POTATOBUSINESS.COM / whitepapers Brand Analyses, part 1 - by Potato Processing International

The United States: Home of the best potato chips

PUBLISHED BY POTATO PROCESSING INTERNATIONAL NOV/DEC 2014

Written by Barbara Zec

‘The mass production of potato chips started in the early 20th century.’

North America’s favorite snacks, potato This story became popular in the 1970s chips, were first mentioned in the 19th thanks to the national advertising cam- century. The most popular story about the paign for one producer of chip packag- origins of chips is the one about George ing, who claimed that the unhappy cus- Crum, main cook at Moon’s Lake House tomer was Cornelius Vanderbilt. in Saratoga. According to that story, after Other sources say that recipes for potato an unsatisfied customer sent the pota- chips were found even earlier, in sever- toes back because they were too thick, al contemporary cookbooks in the early the frustrated cook sliced the potatoes and mid-19th century, but, thanks to the razor-thin, fried them and seasoned them advertising, the story about George Crum with salt and vinegar. The customer loved became proverbial. it!

1 At first, chips were eaten as a side dish and Ruffles potato chips. in restaurants. Several decades later, the grocery stores started to sell them. The Lay’s chips have a very simple and mass production of potato chips started straightforward package. The color of in the early 20th century. One of the fac- Lay’s Original is yellow and other flavors tories established at that time, Utz, is still are color-coded using a nice, vivid color producing one of the most popular brands palette. The logotype is big and has space in the country. to breathe. The only other elements on the front of the package are a name and an illustration of the flavor. Lay’s Kettle Cooked have a white back- LAY’S ground and color-coding on the top and bottom of the bag. The logotype is in the The Frito-Lay is a result of the merger of same position as in Lay’s, but is a bit two companies established in the early smaller as the full name is written below. 1930s. Soon after the merger, in 1965, it The main parts of the package, aside became a subsidiary of PepsiCo Inc., a from the color-coding of flavors, are illus- US-based multinational company. They trations of ingredients and blurry green own some of the most beloved potato leaves on both sides of the bag, making it chip brands in the United States, such as more “natural”. Lay’s, Ruffles and Lay’s Kettle Cooked. Lay’s Ruffles are a much bolder line of chips. This can be seen in every part of In July 2014, Lay’s launched a contest the design. The logo is loud, red and bold; called “Do Us A Flavor”, asking people to the main color is two shades of blue, mak- come up with a new flavor and win one ing the background subtly striped, and we million dollars. The contest ended in Oc- read ridges in every element. We also tober with Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger read it literally, because under the name chips chosen as the best new flavor. The the claim states, “Rrruffles have ridges”. other proposed flavors were Cappucci- They emphasize it because they patented no, Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese, and its shape. They also advertise it as both Wavy Mango Salsa. a snack and a “spoon”, because ridges They made a commercial with a catchy make the chip stronger and more suitable song sung by different foods transforming for scooping dips. into chips that “attacked” consumers on popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, making for a great campaign. Pringles are a bit different to the other po- Frito-Lay is very good at using media, tato chips on this list. They have only 40 but also at listening to consumers’ needs. per cent potato content; the rest is wheat They have declared a lot of products suit- starch and potato, corn and rice flours. In able for consumers on a gluten-free diet. 2003, its main rival, Lay’s, launched Lay’s While most producers still try to meet Stax as direct competition to Pringles, but consumer demands, they already have with several differences: the shape of the an amazing list of gluten-free products, chips is a simple curve, while Pringles including all kinds of flavors of Lay’s are formed into a double-curve known as

2 All brands grow their businesses by constantly developing their portfolios with new flavors and products that follow the consumers’ demands. a hyperbolic paraboloid; unlike Pringles, are distributed worldwide. Stax are gluten-free and, while Pringles are packaged in cardboard and metal The mascot named Utz Girl is a simple tubes, Lay’s Stax are packaged in plastic two-toned illustration of a girl with a red containers. bow in her hair. She is reaching into the Since February 2012, Pringles has been bag of snacks, but besides that, with the owned by Kellogg’s. The previous owner, simple drawings and the evolution of the Procter&Gamble, sold it after a deal with logotype, the design is very similar to Ju- Diamond Foods was derailed. lius Pringles. The design of the bag is pret- ty raw and has not changed much over The Pringles tube container was designed the years. That same raw design gives by Fredric Baur in 1966 and patented by the Utz chips distinctiveness on the su- P&G in 1970. Baur died in 2008 and, as permarket shelves. The main colors are he requested, some of his ashes were patriotic white, red and blue, but different buried in a Pringles can. flavors added over the years demanded Since the mid-1980s, Pringles has based the implementation of different colors. All its advertising campaigns on the benefits flavors have a very strong contrast and of the tube, offering consumers stackable unmistakable appearance. chips protected from breaking. They often use chips in bags as a comparison, re- One of the channels often used to ad- peatedly designed to resemble the bags vertise Utz chips is product placement of its main competitors, Lay’s or Ruffles. in movies and TV series. Among others, The tube itself is very good for stacking they can be seen in Mad Men, The Office more product in less space, but the con- and Orange Is the New Black. Utz Foods sumers often have problems reaching for also offer a factory tour, where visitors can a snack once they have eaten the first view the manufacturing process of the po- half. tato chips and taste a free sample.

The logotype is a stylized cartoon head with moustaches named Julius Pringles. It has had several makeovers over the years, losing the blushing and the eye- CAPE COD brows, gaining a red bow-tie and, with the beginning of the new millennium, becom- Cape Cod Potato Chips started producing ing more dynamic. It is one of the most natural, kettle-cooked potato chips in 1980 recognizable snack mascots today. and quickly became well known among Cape Cod tourists. An inspiration came from another resort in Hawaii. A friend UTZ brought Bernard, owner of Cape Cod Po- tato Chips, a sample of Maui chips, sold UTZ is the largest independent privately to tourists in that resort. They started with held snack brand in the United States. one kettle which could make 200 bags a The company was founded in 1921 and day, but quickly, due to rapidly growing distributes a variety of potato chips and demand, they expanded production. other snack foods, mainly on the East A New York Times article from 1986 stat- Coast, unlike Lay’s and Pringles, which ed that Cape Cod Potato Chips are not

3 Marketing is very important for producers. They recognize the importance of social media and popular culture, as well as the importance of articulate and strong packaging design. sold in many places, but where they are, consumers, in two new flavors, Dill Pickle they are always a top-selling product. The and Carolina BBQ. Earlier this year, they same article called it a “’luxury’ junk food” launched their new Real Sliced Potatoes because of the significantly higher price line in five flavors. Like Lay’s, in the past compared to competitors. they also held contests to introduce new The first chips were sold in simple bags flavors. with a drawing of the Nauset Lighthouse on. The initial marketing strategy was The design of the Kettle potato chips bag simply word-of-mouth, but today Cape is classic; all information is centrally justi- Cod Potato Chips confidently use social fied, with backgrounds in one color which media platforms like Pinterest and Insta- varies depending on the flavor. The de- gram for this job. Today, Cape Cod Po- sign is based on typography, with a big tato Chips are sold in many retail stores logotype and serif typography for the rest across the United States and are owned of the text. The only other graphic ele- by Snyder’s-Lance. ments are subtle horizontal lines that di- vide the bold stripe of color with the name They offer fewer flavors than the bigger of the flavor and a small illustration em- Lay’s and Pringles, but they have broad- phasizing it. ened their primary range by offering prod- ucts featuring 40 % less fat and Waffle Cut Chips. The Original Cape Cod Potato Conclusion Chips are packaged in a white bag with a big Cape Cod logotype and drawing of a The United States chips market is rath- lighthouse as a primary element. Second- er large and the country has a long tradi- ary elements are the name of the flavor tion of manufacturing and enjoying potato and a subtle stamp, “All natural”. Simple, chips. Besides the big players, there are effective and tourist-friendly. Ironically, the many private label producers that hold a Reduced Fat line has a slightly “heavier” fair share of the market. All brands grow package because the added benefits are their businesses by constantly developing written in fat green block. their portfolios with new flavors and prod- ucts that follow the consumers’ demands. KETTLE They are all very aware of their competi- tors, which can be seen, for example, in Kettle potato chips is owned by Kettle their launching products with less fat and Foods, founded in 1978. The chips have gluten-free ranges at almost same time been produced since 1982 in the United as their rivals. States and more recently in the UK. The Marketing is also very important for po- company has been owned by Diamond tato chip producers. They recognize the Foods since 2010. They also wanted to importance of social media and popular merge with Pringles in 2012 but, due to culture, as well as the importance of artic- an accounting scandal, the merger was ulate and strong packaging design. The cancelled. United States has a highly competitive culture, which in the case of the potato In November, they launched a new Thick + chip industry is very visible. Bold line of potato chips, for grab-and-go

4 First standardized digital magazine for potato industry in new format - EPUB, for tablets and mobile phones.

• responsive • accurate positioning • animations • buttons • hyperlinks • slideshows • galleries • video • audio

approved by the International Digital Publishing Forum available online @ www.potatobusiness.com