Now Doritos is a brand that embraces the media of the day. Continuing its love affair with the strategy of brand as entertainer, the latest iteration sees a tie up between
Now I have a confession to make. In the days when music came from vinyl and the volume had to be discreet enough to convince parents you really were doing the homework, I knew a boy who often air-strummed along to the prog works of the day, aided by a squash racquet and a Meccano spanner for a whammy bar.
In fact come to think of it, it was two squash racquets if I – sorry, he – wanted to emulate Steve Hackett/Mike Rutherford 12 string and lead lines.
Nowadays, the closet door is well and truly off its hinges as the rock god in all of us can be unleashed with some judicious four-finger technique on the Guitar Hero axe and accompanying games machine.
This promotion allows Doritos-munchers to enter on-pack codes into the web site for the chance to win appropriate Guitar Hero software and hardware. I couldn’t see a no-purchase route but no doubt it is there somewhere. That is about as good as it gets when it comes to linking the product and prize. The hardhearted among us might even decry the linking of snacks to such sedentary behaviour…but that does depend upon your style of guitar playing I suppose.
The web site is a little challenging for us old folkies to navigate but there is enough content and opportunity to interact and personalise to keep the young turks happy. Throw in an amusing (if overlong) video and the promise of daily prizes…and you have the perfect bait to keep the browser interested. The video features the character from the above the line campaign – a little more Rodders than Bill ‘n’ Ted perhaps, but he will no doubt resonate with the core target audience.
The real joy here is the viral element. There was a time when building in complex entry steps would limit promotion participation. Now of course, interaction with social networking sites is de rigueur. By registering on the site and linking this to your Facebook pages, you can encourage groupies to post shots of their underwear to earn you true rock god status and the prize of a hotel suite to trash. And in doing so, you spread the word, encouraging others to wreak havoc with their stage names, gothic album covers and the like. Genius.
There are few opportunities to promote any food values here and at times the brand seems swamped by the prize. The cross promotion of the dips just looks like an after thought. Nevertheless, if Doritos is to be the perfect accompaniment to a good night in then they couldn’t have picked a better promotional theme. I’m off to photograph the wife’s underwear. On second thoughts….
Promo score - 8 out of 10
Agency - Initials Marketing
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