Q: Last year’s campaign to get Canadians to come up with their own chip flavour ideas was huge. How is this year’s approach different?
The contest received incredible support from Canadians in 2013. This year’s contest offers Lay’s consumers even more opportunities to demonstrate their passion and creativity for potato chip flavours. In addition to submitting a flavour, this year Canadians will be able to choose from three potato chip styles for their flavour ideas: Lay’s Original, Lay’s Kettle Cooked and/or Lay’s Wavy.
AND this year’s spokesperson is BALD which I think is the best change of all 😉
Q: Can people enter more than once?
OF COURSE! The more the better! There is no limit.
Q: For how long?
Until April 23, Canadians can submit their flavour ideas at Lays.ca/Flavour. The submissions will then be narrowed down to four finalist flavours by a panel of qualified judges and these finalist flavours will then be made available in stores nationwide beginning on or around August 10. Once they hit shelves, Lay’s fans across the country will be able to purchase and try all four finalist flavours, and vote for their favourite until October 15, 2014.
While all four finalists will have the chance to see their flavours come alive on the shelf, only the grand prize winner will take home $50,000 plus one per cent of their flavour’s future sales (after the voting period). The grand prize winner is set to be announced in late November 2014.
Q: I noticed the Chinese food takeout theme in my media kit. Does this mean you are looking for Asian-inspired flavours in particular this year?
Canada is a land of food lovers and we’ve got an endless list of favourite foods, secret family recipes and standing take-out orders. Lay’s brand is inviting Canadians to use as their muse for creating the next great potato chip flavour idea.
We asked Canadians about their flavour inspiration and found out the following interesting flavour insights. These are the insights that helped the team strategically develop our Chinese food takeout themed media kits:
Of a list of favourite international dishes, respondents reported that Italian pizza (21 per cent), Chinese sweet and sour chicken (17 per cent), Mexican guacamole (15 per cent) and Indian chicken curry (11 per cent) were most likely to taste great as a potato chip.
Of the listed take-out foods from other countries, half (50 per cent) of all Canadians surveyed said they order Chinese food most often and one-quarter (26 per cent) say they most often order Italian.
Q: What advice can you give to people coming up with their flavours?
My advice is to think about the flavours that you REALLY love! We want to hear about the STORY behind your flavour – that is what is going to make it unique. And don’t EDIT your flavour – don’t think it is too weird or that other people won’t like it. Every flavour is like a finger print – be yourself.
Q: Is there anything the judges DO NOT want to see again?
Almost anything goes – but we ask that Canadians keep it family-friendly and without nuts and seeds.
Q: How did you end up with such an awesome food gig? I am envious!
You should be! It is probably the best gig on TV! I get to travel around and meet cool food truck owners and eat for FREE! I auditioned for another show entirely and the producers of Eat St saw the tape and thought I would be a good fit. I flew down to New York to meet the crew and the rest is history. We’re just putting the finishing touches on season 5 right now with 26 NEW episodes coming your way!
Q: What is the chip flavour of your foodie dreams?
Oh wow such a loaded question! People always ask me about my favourite food truck or my favourite menu item and its just IMPOSSIBLE… I don’t think I’ve met a food truck or flavour I DIDN’T like.
Q: Blog reader Janet wants to know what the weirdest combo they ever had was? Like out of your foodie nightmares? (Canjun squirrel perhaps?)
Do Us a Flavour is a successful global contest that has been executed around the world. Worldwide, more than 12 million flavour submissions have been made to the contest. There are loads of unique and wacky winning flavours from around the world including:
- Pickled Cucumber in Serbia
- Garlic Prawns in Spain
- Hot and Spicy Crab in Thailand
- Sunday Roast in New Zealand
- Spicy Sausage in Poland
- Mastana Mango in India
- Pizza in Saudi Arabia
Good luck to all who enter.
Agreed! I hope they do the ideas justice. It’s a lot of responsibility to create a product based on the taste profile of another person. I’m also glad it isn’t a popularity contest. It is actually judged but I am still shocked Maple Moose won last year.