Pass a Smile

With political and economic uncertainty, skyrocketing cost of living, frequent power cuts and weakening law & order – the people of Pakistan had become increasingly frustrated and unhappy. As a result, they were smiling less. Something had to be done. So we introduced the Lay’s “Pass A Smile” campaign. Through a very clever and simple packaging design innovation, we converted Lay’s packets into interactive media vehicles of happiness, turning the packs into bright and positive smiles. A clever design exercise of adding a beaming smile on the lower half of a face on the front of the pack automatically completed the consumer's face as they held up the bag, effectively turning our packaging into billboards. Lay’s invited everyone in Pakistan to pass a smile to others using their packaging as a media device. The primary media touch point was the packaging itself, which was overhauled to include a dominant smile placed on the top half of the packet in such a way that a consumer would hold it against their face and thus complete the design. It was incredibly innovative in a marketplace that is often overcrowded with hundreds of brands, and the fight for standing out on the shelf is brutal. We worked with existing packaging guidelines and photographed 60 different smiles ranging from the very wide grins to the more demure smirks. The wardrobe choices and other color elements were carefully selected to mirror flavor hints, such as red for spicy. “Pass A Smile” became the most successful campaign in the history of PepsiCo Pakistan. We had not only reversed slow growth, but managed to build tremendous amounts of valuable brand love. At the end of the 2-month campaign, we achieved a phenomenal 16% sales growth, 8% rise in Brand love, and a remarkable 13% rise in brand consideration, taking the top of mind share by a storm. A record 4.9 million entries were submitted in the promotion while #PassASmile became the longest trending hashtag in Pakistan's history. Not only had we become the No.1 brand on digital in Pakistan amongst relevant brands, but we had managed to sell an incredible 70 million+ packs sold in 2 months, a new record for Lay's. And all this for a budget that was significantly less than our competitor. Our biggest win, though, was that we had managed to make an entire nation smile. We devised a highly innovative and unconventional media strategy for our campaign: using our packaging itself as a primary media device. One which the consumer interacted with directly, and disseminated through social media, effectively turning our packaging into billboards. The move was game-changing in a market environment which only relies on traditional media.