• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, February 7, 2025

Most consumers have never heard of Flipz, a salty-sweet pretzel snack made by Pladis, the British snack company. But almost everyone knows Saquon Barkley, the running back expected to dazzle Philadelphia Eagles fans in the coming Super Bowl. Already a Flipz fan, Barkley is starring in a new ad campaign timed around the biggest snack day of the year. Ahad Afridi, CMO of Pladis in the Americas, tells CPG Insider how the company hopes the campaign will turn Flipz into a household name.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

CPG Insider: What’s the strategy behind the new campaign?

Ahad Afridi: Flipz is a young, fun brand that prides itself on being unconventional. We have a mantra to “Flipz,” the script for snacking. But it's a brand with low awareness and penetration, and we're trying to help people get to know us. We think if they know us, they'll love us. And this campaign is really about that, starting with the specific usage occasion. We want to get in people’s snack bowls.

CPG Insider: What led to this approach?

Afridi: Snacking is quite prevalent when watching sports, especially football. And NFL viewership is high. We know the people are there. They snack on salty things: chips, dips, pizza, Buffalo wings. And they like sweet things. We're a combination of sweet and salty in one bite.

To convey that, we knew we needed to find a way to punch above our weight and that if we wanted our socially driven PR campaign to work, it needed to be at the center of culture. Sports and music are two of the biggest drivers. I spent 15 years at PepsiCo and learned how important they can be.

Saquon is a great fit. He's revolutionizing the running back position. He's got a little sweet and salty to him, and in the trade from the Giants, he’s been a little underappreciated.

We’re also working with Breland, the up-and-coming hip-hop/country artist, who also has that duality. He helped us create a light-hearted, catchy jingle. Choosing the right partners was the starting point, which led to how we wanted to activate the campaign with social, PR and earned media.

CPG Insider: Those choices have been lucky -- you couldn’t have known that Breland would win a Grammy or that the Eagles would be in the Super Bowl.

Afridi: I know. This has been such a great season, and he has been a great partner. He's got so many layers of interest in him: the way he plays the game, and his attitude. Not many people would refuse the opportunity to break a single-season rushing record, all for the sake of the bigger cause. Again, he’s like us -- willing to do anything to get to the Big Game. We’re trying just as hard to get to the big bowl.

CPG Insider: Some companies would say these are all reasons to buy an ad on the Super Bowl.

Afridi: We would love to do that. We're a challenger brand and still early in the journey. We're in a good growth trajectory and have almost doubled the business over the last five years. This is a new muscle that we're building. We’ve got new agency partners, Lucky Generals and Lippe Taylor. We're working toward becoming a player, then a bigger player.

CPG Insider: I love that Barkley never actually says “Super Bowl.” Besides social and PR, what other channels are you using?

Afridi: Another first is a Times Square billboard, which will be up for the weekend.

CPG Insider: What goals have you set for this campaign?

Afridi: This first step onto the playing field here is about driving awareness and getting impressions. We initially thought we’d shoot for 15 million, considering that Godiva, a sister brand, would generate around 1 billion, since it’s much better known. But we’ve already passed 1 billion for Flipz.

We also want to see excitement and enthusiasm from our retail partners. We want them to say, “We saw what you did and loved it,” as opposed to us having to say, “This is what we plan to do.” And we also want this to excite our sales force and employees about our growth vision. That vibe or mojo is as important as the impressions metric, which we've already blown through.

CPG Insider: The salty and sweet trend has been building for some time, and thanks to salted caramel, that combo has become mainstream. Have consumer palates essentially changed? Is it a Gen Z thing?

Afridi: No, it’s consumers of all ages. They want new taste experiences, something different. Unexpected combinations are a great way of mixing things up. Flipz can do that. We just launched a blueberry donut flavor, which people think is interesting and exciting.