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[XiaNaphryz]

Chicken-and-Pepsi Chips?! Cola Brand and Lays Team Up for Snack Flavor in China

PepsiCo is taking its global Power of One program to jointly promote beverages and snacks a step further in China, with the marriage of two Pepsi brands in a single product: Pepsi-Cola chicken-flavor Lay's potato chips.

Cola chicken is a common recipe in China, with chicken wings tossed into a wok and caramelized in soy sauce, spices and cola. In potato-chip form, the flavor is vaguely similar to barbecue with a sugary aftertaste. If there's any hint of Pepsi, it's fleeting and lacks fizz.

Richard Lee, PepsiCo's chief marketing officer in China, said the idea came from a brainstorming session involving teams from marketing and R&D, as well as Pepsi ad agency BBDO, Shanghai. Lay's launches a new flavor every year, and this time the goal was fusion.

"We thought it would be really cool to have a cola combined with chicken. ... It's a very popular dish in China," said Mr. Lee, who in 2010 became the first person to be put in charge of marketing and portfolio management for both food and beverage brands in China. "Also it would be very cool to involve one of our most-iconic soft drinks," he added.

The launch, in August, was much bigger than for any previous Lay's flavor in China, which include such unusual flavors as lemon tea (subtle), cucumber (cloying) and hot-and-sour fish soup (fishy).

The TV ad campaign played a joke on viewers, starting out like a Pepsi ad, with a guy rushing out to buy cola for his girlfriend -- not to drink, it turned out, but to use to cook chicken.

The product's name is a sophisticated word play. String Pepsi's and Lay's Chinese brand names together, and you get a double meaning: "Anything can be happy" as well as "Pepsi can become Lay's."

Lay's overall brand message in China is about enjoying the small things in life, a theme that resonates in a market where people can be dogged about earning more money and getting ahead.

"We want to celebrate a philosophy [that says] you can find happiness all around you,'" Mr. Lee said.

PepsiCo, like Coca-Cola Co., is making big investments in China. In Shanghai in November, it opened its largest R&D center outside North America, part of a 2010 plan to invest $2.5 billion over three years. Coca-Cola's soft-drink brands outsell PepsiCo's, according to Euromonitor International, but PepsiCo's snack portfolio is an extra asset.

"Coke and Pepsi have both stalled out in terms of growth potential in China," said Ben Cavender, associate principal at the China Market Research Group. "It's important for them to be developing new products and driving into these growth categories. I think Pepsi is probably better-positioned with the packaged food that it has to really make some gains there."

 

[Dennis]

...wat...

 

[Wafflecakes]

I am really curious as to what that would taste like....

 

[Chuckl3s]

How come we don't anything cool like this?

 

[B-Dubs]

I am really curious as to what that would taste like....

So am I....I know it'll probably kill me though

 

[3N16MA]

Supposedly these taste exactly like a Whooper.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

I am really curious as to what that would taste like....

Salt and sugar.

 

[MrHicks]

didn't know pepsi owns lays

 

[tapedeck]

So basically if you fry your chicken in Pepsi then slice it into chips thats what this will taste like?

 

[Rentahamster]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0drKf1mgLw

 

[Guevara]

Think of all the time you'll save. No longer will I have to choose between eating chicken and drinking soda.

 

[plagiarize]

why does Pepsi Co only share their maddest ideas with Japan?



wait, this is for China? well that still doesn't help me.

 

[Koodo]

This reads like an absolutely repulsive concoction.

I want to try it.

 

[painey]

I am really curious as to what that would taste like....

probably absolutely nothing like chicken and pepsi

 

[Guevara]

Target has buffalo chicken wing chips. Damn things taste more like chicken than buffalo sauce (which is just hot sauce and butter anyway).

 

[Tornado Condor]

(ಠ_&#3232

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

why does Pepsi Co only share their maddest ideas with Japan?

yeah it is bullshit... fuck you psy

 

[Mackenzie 92]

I make BBQ sauce out of pepsi, but yeah, probably not the same thing.

 

[Ushojax]

Supposedly these taste exactly like a Whooper.

 

[SmithnCo]

lol wut

I'd buy it just for curiosity

 

[Funky Papa]

This reads like an absolutely repulsive concoction.

I want to try it.

.


China-GAF, you must try it and report back.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

didn't know pepsi owns lays

Chart is perhaps a little out of date but

 

[3N16MA]

I see what I did.

 

[the_log_ride]

I'm all in

 

[MrHicks]

Chart is perhaps a little out of date but

i know it was bad but DAMN

 

[massoluk]

Silly people.
Civilized people use Coke to boil Chicken.

 

[dorkimoe]

I am really curious as to what that would taste like....

Im guessing pepsi

 

[Alligatorjandro]

huh

 

[EvetS]

Off to the supermarket tomorrow to find a bag, will report back if it doesn't kill me.

 

[numble]

Cola Chicken is actually pretty good. Not sure how to describe it--Maybe like sweet and sour chicken without the sour part?

However, I find a lot of the chip flavors in China unpalatable.

 

[Bill Squabber]

Made some cola chicken yesterday. Tasted like teriyaki chicken.

http://foodgoesinmouth.com/2010/09/chinese-coca-cola-chicken/

 

[Randdalf]

Lay's are the same as Walker's right?

 

[Onion_Relish]

For those of you sho have never had cola chicken, its actually very good. A bit sweeter sometimes than a teriyaki sauce , depends on what other things you cook it with. It's great for getting a nice sticky glaze on chicken though. I know it sounds gross or weird, but you don't really end up tasting the coke or Pepsi because the soy sauce will overpower it, you just get the sticky/sweetness from it.

 

[Davidion]

Fellow Chinese folk: I think we broke marketing.

 

[Dany]

Im guessing pepsi

and chicken

 

[HappyBivouac]

Cola Chicken is actually pretty good. Not sure how to describe it--Maybe like sweet and sour chicken without the sour part?

However, I find a lot of the chip flavors in China unpalatable.

Co-signed. We usually do it with wings and add extra spice. Tastes good man.

Exploring all the exotic flavors of junk food is one of the best parts about living in China.

 

[scy]

Gotta give it to them, there's a flavor combination I didn't expect.

 

[desertdroog]

I just saw a bag of BLT flavored Lays potato chips. I wasn't gutsy enough to buy and try it. However, the more I think about it, the more I think I want to try it.

 

[Ridli]

Come on Pepsi, you shoulda went whole hog and included the Yum! Brands as well. KFC-Pepsi chicken flavored Lays.

 

[Divvy]

I don't find it very strange at all. Lots of cola-marinated foods are quite delicious.

 

[Davey Cakes]

I just saw a bag of BLT flavored Lays potato chips. I wasn't gutsy enough to buy and try it. However, the more I think about it, the more I think I want to try it.

I've had them. They're mediocre. Just stick with the Garden Tomato & Basil ones.

 

[Timedog]

PEPSI CHICKEN

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I make BBQ sauce out of pepsi, but yeah, probably not the same thing.

Soda is also common in marinades, but you don't really specifically taste it after its all mixed up.

 

[MIMIC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0drKf1mgLw

I literally laughed so fucking hard at this image. Never seen it before.

 

[Bear]

There are lots of bizarre chip flavors in China. Larger supermarkets carry both local and international versions of Lays. The Chinese-targeted versions were cheaper and definitely didn't taste as good, even for the same flavors.

My personal favourite strange flavor would have to be a mushroom drink I saw in Shanghai.

 

[Wafflecakes]

probably absolutely nothing like chicken and pepsi

Hence why I am so curious lol.

 

[Busaiku]

Hmm, I'm intrigued.

 

[Gintoki]

I.. actually want to try this thing.

 

[BobTheFork]

I assumed they had a Pepsi Chicken drink and then made the chips taste like that.
Pepsi is what they soak chicken in before cooking right?

 

[akira28]

Oh, it's a dish they make. Kind of like beercan roasted chicken. You won't taste either, if they made a chip flavored like that, because it's potatoes and salt, you ass.