PepsiCo Foods Canada (PFC), working with Vocabulary (creative), Edelman Canada (PR), OMD Canada (media), Shakermaker (celebrity) and Passionfruit (social) has launched its latest chip brand, Havoc, in Canada with a unexpected experiential stunt: a 15-foot monolith in the middle of Nowhere Island, Ontario– near the Minnesota border.
“Havoc represents that creative chaos that we know Gen Z consumers are so amazing at generating, creating and engaging with, said PepsiCo Foods Canada’s chief marketing officer Jess Spaulding.” So the brand decided to create its own chaos with imagery they felt was particularly unexpected.
“We started to get inspired by the monoliths that we've seen dropped across Canada. Just kind of inexplicable, beautiful things,” said Spaulding. “And then we found this island called Nowhere, and we thought, Havoc dropping in the middle of Nowhere is absolutely perfect.”
For launch, Pepsi also felt like they could take advantage of Leap Day, which Spaulding refers to as “a glitch in the calendar,” and a “perfect day for phenomenon to happen.”
“When you launch a new brand with a name like Havoc, you have to think about how you may want to do things slightly differently than you would for a very well known brand,” she said.
PFC and partners placed the monolith in the middle of the Island, without explanation, leaving the structure to open up mysteriously at midnight and unveil imagery for the new snack brand. Additional paid media ran in a Yonge-Dundas takeover, showing real time footage of the Monolith revealing the Havoc chips inside.
This is the second round of creative, after teasers for the Havoc brand first appeared during the 2024 Super Bowl featuring a series of TV and social ads with unique content by notable Canadian creators introducing the brand’s new TikTok channel. The content, targeting Gen Z, is inspired by the spicy new Havoc flavours—Fiery Lime, Bulgogi Blaze, and Smoky Nacho.
Each chip features a remix of textures and flavour pairings like rolled tortilla chips with citrus, and potato chips with umami. “We knew we had to communicate what the products were in a visually stimulating, truly creative way that lives up to kind of the chaos of the brand,” Spaulding explained.
The campaign and the new products highlight Gen Z attributes like diversity, adventure, and creativity. "Every aspect of this brand from the flavours, shapes, to packaging design, has been carefully considered and developed to connect directly with Canadian Gen Z consumers who enjoy bold, spicy flavours,” Spaulding added, in a release.
