With Tet approaching, the Vietnamese traditionally believe in the importance of starting the new year with fresh joy, exemplified by smiles and blessings exchanged for a prosperous year ahead. Indeed, a smile is often perceived as a symbol of joy and luck, believed to bring better blessings to those who share it with others. Specifically, for Gen Z, seeking blessings is a significant aspect of finding joy, reflecting a deeply held spiritual belief. This behavior is expressed in various ways on social media, such as commenting "trộm vía" or "lấy vía" under Facebook posts depicting success, beauty, or even comical symbols of luck like images of golden spoons. On TikTok and Instagram, a trend emerges where users are prompted to save a random sound in hopes of manifesting wealth or success. This phenomenon unfolds with each scroll through the feed. Despite the prevalence of this social media-driven behavior, it remains relatively untapped by brands. As Lay's steps forward as a pioneer in this space, the potential for virality is immense.    

Having well observed the trend, Lay's cast its mind back to the years of prolonged economic downturn & muted Tet celebration and realized that the need for joy & good blessing is even more pronounced in Tet 2024 when things are getting back on track. Taking that into account, Lay's recognizes the opportunity to blend its brand mission of spreading millions of smiles with the deeply rooted consumer belief in blessings.

We proudly introduce our campaign: "SMILE FOR BLESSINGS WITH LAY'S THIS TET" (CÓ LAY’S TẾT NÀY - CƯỜI VUI LẤY VÍA). The tagline itself signifies that the heart and soul of the campaign lies in the smile that brings forth the blessings. To instill this belief in consumers, we, first and foremost, incorporated the smile directly onto the packaging for maximum visibility. The subsequent task is to lend credibility to the idea that the smile on the pack carries the desired blessings. To address this, we have partnered with SELAB, a pioneering laboratory in software engineering from the University of Science of HCMc. SELAB meticulously curated data on smiles from esteemed individuals, including the wealthiest, luckiest, smartest, most successful, and happiest couples. The reason why SELAB collected data on those people is because our consumer-validated research found that Love, Luck, Health, Wealth & Academic Excellence are the five top needs of blessings for Tet. Through rigorous analysis and refinement, five iconic smiling faces have been crafted to embody the essence of desired blessings. This scientific backbone was why the concept got “approved” by Gen Z in all three rounds of consumer research.  

The campaign unfolded across three key phases: awareness, consideration, and conversion, each strategically designed to maximize impact at different stages of the consumer journey.    

In the awareness phase, we maximized TV commercials (TVCs), bumper ads for precision targeting, and Out-of-Home (OOH) advertisements to capture audience attention and spark interest in Lay's blessings.    

Transitioning to the consideration phase, we released a captivating music video, an AI-powered digital game, and partnered with platforms like TikTok to leverage Branded Effects and CapCut templates, deepening consumer engagement and fostering brand affinity.    

In the conversion phase, our focus was on driving tangible actions and conversions through activation campaigns and in-store promotions, incentivizing purchase decisions and driving foot traffic to retail outlets.    

Throughout all three stages, social outreach played a pivotal role in spreading Lay's blessed smiles. The content for our social outreach remains authentic to the social behavior of our audiences, custom-tailored to align with the five main blessings that Lay's represents. Each piece of content follows two primary directions: for those seeking a desired blessing and those who already possess the blessing.

Our communication framework was integrated across channels with social content curation while staying true to the brand core values to maximize the impacts.    

UNVEIL THE LAY'S BLESSINGS EVERYWHERE YOU GO  

We kicked off our campaign on social media, enticing “neighboring” brands to join us in smiling for blessings, all done in our trademark witty style. We meticulously searched for a neighbor’s messaging that can be paired with five main blessings of Lay’s. For instance, we playfully paired Lay's, using the success blessing, with Romano, renowned for constant communication about gentlemanly behavior. In our banter with Romano, we gently teased the notion of gentlemanly conduct, suggesting that while it's commendable, a dash of Lay's successful smile could add some flavor to the career path. So, “flash a smile this Tet for the taste of success.” - Lay's wittily ribbed Romano.    

What's noteworthy here is that we immersed ourselves in the tone, mood, and design aesthetics of this neighboring brand to ensure our messaging matches authentically. Despite the absence of Romano's logo, the billboard exuded its essence in a way that captured audiences with a sense of familiarity. This approach extended to other dynamic pairings, such as Lay's and Milo, and Lay's and Pond's, each collaboration showcasing our creativity and finesse.    

In addition to the surreal OOH advertisements, we also capitalized on contextual OOH placements where the advertisement message is cleverly tailored to suit the surrounding environment. For instance, at a bustling roundabout, Lay’s cheerfully declared, “Lost in the shuffle of life's hustle? No love connection in sight? Just flash a smile with Lay's this Tet and score a blessing in the game of love."    

Moreover, we extended our campaign's reach by translating the OOH content onto various types of buses, such as hometown and sightseeing bus, ensuring a cohesive and impactful campaign launch. Furtermore, we implemented precision-targeted bumper ads focused on the five key blessings, leveraging social signals to tailor the messaging to specific audience segments, thereby optimizing metrics such as view-through rate and engagement rate for enhanced performance.    

Each post related to this stunt includes a detailed explanation of the behind-the-scenes efforts that led to the creation of the blessed smiles. Just like that the social media world was taken by storm with approximately 30,000 buzzes after only a week of launching. These creative OOH ads that transcended conventional advertising help Lay's strike a chord with audiences on a profound level.    

NOW LET'S SMILE WITH LAY'S FOR THE GOOD BLESSINGS  

To deepen audience engagement, we launched a long-form advertisement in the form of a music video, aimed at inspiring viewers to embrace blessings with a smile. This extended format allows for a more profound emotional connection and narrative development, leading to a stronger resonance with the campaign message and heightened brand recall.    

Prior to launching, Lay's demonstrated its keen understanding of not only the celebrity but also the interest of the fans, thus injecting playful humor into the mix. In a clever twist, Đức Phúc mischievously teased fans with a Facebook post announcing he was going to "lấy v..." (which could easily be miscontrued as "lấy vợ" meaning "to marry"), only to reveal that it actually referred to "lấy vía" (blessings). This witty maneuver set the stage for our music video collaboration.    

After the music video was released, a wave of content flooded Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, driven by KOLs and community pages and groups' take on the MV. This content covered various aspects, such as behind-the-scenes footage, memes, and the best lyric cuts. Notably, the CapCut template quickly boosted the reach of earned media, adding fuel to the MV's success.    

Remarkably, the Cười Vui Lấy Vía music video, under the direction of Antiantiart, created widespread discussion and garnered around 200,000 interactions for the MV. The progression of the storyline, coupled with his keen attention to detail in cinematography, and the authenticity of the scene settings, collectively imbue the production with a down-to-earth aura, effortlessly capturing the hearts of viewers.    

All is evidenced by the following achievements: 20,000,000 views on YouTube, ranking 7th on Reputa's chart of top influential music videos, and 4th among trending CapCut templates.    

IT'S TIME TO SPREAD THE SMILES FAR AND WIDE  

To truly inspire consumers to spread the joy, we brought to life an AI-powered digital game on layscuoivui.com.vn, allowing users to receive personalized new year blessings at scale. More than 72,000 users have engaged with this game, underscoring its engaging mechanics and enjoyable user experience.    

Eventually, the game stirred up a tremendous amount of talkability and thousands of UGCs. Additionally, these AI-generated images were set as Facebook avatars and even as their phone wallpapers.

Starting from the killer insight, putting forward the AI-driven disruptive packaging, and devising a strategic social plan are contributory factors to Lay’s record-breaking results. This campaign has not only solidified Lay's position as a standout player in the bustling savory snack market but also increased its visibility as a formidable snack player during Tet with substantial impacts.    

- 23,000,000 smile packs sold  

- 9,200,000 engagements  

- 571,000,000 impressions  

- 92,800,000 views across platforms  

- Gain 1.8 pts share versus Tet 2023  

- Top 10 Buzzmetrics in Jan'24 with a total buzz volume of 240,000  

- 82,000 participants and UGCs    

Through our endeavors, the mission was surpassed. But rest assured, a joy overdose is en route to Tet 2025!