Lay's new out-of-home campaign for its potato chips may be
too hip for its environment. The campaign features potatoes sprouting through the
ceiling of Jackson Tunnel in Chicago. Eye-catching, it is. So eye-catching that
passersby look up in awe; no one looks to the right or left to catch the
accompanying billboards on the sides of the tunnel that carry the Lay's logo
and read, "Our potatoes are grown closer than you think." Titan
Worldwide and Atomic Props & Effects which executed the campaign for Lay's,
call it experiential. Experiential can be fun in out of home by engaging the
consumer in unique ways. But in this case, the experience may overwhelm the
brand. Running through Aug. 9, the campaign is meant to to show consumers that
Lay's potatoes come from American farms. Simpler may have been better: Made in
America. Instead, what came to mind, especially with the cracks forming in the
ceiling around the spuds, was not American farmers, but another out-of-home
campaign from the History Channel: Life after people.
—Posted by Katy Bachman
