Brand Update : Lays

What I have feared has happened. The brand mandarins at Pepsico or at JWT seems to be bored with the highly successful tagline " No one can eat just one". The brand Lays has changed its positioning statement to " Har Program Ka Main Food" which means " Main Food for All Programs" .

When the first TVC featuring this new tagline was aired during the world cup, I thought it was a temporary change in tagline to suit the event. But now the new tvc is on air with the same tagline. My personal feeling is that the brand has decided to try suicide because it is bored with the success. When no competitor is having the capacity to kill your brand, then why not try it yourself.
For so many years, the tagline "No one can eat just one" was able to communicate the brand DNA to the customers. Those who liked Lays would say with conviction that you cannot stop eating Lays. The creative guys at JWT had the flexibility of using this tagline to come out with new and different campaigns. But yet, someone out there felt experimenting.
The new tagline has taken the focus away from the USP of the brand ie. "Taste" to the " Usage Occasion " which is not a strong differentiator as the previous one. By doing so, the brand has given away the best differentiator it had...

It was the same case with Pepsi, it had the habit of messing up the tagline just in the name of freshness and experimenting. From the iconic tagline " Yehi hai right choice baby" to ?????? can anyone remember the new tagline?
I am not saying that the brand shouldnot experiment with its taglines and positioning. I am not saying that tagline is the MOST important brand element. But the point is that a change in the successful tagline should be guided by solid reason. Messing up a blockbuster positioning statement like " No one can eat just one" is going to cost heavily on this brand. Frito Lays may be investing lot of money experimenting new taglines in coming days... I pity them.

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Lays