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As the Savory Snacks market leader in the MENA region, PepsiCo is always looking for opportunities to grow and gear category dynamics through consumer-centric innovations.
With premium snack trends on the rise around the world, the PepsiCo team saw an opportunity to leverage their global brand equity and experience to develop unique propositions that would win both Saudi and Middle Eastern consumers and cement the company’s position in the MENA region’s Savory Snack sector.
Premium products are perceived by consumers as “higher quality” and “healthier”, which justifies their higher price point. Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, premium products represent a rewarding act of self-care and a small way for consumers to enjoy the good things in life. PepsiCo needed to crack the code of “Premiumization” before configuring the ideal savory snack product, so they partnered with AWE Research.
The AWE team set out to explore premium snacking from all angles and devise best practices for PepsiCo to develop winning offers based on consumer expectations. We executed a multidisciplinary study to understand how, why, and when consumers engage with premium savory snacks.
Using our pre-task tools like In-store Shopping Safaris and “S’AWE WhatsApp” Diaries, we elicited cues for premium savory snack associations; moods; visuals; product offering expectations; price ranges; sensorial experiences; and brand references. We also facilitated extended consumer ideation sessions to identify drivers, emotional gratifications, and demand spaces, as well as to analyze brand relevance for need states, gratifications, and consumption occasions.
We synthesized these findings to develop a comprehensive “Premiumization Guidebook” that covered “Do’s and Don’ts” and “must-haves” of premium savory snack offerings informed by consumer expectations, ingredients, consumption occasions, and packaging. We then evaluated Lay’s brand stretchability and identified opportunities to conceptualize a full-fledged mix of offerings tailored to KSA consumers’ needs and preferences.
The company launched Lays Gourmet, the first kettle-cooked chip in the KSA market, in an assortment of sophisticated flavors that reflect the desires and expectations of Saudi consumers.
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