Pringles Super Bowl ad features a sad voice assistant longing to taste ‘flavor stacking’

By Kyle O'Brien, Creative Works Editor

January 28, 2019 | 3 min read

Pringles is returning to the Super Bowl, and it is continuing with its ‘Flavor Stacking’ theme started last year with Bill Hader. This time, however, the ‘star’ is a sad Alexa-like device which yearns to have tastebuds.

Pringles Sad Device Super Bowl ad

The brand, which pushed its bold flavors, playful nature and endless stacking possibilities last year, will be showcasing an ad featuring an emotional smart device and an iconic song.

The 30-second ad, created by Grey Group, will air during the second quarter and will be seen nationally on TV and online streaming versions of the game.

In ‘Sad Device,’ two guys sit in their apartment, surrounded by multiple cans of Pringles. One stacks three chips into a ‘spicy nacho stack’ while the other asks how many stack combinations there could possibly be. The voice assistant on the table comes up with “318,000” before stating that it will never taste any of those combinations because it has no hands, no mouth and no soul. Before it gets sadder, one guy interrupts and says, “cool, play Funkytown” as the device quickly switches to the Lipps, Inc. disco hit.

The full ad can also be seen on Pringles’ social channels ahead of the Game, including on YouTube and Pringles.com. The ad will be supported by a fully integrated marketing campaign including PR, digital, social media, e-commerce and product sampling.

“Pringles is thrilled to be back after making its debut last year with the concept of ‘Flavor Stacking’,” said AnneMarie Suarez-Davis, vice president of marketing for Pringles. “‘Flavor Stacking' has been a fun and delicious way for our fans to create even more mind-blowing Pringles flavor combinations, and this year's ad imagines the extreme sadness one would feel if they couldn't enjoy the taste of Pringles.”

Added John Patroulis, worldwide chief creative officer at Grey: “‘Flavor Stacking’ is so uniquely Pringles – and has been fundamental to the brands recent success – we knew it was the right place to play again for this year’s Super Bowl. There are literally hundreds of thousands of combinations, almost too many to comprehend. Creatively we looked to culture to bring that fact to life in a relevant – and funny – way.”

Pringles will also be prompting its loyal fans in cities of the two teams playing in the Super Bowl via Twitter on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 to tweet for their chance to win a free Pringles ‘Flavor Stack’ delivery via Fooji for their watch parties.