Lay’s Drives the World Cup Bandwagon in Smash Hit Ad

Make creative your competitive edge; unlock insights and inspiration from 100,000+ ads, rooted in emotional response, to predict and improve your creative’s business impact. Access every Ad Of The Week in our Topical Ads categories.

Lays become the latest brand to get an Ad Of The Week for their FIFA World Cup commercial. But they’re not jumping on the Bandwagon – they’re driving it. “Bandwagon” is the name and theme of the new Lays spot, which stars Will Ferrell, David Beckham, and Marshawn Lynch in a funny and fast-moving ad.

“Bandwagon” is one of two Lays ads they’re rolling out for the biggest ever World Cup tournament. The other is an extension of their long-running “No Lays, No Game” promotion and it’s aimed at the soccer fans who’ll be watching anyway. “Bandwagon” is for everyone else, a reclamation of the “Bandwagon fan” insult aimed at fans who only get interested in a sport for the biggest events.

What’s wrong with that, asks Lays? They’re Bandwagon fans and proud of it – so much so that they’ve got David Beckham driving the bus (even if it’s on the wrong side of the road). The point is a simple one – the World Cup isn’t just for the diehard fans, it’s for everyone. Pick a team to get behind and if they lose – just pick another one!

European or South American purists might be horrified but honestly, the ad’s an accurate reflection of where soccer is as a sport in the USA right now. Everyone knows what it is, the women’s team have proved time and again that the US can beat the best, and the time when World Cup ads have to sell the sport itself is over. Lays can reach out further and celebrate the experience of watching it and joining in a global party.

That’s why “Bandwagon” is so effective with its open acknowledgement that yeah, we don’t normally watch this and that doesn’t matter one bit. Thanks to Will Ferrell’s comic skills the ad strikes exactly the right humorous tone as everyone from cowboys to football players is brought on board the Bandwagon by an offer of Lays chips and stays to have a good time.

“Bandwagon” uses celebrity well too – David Beckham in a football ad is nothing new, but the ad has plenty of fun with his Britishness. And it makes sure the product is in a strong role, showing off some of the limited edition new flavors Lays has introduced for the event.

The result is an ad that smashes it out the par- oops, that slams it into the back of the net with Exceptional scores on both long-term Star Rating and short-term Spike Rating. “Bandwagon”’s 5.1-Star Rating puts it into the top 3% of all US savoury snack ads in our Test Your Ad platform, and it’s in the top 3% for Spike too. A strong Fluency score joins those – only 9% of viewers don’t recognise the brand.

Those are blockbuster scores for any ad, let alone a World Cup one with a general population sample. Lays amply succeeds in appealing to the wider audience with this ad, and its 5-Star hit may just end up as the advertising player of the tournament.