Lay's creates Chrome plugin that turns on subtitles when you munch

If you have ever eaten chips while watching a YouTube video, you would know that it is tough to hear the audio while munching on the snack. Taking matters into its own hands, Lay's Vietnam trained an AI on 178 hours of crispy chip crunch sounds gathered from worldwide to create a plugin that is able to detect and activate subtitles from the second it hears a crunch. This allows viewers to snack without missing a single thing from the YouTube video.

The Crispy Subtitles were done in partnership with Happiness Saigon, an FCB alliance and production agency Bliss Innovative Maker Studio. The idea stemmed from the knowledge that consumers enjoyed snacking while watching their favourite YouTube videos.

In 2019, PepsiCo Vietnam rebranded Poca's potato snack products to Lay's to ensure the branding was in sync with the global name. Other products such as snack flavours and fishskin peanut still retain the Poca brand. Co-founder and CEO of Happiness Saigon, Alan Cerutti, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the company's plan for 2021 is to own the idea of crunchy delicious enjoyment. Since the rebranding in 2019, Lay's felt the need to constantly create brand awareness and ensure it remains top of mind. "What better way to be iconic than to be present in the most important consumer journey moment? The act of eating chips while watching videos is so universal," Cerutti explained.

Campaign production began during the third quarter of last year and Cerutti said the plugin only works with chips. "If other noises are made, such as a can falling on a table, it will not register the sound," he said. While he was unable to disclose the specific monetary investment for the campaign, Cerutti said the team wanted to experiment with how far the brand could go with a small amount of investment.

"For us, it was a great opportunity to demonstrate the power of creativity and the power of ideas. It was also about showing that Vietnam has the fire in its belly to get onto the global stage and it is able to set the bar in creativity and IT," he explained. 

The campaign seems to have paid off, for Lay's has garnered attention on a popular closed Facebook group in Vietnam named "Maybe You Missed This F***king News", which has about 678.8k followers. "Even without mentioning Lay's, many people associated the plugin with the brand, which was great. Also, Vietnam is not an easy market to get free earned media. It is common practice to pay for editorial coverage," Cerutti said. This time round, however, he said the team did not pay a single cent for any editorial articles but was still able to receive coverage for the Crispy Subtitles.

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