Distinguishing Taste

Here's a tip to someone who's frustrated with their current employment. . . there's an obvious job opportunity out there for a keen graphic designer and a creative product marketing manager. You're going to have to talk your way into it - and, if you get to the VP Marketing you might want to bring a prop or two, perhaps a bag of Lay's Roast Chicken Potato Chips and a bag of Walker Sensations Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Thyme.

Now, granted, to get a bag of the Walker crisps you'll of had to have made a recent trip to the U.K., or have a very good friend serving as courier, but it'll be worth it. With the right flair and a little passion, which will come naturally when you sample the two products, you should easily convince Lay's VP Marketing that you will be able to add significantly to the company's projected revenue for their line of Roast Chicken chips. If you can't, then you deserve your current job.

To me the name alone says it. For those of you who are regular readers, you know I love food; and I love to cook - and maybe that's what's missing at Lay's. When I read Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Thyme I'm reading a menu. And when I read Roast Chicken chips, I'm reading a very weird snack.

My point here is to focus on the marketing; the difference in the flavour simply reinforces the point. The Walker crisps provide a burst of chicken flavour - a sour twist of lemon, a hint of thyme, and the taste experience that you get when you steal that piece of breast meat that still has the skin on it. It's intense. The Lay's chips are chips with chicken flavour. They're good - but all you taste are chips. . . with a faux chicken flavour.

Moreover, the packaging appears to be wonderfully integrated with the message. Lay's is obviously focused on their brand, for what else could explain the drab combat appearance - the khaki coloured bag with the simple Roast Chicken Label. Walker's is enticing you with that piece of breast meat that you were tempted to steal - the black and white labelling that screams elegance.

And the crowning contradiction? Walker's is owned by Frito-lay. So that job opportunity may be just a little more difficult to secure - they have in-house talent. But with a little luck Lay's Texan bias will be blind to foreigners . . . but then again, perhaps you're Canadian. . . for the kicker is, these chips are from Canada!