‘Lay’s wanted to end the year strong; who better than Dhoni to finish a game?'

Lay's reintroduced the cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador, starring in its latest campaign – 'No Lay's, No Game.'

In the TVC conceptualised by Leo Burnett, Dhoni embarks on a unique quest, going door-to-door to check if fans have Lay’s stocked up at home while they enjoy every heart-pounding boundary, every nail-biting wicket, and every cheer-worthy moment on the field. As Dhoni knocks on different doors, he is received by a series of delightful reactions, ranging from astonishment to exhilaration and even frantic searches for Lay's.

In a conversation with e4m, Saumya Rathor, Category Lead – Potato Chips, PepsiCo India shared,  “When you see the creative, you realise that it's a massive ad campaign. But, it's something that has never been done at a scale like this in India before. We wanted to finish the year strong and who better than Dhoni to finish a game?”

For the brand, the campaign is structured around the fact that celebrations become a lot more in terms of magnitude when there's Lay’s. It aims to capture the mood of the country during the festive season.

Shifting focus from the campaign, Rathor said she believes healthier snacking options are not a threat to the potato chip business. “We do provide healthier choices to the consumers with Quaker. Also, it's up to the consumers to really pick up the choices they really want to make. We are very consumer-aware and we ensure that we can tailor-make our offerings to suit them.”

Currently, there's a lot of positive sentiment in the country. Everyone is looking forward to the festivities and there's a lot of pulling up purse strings from a discretionary spending perspective. So, Rathor feels that there's going to be a lot of upward momentum in the next few months and they are looking forward to being in every consumer’s shopping basket.

Speaking of the new packaging for Lay’s, the PepsiCo executive highlighted that India has had a lot of successes this year in the form of Chandrayaan, and the brand wanted to give an ode to the years that India has had as a country.

In 2024, Rathor foresees a lot of exciting propositions that are going to be pushing the envelope when it comes to product innovation, in terms of marketing and more. “It's going to be the most exciting period that Lay’s has seen in a while.