Ruffles

We partnered with Frito-Lay to turn product love to brand love through flavor innovation.

Capabilities

Consumer Research

Platform Development

Ideation

Concept Development

Challenge

Consumers enjoyed Ruffles and its iconic ridges, but they viewed it as classic and traditional. In an era where Gen Z consumers are looking for new and different, the brand wanted to create an intense flavor story to evolve the brand and grow the business.

Action Taken

DuPuis partnered with Frito-Lay to craft a Ruffles intense flavor strategy that empowers consumers to experience pop culture through flavor. We conducted 1:1s with target consumers to test brand stretch and explore flavor trends. Armed with an understanding of what intense means to Gen Z, we developed innovation platforms and led a cross-functional, collaborative CampFire ideation session. We built consumer concepts and tested them with a consumer quick quant to identify flavors and themes with the most potential with both Gen Z and gen pop. Finally, we crafted the flavor strategy roadmap and innovation pipeline with recommended 52-week and LTO flavors.