With a US$1 million budget for 1996 lay's spending power was at par with chio's. A key decision was how to split the budget between media advertising and consumer promotions. Should the budget split match that of chio's (44% to 56%), or should relatively more emphasis be put on media advertising or on consumer promotions? In addition, which specific advertising media should be used and what message should the advertising convey? Which promotional activities should be included? Would typical consumer promotion such as coupons, sweepstakes, etc., do the trick, or was an outside-the-box approach called for? Chio, bahlsen and zweifel would aggressively counter any measure by lay's. It was clear that for US$1 million PepsiCo Inc. expected a serious improvement of market share. The next step had to be the right one.