Favorite Brand

The brand that I am most passionate about is Lay’s potato chips by Frito – Lay, Inc. I do not know if it is because I grew up eating them or just because they are so delicious. When I buy groceries I try the other brands, but I always keep going back to Lay’s. I usually end up throwing the other brands away without even finishing them. The three reasons that I am so passionate about Lay’s are: one – they are so tasty and delicious, two – they have a variety of flavors to choose from, and three – they are affordable as far as taste and quality goes. Herman W. Lay was born in 1909 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lay started working at the age of ten at a variety of jobs. Lay started working for Barrett Food Products Company in 1932, as a route salesman. He earned about 23 dollars a month. Later that same year, Lay borrowed one hundred dollars to take over one of Barrett’s warehouses on a distributor basis. He hired his first salesman in 1933 and by the following year he had six sales routes. By 1936, Lay had 25 employees and had to move to a bigger warehouse. In 1938, Barrett had financial difficulties and Lay bought Barrett and the Gardner’s brand name for $60,000 and changed the name of the company to H.W. Lay & Company, Inc. In 1944 began marketing potato chips under the Lay’s name and H.W. Lay was the first snack food to advertise on television, featuring the first spokesperson for the company, Oscar, the Happy Potato.

In 1961, H.W. Lay and the Frito Company merged and formed Frito – Lay, Inc., which was located in Dallas and had revenues of over $127 million. In 1963, Frito – Lay began using the slogan, “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One” in their advertising. In 1965, Frito – Lay merged with Pepsi – Cola Company to form PepsiCo, Inc. The main force that brought these companies together was that Frito – Lay wanted to pursue overseas markets and Pepsi already had strong ties to overseas markets. Lay’s was the first potato chips to be sold nationally. In 1968, nacho cheese-flavored Doritos were introduced nationally and were a big hit. They also introduced Frito Bandito, a Mexican bandit cartoon, who spoke in a heavy Mexican accent and who schemed and robbed to get Fritos corn chips. The Frito Bandito commercial came under attack from Mexican American groups, stating that it showed prejudice and stereotyped against Mexican Americans. In 1970, Frito – Lay ended the Frito Bandito campaign due to the protests. In the 1970’s, Frito – Lay began feeling the effects of the increased completion. The competition that challenged Frito – Lay was none other than Wise, Pringles, and Chipos. Wise because they had been around since the 1920’s, and Pringles and Chips because these chips were made from mashed or dehydrated potatoes and shaped into a uniformed shape that could be stacked inside of a can or packaged in a box.

They had several advantages over the regular potato chips: one advantage was that their packaging made them less fragile, the second advantage was that their packaging was less bulky and easier to ship, and the third advantage was that they could be made and shipped in on location. The main advantage of these two competitors were that they were backed by two product giants, Pringles by Proctor & Gamble Company and Chipos by General Mills, Inc. Frito – Lay also had other competitors in other snack categories, such as Nabisco, Inc. with Mister Salty pretzels and Standard Brands, Inc. with Planters nuts. The 1990’s were very challenging for Frito – Lay, due to the stiff competition, increasing prices, and the decline of a quality product. As a result of these challenges, profits for Frito – Lay were also on the decline. In 1991, a former Frito – Lay marketing vice-president, Roger A. Enrico, was hired to the top spot. He set out to turn Frito – Lay upside down, he first eliminated 1,800 administrative and managerial positions, and then he closed or sold off 4 of the 40 company plants. He also dropped more than 100 package sizes and brand varieties from what had become too overloaded with products. Enrico opened up 22 sales and marketing offices to bring decision making closer to retailers and consumers. These changes saved the company $100 million dollars, thus creating a much more efficient structure for the company. Through aggressive new product development, advertising, and marketing efforts, the Frito – Lay Company has come out on top with a 60 percent market in its control. It seems like I am not the only one who has Frito – Lays as their favorite brand of snack items.

References

06/06/2014. http://www.wisesnacks.com/about-wise/the-wise-story.aspx/retrieved 06/06/2014. 06/06/2013