Lay's ad with Rajkummar Rao adds much-needed zing with crisp execution

Brands everywhere are going big on nostalgia. When you have a target audience of sentimental millennials, nostalgia becomes a powerful tool to evoke emotions for the brand. Many brands have been embellishing their ads with details from the “good old past.” The latest one to do that is Lay’s with its new ad “Keep Ghar Par Lay’s Always.”

The spot tipped its hat to the iconic Pepsi ad with Aamir Khan, Mahima Chaudhury and Aishwarya Rai from the 90s. The ad is a cautionary tale about the perils of not stocking up Lay’s at home and stars actor Rajkummar Rao.

Conceptualised by Leo Burnett and directed by Vinil Mathews, the TVC starts with a costume party at Rao’s place. A guest played by Instagram star Dolly Singh informs him that there are no Lay’s chips in the house. Rao, dressed as a burglar, goes to his nearest department store to pick up Lay’s only to be mistaken for a thief. What follows is pure hilarity.

He gets arrested through some unfortunate turn of events, and ends up in prison with criminals. A series of misadventures later, the warden asks him how he ended up in jail. He replies, “Main toh sirf Lay’s lene gaya tha,” highlighting what could happen if someone didn’t stock up on Lay’s chips.

In the end, Rao narrates the entire episode to Singh, explaining why he will always have Lays at home.

Bolstering the nostalgia factor, the ad also samples the classic Bollywood song sung by Kishore Kumar “Eena, Meena and Deeka” from the movie Aasha.
The opening of the ad is reminiscent of the 90s Pepsi ad where the actor makes a mad dash across the road for a bottle of Pepsi to give to his attractive neighbours (Chaudhury and Rai). Those who grew up with memories of the ad were quick to notice the reference and were quite pleased with it.

How did the ad fare?

Released during the IPL season, the ad was intended to make a big splash and make a big splash it did. The ad has been received warmly on social media. Rao's comic timings and crisp execution have definitely helped. The ad has garnered over 18 million views on YouTube thus far.

As per usual, we asked some of our brand experts about their first impressions of the ad.

"Adds some much-needed zing," says Subodh Chaubey, Creative Director of Infectious Advertising. Lauding the execution of the ad, he adds: "It's a gripping story from the start, all to end on an excuse to have Lay's at home."

He also gave props to Rao and the soundtrack: "Brilliant acting by Rajkummar Rao; perfectly executed against the iconic soundtrack."

"It's a funny take," says brand expert Nitika Shah,"...but I wish there was a series of 4-5 short stories."

The abrupt ending of the ad leaves a bit more to be desired, and Shah believes that a follow-up would have been better for viewers to know what else could have happened. "In an obviously humourous way," she quips.

It will be exciting to see if the brand builds up on the premise of "always having Lay's at home" with follow-up ads.