Morning newspaper and an oatmeal cookie

When it comes to new products there´s nothing like simple sampling. The more you get people to try, engage, experiment, the more chances are you´ll start forming a consumer base. Sounds simple but I have made a few mistakes in the past of not sampling enough.

For our Quaker On-the-Go line, we teamed up with São Paulo's Metro Newspaper and used their army of distributors at traffic lights to give morning commuters a sample of Quaker oatmeal cookies and mini squares.

Ruffles at the Jonas Brothers Concert

Two of our brands, Ruffles® and Toddy®, sponsored the Jonas Brothers Concert here in São Paulo this past Sunday.  

In a jam-packed stadium with 60,000 fans, it was an awesome opportunity for us to launch our new limited edition Ruffles Do Seu Jeito ('Ruffles Your Way') - which comes in a flavor for girls and one for guys.  The guy version is a big wave potato chip with a masculine BBQ Ribs flavor and the girl version is a thin-sliced potato chip with a soft cream cheese flavor.  

The in-stadium brand activation was carried out by the Future Group.  The promoters were instructed to hand out samples according to the positioning.  Next to me, there was a girl asking to sample the guy BBQ flavor.  The answer she got was:  "Bring a male friend and you'll get your sample" which was a great way to promote interaction among the crowd.

Here are two pictures I took of consumers sampling the product.  I had fun playing photographer...

Creating a New Consumption Occasion with the help of Pizza Hut

Despite record growth we have been having with our Doritos® business here in Brazil, one of the challenges we face is that Brazilians don't have the habit of dipping tortilla tips in salsas like in the U.S. or Mexico. How do you start developing a new consumption occasion that simply isn't part of the local food culture? One of the ways of doing it is to partner with someone who can give you a hand. In our case here in Brazil, Pizza Hut®. Our Doritos Brand Mgr. Alexandre Chiavegatti worked with Pizza Hut to put the Doritos Nacho experience on the menu. We're extremely happy with the partnership since Pizza Hut is a cool venue for the urban teen and young adult demographic which now can be exposed to the Doritos® brand in a completely new way. It was launched last December and so far it has been working very well.

Creative Sampling Idea

Our agency AlmapBBDO came up with a creative way for us to sample Sensações® chips in the streets of São Paulo. Teaming up with the newspapers Metro and Destak - free daily publications that are handed out to people on their way to work - the ad placed on the cover of the paper invites readers to help us promote the brand. When the paper is folded it looks like people are actually holding a bag of chips. Beyond the joke, a real bag of chips was handed out with each newspaper.