Doritos strategy of fishing where the fish are, marketing its ‘Become a Doritos Guru’ contest through social media and partnerships with MuchMusic and MusiquePlus, is paying off, with chip fans already spending inordinate amounts of time interacting with the brand in new and creative ways. The BBDO-developed ‘Guru’ campaign asks chip lovers to name a new mystery flavour (the product comes in plain packages marked with a giant question mark), and to create 30-second spots touting their ‘brands’ to be judged by online voting and celebrity judges. About 50 videos are already posted, one week into the contest.
‘From a super-targeting perspective, people who create videos tend to watch videos. Many people who watch videos, want to make videos,’ says Gilad Coppersmith, managing director OMD, who handled the buy, of the decision to launch the campaign on Youtube about a month ago. Doritos’ original ‘Talking Toys’ spots received 85,000 visits after an intriguing commercial aired during the Super Bowl. ‘It’s a great way to get people talking, get people active, and get people to support each other,’ Coppersmith tells MiC.
In the multi-platform effort that runs through May, Doritos has already created intrigue and a ‘WTF’ reaction from its 13-to-24 skewed male target in the niches where they play, such as Facebook and popular Xbox Live games like Guitar Hero 4 and Transformers. ‘It’s a very, very targeted, strategic way to reach a lot of our audience who are eating and gaming,’ says Coppersmith.
Once the bulk of submissions for the contest are in (about 50 are already posted on DoritosGuru.ca, some with more than 5,000 views), Much will be airing ‘Doritospiece Theatre’ – clips of Much VJs critiquing the entries. Astral’s MusiquePlus VJs will also provide tips to help amateur directors with their entries. After the contest closes March 18, Much will air the best and encourage voting, and Doritos will take over MOD leading up to the May reveal of the winner, who gets $25,000 and 1% of the new flavour’s sales. Much and Astral will air the winner simultaneously.
