PepsiCo’s Lay’s partners with ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ movie in new potato-ticket exchange promo

PepsiCo subsidiary Lay's partners with the new "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" movie in a promo that allows moviegoers to exchange a raw potato for a free ticket at select theaters around the country.

Video transcript

DAVE BRIGGS: OK, my play, PepsiCo, who owns Lay's Potato Chips, among other products, and rolled out a potato themed promo this week. And yes, I bought props. This spud, as you see it, is also a ticket. It's a ticket if you bring a potato tomorrow-- and I'm not joking. If you bring a potato tomorrow to a participating Regal theater location in LA, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, or Houston, you can exchange said potato for a free ticket to "Dungeons and Dragons, Honor Among Thieves." This all again a Lay's potato promotion. Watch.

- This spring.

- Hoga doesn't love to be disturbed while she's eating her potato, kind of the highlight of her day.

- An unlikely hero will emerge.

- We're going to need a team. We're going to need strength. We also need courage, magic. We were really counting on him.

- A potato.

DAVE BRIGGS: I feel like this is a joke, but it's actually real. And obviously, it worked. Here I am talking about it. PepsiCo is up fractionally today, but up 8 plus percent over the last six months. This is a promo I did not see coming. I really want to see it play out on Twitter. I'm dying to see people show up with potatoes at a movie theater. And yes, Josh Schafer wants me to take a bit out of this.

JOSH SCHAFER: You have to bite it. You have to bite it like the character, right?

SEANA SMITH: How much did that cost you?

DAVE BRIGGS: I don't recall. Do you think I can bite into a potato?

JOSH SCHAFER: It's $1, right?

SEANA SMITH: Try it, yeah.

JOSH SCHAFER: Isn't a potato about $1?

DAVE BRIGGS: Aren't they too hard?

SEANA SMITH: $1? I was going to say I feel like it's more than $1. OK, how was-- you don't even have to do that as part of the promo.

JOSH SCHAFER: Well, I think you should have to make it an actionable thing. You got to show up with the potato and bite it.

DAVE BRIGGS: Why did I do that, Seana?

JOSH SCHAFER: I think Dave bit that a little bit early.

SEANA SMITH: Early, exactly. I was trying--

JOSH SCHAFER: I was thinking maybe at the end.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah.

JOSH SCHAFER: But--

SEANA SMITH: I don't know. This is a smart play on their part. They're doing stuff. They're going to pack the theaters. $1 rather than how much does it cost to go to a movie theater in New York? You've gone recently.

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, it's about--

SEANA SMITH: 15?

JOSH SCHAFER: --$15.

SEANA SMITH: $16?

DAVE BRIGGS: It's a steal, man.

SEANA SMITH: A steal. I bet-- are you going to do it? You should do it.

JOSH SCHAFER: To see "Dungeons and Dragons"? No, which would be my only critique of the deal is just--

SEANA SMITH: The reviews have been good, though.

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, I just think that's a tight audience for people that probably like that game in that area.

DAVE BRIGGS: 90% among the fans and 94 among the critics. That's a tremendous rating. Here, you can take that, and you can bring that potato.

SEANA SMITH: Are you going to bite it, too?

JOSH SCHAFER: Do you want me to bite it, too?

DAVE BRIGGS: No, I want you to bring that potato--

JOSH SCHAFER: I'm going to bring half of a potato.

DAVE BRIGGS: --to the movie.

JOSH SCHAFER: Do I get half a ticket, you think?

SEANA SMITH: We will see. Well, you got to do it. Only one way to find out.

DAVE BRIGGS: 46 years, I've never taken a bite out of an uncooked potato.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, I can't say--

JOSH SCHAFER: Will you do it again?

SEANA SMITH: --either of us are jealous.

DAVE BRIGGS: I will never do it again.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, no.

DAVE BRIGGS: It's not bad. It's just really not good.

SEANA SMITH: It's not worth it. Josh, that was a very easy--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

DAVE BRIGGS: I knew that would take a turn, and it sure did take a turn.

SEANA SMITH: There we go.

DAVE BRIGGS: You're welcome, everybody.

SEANA SMITH: All right. Well, we got to leave it there. Josh is taking the potato to a movie theater. We'll see how it works out for him, whether he can get into the movie for free.