The votes have been tallied.\u00a0 A victor has been chosen.\u00a0 The winner of the Lay\u2019s Do Us A Flavor contest for 2015 is\u2026Southern Biscuits and Gravy!\u00a0 After receiving millions of submissions from consumers all over the U.S. and logging millions more votes on Facebook for the four finalists, Lay\u2019s has its newest flavor and with an established fan following to boot.<\/p>\n
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That process certainly sounds much better than the traditional, out-dated approach of trend watching, focus groups and taste testing.\u00a0 Lay\u2019s has leveraged the crowd in the simplest yet most effective way to source new flavors but letting Millenials in on the sausage making could lead to questions about more than just flavors.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Want to know what consumers want?\u00a0 Just ask, and offer prizes<\/strong><\/p>\n Lay\u2019s Do Us A Flavor<\/a> began outside the U.S., first gaining popularity in the United Kingdom with classic flavors like Scottish Haggis and ironically American Cheeseburger.\u00a0 The concept is simple.\u00a0 Any consumer can submit a flavor suggestion.\u00a0 A group of brand representatives and foodies choose 10 top flavors.\u00a0 Frito-Lay food scientists mock up sample chips and 3-4 finalists are chosen.\u00a0 Consumers then get to vote on the finalists to choose a winner.\u00a0 The person who submitted the winning entry gets $1 million or 1% of sales from the first year, whichever is higher.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The concept is so simple that you can\u2019t help but ask, \u201cWhy hasn\u2019t anyone else done this before?\u201d\u00a0 Well, they have.\u00a0 Sam Adams and Arizona Iced Tea have both asked consumers to join the conversation on their next flavors<\/a>, but neither company has accompanied their promotions with the same social media might of Lay\u2019s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do Us A Flavor launched in the U.S. in 2013 with celebrity endorsers Iron Chef Michael Symon and actress Eva Longoria.\u00a0 Entertainer and restauranteur Nick Lachey took center stage for this year\u2019s contest, going as far as greeting finalists at their doorstep to tell them they had won.\u00a0 The Lay\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> is teeming with Do Us A Flavorcontent for the almost 7 million people that have liked the page.\u00a0 To date, this promotion has stretched across 14 countries and collected more than 25 million submissions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We can safely say this has been a success, so far.\u00a0 Lay\u2019s Do Us A Flavor could be setting a dangerous precedent of consumer engagement that might soon reach too far for comfort.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Invite Millenials inside and they may never move out<\/strong><\/p>\n Do Us A Flavor launched in the U.S. to reengage Millenials, who had effectively forgotten about Lay\u2019s.\u00a0 Frito-Lay Chief Marketing Officer and architect of Do Us A Flavor Ram Krishnan told Ad Age \u201cConsumers have gone from being passive to active, highly engaged consumers.\u00a0 These are like venture capitalist consumers.\u00a0 They actually want to spend their time giving feedback on the products.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Venture capitalist consumers sound challenging enough but what if they one day become activist investor consumers?\u00a0 Perhaps having a say on the next Lay\u2019s flavor won\u2019t be enough and consumers will demand a steep reduction in sodium.\u00a0 Or only responsibilty grown potatos.\u00a0 Or vegan chips with no preservatives.\u00a0 This might sound far-fetched, but we\u2019ve already seen examples of consumer activism forcing large companies to change course.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Take a look at Nike.\u00a0 Well before Facebook and Twitter gave all consumers a digital megaphone to make their voices heard, Nike came under fire for labor malpractice in their factories.\u00a0 The 1990\u2019s global boycott of Nike forced the company to clean up its supply chain<\/a>.\u00a0 No doubt this case of consumer activism led to positive outcomes for society but it also cost Nike a ton.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Apparel may seem unrelated, so let\u2019s look at a PepsiCo customer: Walmart.\u00a0 Relentless pressure from consumers surely had some impact on its recent decision to raise wages.\u00a0 Again, another positive result but one that likely contributed to reducing earnings forecasts and its stock plunging<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If PepsiCo customer isn\u2019t good enough, then look inside PepsiCo at Gatorade.\u00a0 In 2013, a 15-year old named Sarah Kavanagh successfully launched a war against Gatorade<\/a> over the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO).\u00a0 She started a petition on Change.org and quickly found herself on morning talk shows pushing her cause.\u00a0 To be clear, the actual research on BVO is inconclusive at best<\/a>, and PepsiCo\u2019s products were in line with FDA regulations.\u00a0 Even still, PepsiCo had to take action to remove the ingredient all together because one outspoken teen decided to speak out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Consumer packaged goods companies walk a fine line every day.\u00a0 They must delight consumers to get close to their hearts.\u00a0 At the same time, firms must keep consumers at arm\u2019s length to maintain control.\u00a0 Campaigns like Do Us A Flavor fundamentally rewrite the contract between companies and consumers.\u00a0 The consequences of that new contract have yet to be determined.\u00a0 When Ad Age asked Krishnan about the drawbacks of having such a close relationship with consumers, Krishnan replied \u201cSometimes you don\u2019t like their feedback\u201d.\u00a0 If the past is any indication, not liking consumer feedback might be least of their worries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The votes have been tallied.\u00a0 A victor has been chosen.\u00a0 The winner of the Lay\u2019s Do Us A Flavor contest for 2015 is\u2026Southern Biscuits and Gravy!\u00a0 After receiving millions of submissions from consumers all over the U.S. and logging millions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":1630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-1629","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/leveraging-the-collective-intelligence-and-effort-of-digital-crowds\/","yoast_head":"\n