According to Blind, the only staff members at FYMD who have worked on the salty snacks category are currently on "vacation" in Chang Mai, Thailand so we weren’t able to get their full perspective…But we did “monitor” some posts on the socials that the brand teams at Frito-Lay tend to stick around for awhile. Which means maybe they’ll get a pass on getting shitcanned for producing this dog’s breakfast of an ad.

Beverly Hills Housewives or Orange County? Ranch or Blue Cheese? Tastes Great or Less Filling? Just the tip or the whole finger? Are you down for everything? Cause Frito’s is down for everything.

And, to provide a balanced and scientific perspective, we did an internal audit as well as polling the entire staff across the global FYMD footprint and the results were groundbreaking - we are also down for everything.

The Snacks Business:

From the point Mr. C.E. Doolin and Mr. H.W. Lay finally merged their expanding snack food empires into the Frito-Lay Company (FLC) way back in 1961 to a merger with PepsiCo 4 years later they already had over 30 years of snackin’ expertise - and now with 29 Brands and 55,000 employees the FLC uses enough potatoes to stack all the way to the moon and back - every year! 

But we digress - this is about corn chips, specifically of the Frito variety. So we can tell you Statista says in 2022 that almost 240 million Americans will enjoy a tasty corn chip of some variety. That’s almost enough corn chips to line the infinity pool at Chengpeng Zhao’s crypto palace. Google. It’s your friend.

Conversely, their big business, lack of organically gown corn, and inability to name the farm where the corn came from doesn’t allow them to be included in the refreshed daily, free snack bin at the FYMD Noe Valley Annex, but Frito’s are delicious as fuck and whatever algorithm determines their salt to chip ratio might be one of the greatest math calculations of all time. Metaverse that, Zuckerberg.

Sidebar: We also don’t know their role in the “industrial salt complex” - and while we can’t tell you how, FYMD knows there’s some shady people running that racket.

Table Stakes:

This is where size really matters - agriculture, manufacturing, packaging, distribution  FLC is also vertical AF, as they say in those smart marketing books you’re reading. And per Grand View Research the savory snacks category is worth nearly $37 Billion in 2020 and will achieve around 6% CAGR through 2028 - which means that FLC makes bajillions of dollars selling extruded snacks (technical term for Fritos) to likes of you and me, but mostly you.  

However, the fastest growing category within the overall savory snack business is Nuts and Seeds, which is maybe why Frito’s chose to go into market with new creative - Are they protecting share? Are they trying to drive retail shelf space for an ageing product line by exciting their trade? Did some super-pumped Wharton MBA get promoted and needs to mansplain corn chips?

We’re just asking questions. 

Competitive Insight:

There’s lots of chips. Some corn. Some potato. All delicious. Ok…truth is we let our research team go to Thailand for some “rest and relaxation” so our normal level of competitive rigor is a touch below normal standards. Don’t worry they’ll be Covid and STD free in short order.

Creative Appreciation:

Bro’s shopping. Bro’s playing guitars. Bro’s walking taco. Bro’s fixing their truck. Bro’s camping. Bro’s and their dog.

This is basically a Copenhagen snuff commercial without the dip cup.

All not kidding aside, FYMD seeks to provide that key creative insight or other buzzword that justifies our large consulting fees. And today, that buzzword is Communications Planning. 

We love the dark art of comms planning here at FYMD. 

The ability to influence creative and media simultaneously as to effect how a piece of communications actually lives in the world and is absorbed by the audience is incredibly difficult - And after watching the 'Down for Everything’ spot multiple times while sober, it’s mostly clear they are trying to connect “occasion to enjoy” with “the product” over and over.  This is smart stuff because people do eat a lot of chips and letting them know that it’s ok to eat chips when you’re playing guitar with your bro shows a level of communications planning expertise that leads the FYMD team to believe that Frito’s media agency includes comms planning in their retainer.

Lastly…Did we not feel the need to remind people how delicious Frito’s actually are or was your bro supposed to do that while you were trying on joggers?

What The FYMD Staff Has To Say:

After a round of single origin espressos pulled by our Aussie barista, Bryce, the Noe Valley Annex team had a couple of thoughts. Then they Googled best beard trimmers for awhile. Did their Wordle. Then finally put pen to paper on this whole Frito’s white southern bro listicle. 

Two kinda marketing thingy’s are bothering the FYMD team: How does this piece of communications solve anything? And what is the name of the account person who sold this because they’re a fucking legend.

So we used sock puppets to reenact the final internal creative meeting and came up with what we feel is probably how this all went down

Creative Bro #1 “This is the next priceless MasterCard ad, bro!”
Creative Bro #2 “Down for everything! - this campaign could last years!”

Creative Bro #1 “We want to use this director from Australia who fukin’ rulez”

Creative Bro #2 “Dude, we have to be authentic, gotta stay real”

Planner “Can you explain exactly how this is going to sell corn chips - also is  there budget for me to go on the shoot?”

Group Business Director “Mastercard…Priceless….My Precious….”

There was also a whole weird sock puppet academy awards reenactment scene, but it didn’t seem important to how this campaign got approved.

Anywho…when did Fritos become a lifestyle brand?

We’re just asking questions.