Chips & Crisps Marketing
Before the 1800s turned into the 1900s, Potato Chips and Crisps were a relatively new snack product. We stumbled across this old packaging photograph of the oldest recorded Potato Chips company; The Saratoga Chips Company.
Given the historical nature of the relationship with the Potato Chips & Crisps world it is fully understandable that their current packaging is based on the same design.
Given the historical nature of the relationship with the Potato Chips & Crisps world it is fully understandable that their current packaging is based on the same design.
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By the turn of the century, Potato Chips and Crisps were barely a corner store product, so advertising probably would have been required. If it did exist it would have been similar to the advertising of the time – just writing, no images.
Maybe a company logo if you’re lucky, but even this is unlikely, because the earliest record Potato Chips company was William Tappenden of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895. |
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The York (Pennsylvania) Directory of 1911 included this admission. Interestingly, prior to this advertisement there were only three Potato Chips Companies recorded to have existed in the United States:
Leominster Potato Chip Co. (1908), Mikesell’s Potato Chips (1910), George Dentler (1910). |
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This would lead us to believe there were actually several, if not many, local manufacturers and distributors of the product. It is however, unlikely that advertising had developed to much more than a few lines in the local gazette.
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By the 1920s the invention of grease proof bags and airtight packs would have enabled the manufacturers to move ahead of this type of 1924 advertising from The Seattle Times.
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Although, it is interesting that other foodstuffs were already being explored as 'Chips'.
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By the 1930s advertising had taken on the mainstream fashion of the time, which was to include a drawing (rarely photographs), of the product for sale, as this 1935 UK advertisement for Smiths Crisps displays.
These were the Potato Crisps that featured the little blue bag of salt. |
1927
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1940s
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Dan Dee started in 1913
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Late 1930s
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Between these times the tins and boxes used for Chips and Crisps storage would perhaps reveal the types of advertising seen. The company logos, prominent on the packaging, would have been visible in display advertisements. However, as it was yet to become a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry these would have not been nearly as visible as higher end or mass produced product marketing. I am afraid we couldn't who to credit for the above photos (please let us know if it is you), but they are fantastic representations of the packaging of the time.
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After the Second World War advertising came into its own, as has been explained fully to the avid watching public in TV Shows such as Mad Men. This 1955 advert is an example of the ‘scene setting’ of the time. Just as knitting patterns, as shown in the example showed, it was common for adverts to include a happy looking fellow ‘experiencing’ his product.
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Packaging remained a consistent form of advertising throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with the graphics, shapes and colours of those times featuring prominently for a vast amount of products.
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One consistent form of Post War advertising was the celebrity endorsement, which in the UK in particular began to take on a new dimension. This advertisement from the 1980s featured an accompanying television advert with John McEnroe and the umpire discussing the great things about the Smith’s savory snack.
Walkers Crisps cottoned on to this and employed Gary Lineker, a famous soccer player, to promote its products. Not only did this prove stunningly successful financially, but the comedic air of the campaign continued and is still running today. |
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Above: Gary Lineker with The Spice Girls
Left: Welsh Opera Singer Charlotte Church
Far Left: Pop Star Katy Perry
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The celebrity endorsement obviously translates very well to the ‘Sex Sells’ advertising mantra of the major agencies, as these advertisements show.
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We especially like the Irish campaign, which caused controversy (the profile raising purpose), and didn’t even attempt to hide behind double entendres or humor!
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As Potato Chips and Crisps are a global product, Lay's in particular, who own the vast majority of the world's trade in the product, are fully versed in the power of marketing and advertising. As Pepsi-Cola is the second best selling Cola in China, and Pepsi-Co own Lay's, marketing Pepsi flavored Chips to China's 1.2billion population is really quite brilliant. Here are two of their other international advertising campaigns from the past decade. First Russia and second, Colombia.
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As the attention of at least 50% of our readers will no doubt have drifted back up to the rugby players by now, it would be pertinent to include an advert by UK killjoys, The British Heart Foundation. The majority of Potato Chips and Crisps manufacturers have switched to healthier oils in recent years.
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