How Bingo! Chips Turned Failure Into a Viral Marketing Triumph

In a crowded and competitive snack aisle where most brands try to show themselves as the ‘best thing’, Bingo! has chosen a different path. It’s embracing its missteps.

For its new campaign, which also marks the products’ re-launch in the North Indian market, Bingo! Potato Chips took the self-roast route. The goal wasn’t to come across cool but hint that Bingo! is no longer hiding behind legacy. It’s actively rewriting its story.

The ad video, titled, “Best Self Roast Ever”, starts with a scene in a supermarket and transitions into a voiceover above an animation of the chips packet. “People have a mid-life crisis, Bingo! Chips have been going through an existential crisis our entire life,” it begins, in Hindi.

While sub-brands like Bingo! Tedhe Medhe and Bingo! Mad Angles established a strong youth and urban appeal, Bingo! Potato Chips struggled in the North and West regions. Now, the company admits the brand had been more of a “Big No”.

Instead of hiding its under-performance, Bingo! turned the sentiment into the heart of its campaign.

In the new ad, conceptualised by Ogilvy, the brand unapologetically calls itself out and invites consumers to witness the transformation, saying, “Yes, we were a Big No. But not anymore!”

And, the campaign works because it aligns brand voice (humour), product evolution (new flavours + packs), and market context (targeting North/West).

By openly acknowledging a weaker performance in certain regions, the brand humanises itself. It becomes relatable. In a time of ‘perfect’ social-feed marketing, an admission of imperfection builds authenticity.

And, while doing so, they stayed consistent with the brand’s DNA by leveraging humour.

“We were as in demand as green salad at a wedding buffet. Even flies ghosted us,” the ad film’s voiceover laments.

The campaign is set in a supermarket where a sign reads ‘Big No’. Depicted as a hidden camera-style prank, shoppers stop, stare, outrage over the ‘fake’ product and then tear open the pack to reveal Bingo!’s new avatar. It adds an entertainment element to the messaging.

Bingo! Chips 2.0

But messaging can only go so far without substance. With the new campaign, Bingo! introduces two new flavours—Butter Garlic and Himalayan Pink Salt—and new pack designs that visually disrupt the “safe and same” snack shelving.

By choosing to frame its problem as the launchpad for its comeback, Bingo! takes a risk, one that has paid off by being different. The video has clocked over two lakh views within three days of its release.

The brand paired it with rigorous social media marketing, collaborating with social media influencers like Dhanashree Verma, Vartika Jha and more.

Bingo! is also dishing out funny videos featuring their employees, and it’s paying off. Most of the Instagram Reels are clocking views in lakhs, some even in millions.

What Bingo! accomplished here is two-fold: first, it builds consumer trust through acknowledgement of the past, second, it positions itself for future growth by offering new products and visual appeal.

In doing so, it also sends a message that transformation does not always have to pretend nothing went wrong, sometimes recognizing what went wrong is itself the strategy.