Lay's Stakes Turf in Times Square

PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division is bringing the rural farm experience, in a nod to the local potato farmers behind Lay's chips, into the heart (and summer heat) of six U.S. cities.

The Lay's Mobile Farm tour kicked off yesterday in New York City's Times Square and will be rolling to Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas.

The potato chip king feels that urban consumers don’t have a clue about the food-chain that goes from potato in the ground to chip in the bag. So the 70-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, 14-foot-high traveling greenhouse sports interactive displays and real, honest-to-goodness Lay’s potato farmers, some of whom are fourth-generation suppliers to Lay's.

The brand relies on more than 80 farms in 27 states, employing about 45,000 farm workers who last year produced 2.8 billion pounds of potatoes to feed the demand for Lay's chips.

The interactive exhibit includes plants that provide ingredients for the chips and Lay's will be distributing 8,000 basil plants and take-home pamphlets about at-home gardening. At each stop on the tour, demonstration plants--including potato, tomato, onion, and pepper--will be donated to local, non-profit community gardens before it pushes off to its next stop.

The tour continues the campaign begun last year that showcased Lay’s farmers.

"This is a natural extension of that campaign. Instead of just telling our farmers' stories, we're actually bringing the farm to you," says Lay's brand manager Linda Bethea. “The farmers are really excited to be part of the marketing campaign. They have such pride in what they do. For them to be able to go on the road and share that passion with people is just a wonderful thing."

"We are extremely grateful for the relationships we have with the farmers and communities that have built the Lay's brand into a success over the years," commented Justin Lambeth, VP marketing, Frito-Lay North America.

Next stop for the Lay's mobile farm: Boston's City Hall Plaza, on Friday. And New York's famed Naked Cowboy gets Times Square back to himself!