I'm Digging The Blog Assignments!

Well here we are again! I've got another assignment in my quest to earn my bachelor's degree in marketing that requires a blog post! This is the kind of assignment I can handle, if only every course had a similar requirement.
Alas, my current course is Marketing Research or MKT 337 in technical academia slang. My goal is to chose a Fortune 500 company from an approved list and create a product idea for launch.

Well friends I have chosen PepsiCo. Those of you who know me know that I used to be a Coke man until I suffered just north of 20 kidney stones over fifteen years and since then I've drank around a gallon of water each day to stave off such nonsense. The past year however I have become an avid ice tea drinker and rarely touch any kind of pop anymore.

PepsiCo is a strong company with worldwide brand recognition. They own Lays potato chips which is important because my product will be Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips to capitalize on this health crazed country in which we reside.

The Lays brand has been known in the last several years to have fans vote on unusual potato chip flavors such as Southern Biscuits and Gravy, Sriracha, Wasabi, and many more. They are limited edition chips and never added to the permanent product line. I have not seen a chip made by Lays out of sweet potatoes, let alone in the baked variety. I believe it would be a natural combination of sweet and savory in chip form and would fit hand in glove with how Lays has been market testing fan voted flavors to push the envelope in snack design. They've become known for adventurous flavors and this should be no different.

With the healthy main ingredient of sweet potatoes over the traditional russet and baked rather than deep fat fried, Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips would appeal to the health conscious consumer that tends to work out rather than become couch potatoes. A large segment of the population is obsessed with healthy eating decisions but I'm sure like anyone, they crave a good chip from time to time! I can see potential value in a healthy chip!

To research this product I would look at surveys and focus group testing variations of sweet potato varieties, and see how they perform. This would be a fun endeavor indeed!