Creative Advertising Requires Creative Media Firms

Ruffles poster on a Vancouver bus shelter, June 8, 2012

Ruffles poster above the top of the bus shelter, June 8, 2012

Here is a piece of transit shelter advertising that actually makes sense. "Flavour with no limits" and the bacon has broken through the top of the poster frame.

I think that this is great and it caught my attention. I can see this concept being used by Ruffles for other chip flavours. Getting the media firm to go along with the idea must have been a bit of a battle.

The real test is; will it get me to buy this brand and flavour of potato chips?

I've written before about the AATPRP model. (Awareness-Attitude-Trial-Purchase-Repeat Purchase) I think that this addresses steps 1, 2 and 5 pretty well. It introduces the brand (Ruffles) and talks about the big benefit (Flavour). And for existing Ruffles customers it reinforces their brand loyalty. (I buy Ruffles because of the great flavour)

However, I'm not a regular Ruffles buyer. I don't see much differentiation among potato chip brands and am unwilling to pay a big premium for Ruffles chips. So, while I'm now aware of the brand promise (Flavour) I remain unconvinced. (Even though I still remember a very old campaign for the brand, "Ruffles has ridges".)

It will be interesting to see if this campaign includes other flavours. I'll keep an eye out. It will also be interesting to see how quickly the bacon extension succumbs to vandalism. I give them less than a week.