PLANO, Texas – The latest company to jump on the customization bandwagon as a way to engage customers and increase their loyalty, Lay’s is launching a program in which people can create custom chip bags by uploading a personal picture and phrase depicting their "favorite summer moment."

Lay's will then use the digital design to create real bags and ship them directly to the consumer, set to arrive near the Fourth of July holiday. While there will be a maximum of 10,000 custom bags created, this is a significant customization effort for the bran, according to Ad Age.

"The packaging and [research and development] teams have invested a lot of effort to figure out how do we do these small customized packaging runs within the complexity of the millions of bags we produce," Frito-Lay North America CMO Ram Krishnan told the publication.

Lay's execs are counting on social media to increase the program's reach well beyond the owners of the 10,000 custom bags, writes Ad Age. For instance, Lay's will send a digital image to the consumer as soon as the bag is designed, hoping the user will share it broadly, before their custom bag is even delivered. (Not to give consumers too much power, all submissions will be reviewed by Lay’s to ensure appropriate images are used.)

In a separate program, Lay's is also creating special bags with designs made from ultraviolet ink that appear when they are exposed to sunlight. "It is the first time I think anyone has ever done UV-activated packaging for the consumer," Krishnan said.

Custom and unique packaging programs have emerged as a critical tool for big consumer-packaged good brands that can no longer rely on traditional advertising to break through. Coke is one of the most recent examples of a company finding success with customization, as they prepare to bring back their highly successful "Share a Coke" program in the U.S. this summer.