Ruffles, a popular PepsiCo brand of potato chip famous for its ridges, is on the cutting edge of the marketing world today after shifting nearly one hundred percent of its advertising over to digital platforms.
The stunning move, which makes Ruffles one of a select few snack-food brands in America with an all-digital advertising strategy following a nearly-sixty six percent television strategy just a year earlier, was explained by Frito-Lay senior director of marketing Dana Lawrence as an experiment in making one of their brands completely digital. “We’re really trying to reach our target, 25-year old millennial males, in a more relevant way,” Lawrence remarked, noting Ruffles’ target demographic’s embrace of mobile video.
Despite the move away from television, the folks at Ruffles actually produce more video than ever before; their #RoughLife campaign saw three video series created just this year, including collaborations with online humor network CollegeHumor. The videos are released through an aggressive distribution system that sees Ruffles spots appearing on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.
The move was initially seen as a gamble, as Ruffles’ full-throated embrace of digital moved them into unfamiliar territory.
“Absolutely we were nervous,” Lawrence said. “Any time you make a significant change, you’re always a little nervous about the impact.”
The decision appears to be paying dividends so far, however, as Ruffles sales in terms of dollars spent were 8.19 percent higher in the past fifty-two weeks over last.
Though Kraft’s Nilla Wafers courted big-time success last year after moving their entire ad budget to social, other brands have been hesitant to make the switch, refusing to do so for reasons ranging from sheer traditionalism to immense levels of scrutiny placed on digital advertising campaigns. Still, with Nilla and Ruffles’ successes in hand and increasingly prohibitive television advertising costs driving more traditional brands to reconsider their options, it would appear that mass adoption of digital-first advertising strategies is an inevitability.
