Lay’s Super Bowl LX Campaign: Key Findings
- The PepsiCo brand is running two in-game Super Bowl spots for the first time, pairing a cinematic farm story with a live consumer challenge.
- The dual placement allows Lay’s to tell two different stories at once, one grounded in heritage, the other in immediacy.
- The campaign lands alongside new price cuts, linking storytelling and performance at a time when value matters most.
Campaign Snapshot
Lay’s is expanding its Super Bowl presence this year with a two-part approach.
The strategy splits equally between where its chips come from and how fast they reach consumers.
Instead of choosing between a brand story or an activation, the PepsiCo brand is running both during Super Bowl LX.
This marks the first time Lay's has aired two in-game commercials in the same broadcast.
A Return to the Farm
The first commercial, a 60-second spot titled “Last Harvest,” which was teased last month, will air during the first half of the game.
Created with independent ad agency Highdive and directed by Taika Waititi, the short film follows a father and daughter working side by side on their family farm.
The heartwarming story of how they grew potatoes until the dad retires shows continuity, shared labor, and the passing down of farming life.
Set to a cover of “Somewhere Only We Know” by Walker Music, the spot plays like a cinematic short film, drawing inspiration from real farming partners Lay’s has worked with for decades.
This includes Illinois-based Neumiller Farms, a third-generation operation where a father and daughter now work side by side across more than 3,500 acres.
PepsiCo and its foundation also plan to invest more than $1 million over the next two years to support the next generation of farmers through education, technical support, and sustainable practices.
Highdive Co-Founder and Co-CCO Mark Gross shares how they continue the legacy from last year's Super Bowl work:
"When you're working on something as big as the Super Bowl, there's pressure to go loud and flashy, but we wanted to find the quiet power in a story that's been unfolding on family farms for generations.
Working again with Taika Waititi, we were able to capture something honest and emotional love letter to the people who make Lay's possible."
Speed as a Live Challenge
A 30-second spot titled “The Lay’s Challenge," directed in-house by D3, will air during the second half of the game.
It will invite viewers to scan an on-screen code to receive a bag of Lay’s delivered in 72 hours or less.
If delivery misses the window, eligible participants receive a year’s supply of the potato chips.
The challenge is designed to make a simple claim tangible. Potatoes can move from farm to bag to doorstep in days.
"By blending the authentic stories of farmers with a high‑energy, real‑time consumer challenge, we’re proving why Lay’s is America’s favorite chip.
This is heart, innovation, and cultural impact — done the Lay’s way," PepsiCo Foods US CMO Hernan Tantardini said.
Fans who sign up can track their chips’ journey from the farm they came from through production and delivery, incorporating logistics into the story.
One Campaign, Two Proof Points
The dual execution reflects how Super Bowl audiences consume advertising, moving quickly from emotional storytelling to interactive moments.
The campaign also arrives alongside a pricing move from PepsiCo, which recently announced lower suggested retail prices on several snack brands, including Lay’s.
Frito-Lay North America accounts for roughly 27% of PepsiCo’s $91.85 billion revenue in 2024, which makes even modest gains at the shelf meaningful at scale.
Lay's Super Bowl LX campaign highlights how timing and pricing can sharpen a Super Bowl message.
- Anchor campaigns to real consumer pressure points. Aligning brand storytelling when affordability matters increases relevance.
- Use tentpole moments to support value signals. Big events work harder when they echo broader pricing or access moves already in place.
- Separate messages when attention is split. Distinct creative ideas can cover heritage and performance without crowding a single narrative.
This approach shows how brands can connect emotion, speed, and value without cramming everything into one short commercial.
Our Take: Is the Ad Spend Worth It?
I think it is, because the two spots are doing different jobs instead of fighting for the same moment.
One builds emotional brand equity around where Lay’s comes from, while the other proves how Lay's performs right now.
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In a Super Bowl environment where attention moves fast, that separation lets each idea land clearly.
And I believe this makes the millions of dollars spent on ad placement certainly worth it.
In other news, Pepsi revived the classic blind taste test for the Big Game, putting Coca-Cola’s polar bear mascot at the center of the joke.
Food and CPG brands planning large-scale moments often need partners who can balance storytelling with live activations.
These top ad agencies experienced in tentpole campaigns help align heritage, timing, and participation across the same stage.
