• by Steve Ellwanger , July 17, 2019

Tapping the trends of both product personalization and cause marketing,  Lay’s will feature images of 32 grinning people on packaging for its “Smiles” charity campaign to benefit Operation Smile to the tune of $1 million.

Operation Smile is a 35-year-old international organization that provides access to surgery for kids with a cleft lip or palate.

Last year, in its first “Smiles” effort, Frito Lay used 40 different images on bags showing the bottom half of someone's face. People were encouraged to hold up a bag and fill in the top half of the face with their own smile, snap a selfie and then share it on social media.

In its second iteration, beginning later this month, Lay’s bags will feature the bottom half of the faces of 32 people who are making a difference in their communities.

One example is Paige Chenault of Dallas (image above), whose Birthday Party Project throws parties for homeless children. It’s become a national movement that has thrown more than 8,500 birthday parties with some 50,000 kids in attendance.

The company says last year’s campaign generated 40,000 selfies spread across an eight-week period, yielding more than 30,000 tweets and 10,000 Instagram photos all shared/tagged with #SmileWithLays.

Once again, Lay’s will support the “Smiles” effort with a TV campaign, updated this year to include details of the “Everyday Smilers” featured on the packaging and explaining the brand’s $1 million contribution to Operation Smile.

Last year’s “Smiles” campaign got a boost from singer Jordin Sparks, but as yet there are no celebrity endorsements for the second iteration.

While it’s one thing for mass-market brands to back particular causes, it’s quite another to personalize their products. Recent high-profile examples include Coca-Cola’s 2014 “Share A Coke” campaign, in which the company identified the top 250 millennial names and customized 250 labels on Coke bottles.

In using 32 personalities on its bags, Lay’s appears to be hoping that consumers will relate to people doing good things in their geographic neck of the woods.