption of prizes.
“This is really where you start to see the melding of mediums,” Lawrence said. Frito-Lay packaging promotes the opportunity to win NFL tickets, which ties into its NFL TV advertisements.
“On the same note, if you’ve bought into the program, you’re getting emails about it and you can bid on tickets or NFL experiences via Twitter,” Lawrence added. “We’re not looking at this as digital or traditional because digital is fully integrated into the promo.”
Lawrence spoke with AdExchanger about merging digital to offline touch points and supporting campaign efforts with Frito-Lay’s internal media analytics.
AdExchanger: In certain instances, you’ve removed traditional marketing aspects altogether. Can you elaborate?
DANA LAWRENCE: Ruffles is a brand which consumers think of [as a brand consumed by families on picnics]. When we look at the actual numbers, more growth is coming in from millennials.
And our core consumer target is that 23-year old millennial guy. Digital marketing lets us be much more specific in our content [delivery]. In certain cases, TV provides that broad reach that works from an effectiveness standpoint, but for Ruffles we shifted our focus entirely to digital marketing because of the strategy.
Who helps you make decisions around brand media allocations?
My team and agencies have come up with fun ideas to leverage Snapchat or Periscope, but we have way more ideas than media dollars. We have a media analytics team and we are measured by what efficiency and effectiveness we are driving with our media plan.
We have certain targets and goals, and it’s really a balancing act between leveraging new technologies to reach your consumer in a fun, new way but with effectiveness and efficiency. We are doing more tests with some of these emerging media channels like Instagram and Snapchat, but they haven’t been as easy to measure. We’re investing more heavily in the platforms we know deliver for us and understanding ROI around platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Where are overall budgets shifting?
For my brands within the [Frito-Lay] portfolio, we plan to increase year over year our digital spend. As the channels continue to be build out, we gain more ability to measure it and understand meaningful ROI. We still have a significant investment in TV but what you’re seeing is less investment in other traditional media channels [like] radio, out of home, print. We’re focusing more of our media on TV and digital.
Frito-Lay did an experiential campaign with the NFL during the last Super Bowl. How do you connect experiential to data-driven marketing?
We thought about what would be a relevant and engaging way for Tostitos to be part of the Super Bowl, so we came up with this idea for a Tostitos Party Boulevard. We took over two blocks in Phoenix and turned it into a giant spectacle with two-story high dunk tanks (and the like). The reality is a lot of football fans will not go to the Super Bowl, [so] digital became a huge extension of that localized campaign.
When people checked in to play these games on Party Boulevard, we gave them an RFID bracelet. Not only did it track their scores among games, it was also linked to videos and pictures of them falling in the dunk tank, and that was shared virally. It was important for us to embed that digital element to it and created an online hub via Twitter that featured the Tostitos #PARTYBLVD or other hashtags to capture the experiential element. There was this ongoing tracking of fans’ experiences nationwide and it drove a ton of organic reach.
