2021 Winner
BronzeBest in Consumer Engagement
PepsiCo
"Ketchup+"
OMD
"Ketchup+"
OMD
It’s no secret that Canadians love their ketchup chips. Doritos Ketchup fanatics are no exception, loyally and eagerly anticipating the return of their favorite chip every year. Now in its sixth year and backed by unrelenting success, this Canadian program needed to find a fresh approach with its Gen Z audience that was authentic to their culture, yet surpassed historical sales goals by a whopping 10%.
The Doritos target, the Hyperlifer, is well-informed, digitally-savvy, and particularly cynical when it comes to brand marketing; they are an entirely new breed of consumers. They are perpetually connected, searching for inspiration and self-expression.
They’ve led the charge when it comes to streaming in their endless search for relevant, meaningful, authentic and oftentimes snackable content. From a marketing perspective, the proliferation of platforms in the space, most of which are non ad-supported, has made it very difficult to really connect with them. COVID-19 intensified the target’s streaming situation, a combination of financial uncertainty and subscription fatigue drove consumers, and the Hyperlifer in particular, to seek out free ad supported options to find new content.
The brand decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Doritos would create its own streaming platform and join in on the most popular conversation in entertainment, the #StreamingWars.
Like most Canadians, Hyperlifers express themselves by talking about their favorite shows, but what’s different about this group is their interest in finding niche programs that set them apart from their peers. The agency decided to give ketchup obsessed Hyperlifers a way to express themselves by immersing them in their favourite flavour. They created the first-ever online streaming platform brought to you by a snack. They wanted this ketchup-centric content to be the perfect pairing for snacking occasions, and just like Doritos Ketchup itself, the platform would only be
available for a limited time.
To announce the return of Doritos Ketchup, the agency launched Ketchup+, a mobile-first video streaming platform stocked with 21 pieces of snackable Ketchup+ original content, making up over 1.5 hours of binge-watching entirely inspired by the beloved Doritos flavor. Content included numerous genres popular among Gen Z including comedy, cooking, drama, mockumentary, music, mystery, and action. It was chock-full of binge-worthy originals from content creators popular among the target from across the globe. They boldly expressed their love for these chips in each of their snackable shows and promoted through their own channels to drive further relevance and authenticity.
By cutting down the full-length shows, ten show trailers were created and promoted across strategic digital channels alongside a platform trailer. To help legitimize Ketchup+ as a competitor in the #StreamingWars, these trailers mimicked other streamers’ messaging, sonic branding and graphics. They segmented their audience based on genre preference, delivering the most relevant trailer to each group, ultimately driving higher engagement and traffic to the site. Additionally, media outreach efforts seeded Ketchup+ in publications relevant to the target audience for further reach. Simply put, Ketchup+ made its mark on the #StreamingWars.
Within four weeks of launching, Ketchup+ surpassed all campaign benchmarks with over 98,000 site visitors, streaming an unbelievable 32,000 minutes of what were essentially a series of Doritos Ketchup ads. Even better, this obsession with Ketchup+ content translated directly to sales. They exceeded their objective of +10% YOY even without in-store display, a major sales driver in the CPG category, cancelled due to the pandemic. There was so much demand for Doritos Ketchup that the bags were selling at $24 plus shipping on ebay, 7x the retail price. Through entertaining ketchup chip fans with a ton of content to choose from, Doritos was able to reignite obsession for its unique take on Ketchup.
The Doritos target, the Hyperlifer, is well-informed, digitally-savvy, and particularly cynical when it comes to brand marketing; they are an entirely new breed of consumers. They are perpetually connected, searching for inspiration and self-expression.
They’ve led the charge when it comes to streaming in their endless search for relevant, meaningful, authentic and oftentimes snackable content. From a marketing perspective, the proliferation of platforms in the space, most of which are non ad-supported, has made it very difficult to really connect with them. COVID-19 intensified the target’s streaming situation, a combination of financial uncertainty and subscription fatigue drove consumers, and the Hyperlifer in particular, to seek out free ad supported options to find new content.
The brand decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Doritos would create its own streaming platform and join in on the most popular conversation in entertainment, the #StreamingWars.
Like most Canadians, Hyperlifers express themselves by talking about their favorite shows, but what’s different about this group is their interest in finding niche programs that set them apart from their peers. The agency decided to give ketchup obsessed Hyperlifers a way to express themselves by immersing them in their favourite flavour. They created the first-ever online streaming platform brought to you by a snack. They wanted this ketchup-centric content to be the perfect pairing for snacking occasions, and just like Doritos Ketchup itself, the platform would only be
available for a limited time.
To announce the return of Doritos Ketchup, the agency launched Ketchup+, a mobile-first video streaming platform stocked with 21 pieces of snackable Ketchup+ original content, making up over 1.5 hours of binge-watching entirely inspired by the beloved Doritos flavor. Content included numerous genres popular among Gen Z including comedy, cooking, drama, mockumentary, music, mystery, and action. It was chock-full of binge-worthy originals from content creators popular among the target from across the globe. They boldly expressed their love for these chips in each of their snackable shows and promoted through their own channels to drive further relevance and authenticity.
By cutting down the full-length shows, ten show trailers were created and promoted across strategic digital channels alongside a platform trailer. To help legitimize Ketchup+ as a competitor in the #StreamingWars, these trailers mimicked other streamers’ messaging, sonic branding and graphics. They segmented their audience based on genre preference, delivering the most relevant trailer to each group, ultimately driving higher engagement and traffic to the site. Additionally, media outreach efforts seeded Ketchup+ in publications relevant to the target audience for further reach. Simply put, Ketchup+ made its mark on the #StreamingWars.
Within four weeks of launching, Ketchup+ surpassed all campaign benchmarks with over 98,000 site visitors, streaming an unbelievable 32,000 minutes of what were essentially a series of Doritos Ketchup ads. Even better, this obsession with Ketchup+ content translated directly to sales. They exceeded their objective of +10% YOY even without in-store display, a major sales driver in the CPG category, cancelled due to the pandemic. There was so much demand for Doritos Ketchup that the bags were selling at $24 plus shipping on ebay, 7x the retail price. Through entertaining ketchup chip fans with a ton of content to choose from, Doritos was able to reignite obsession for its unique take on Ketchup.
Credits
Client: Shirley Mukerjea, Senior Marketing DirectorAgency Lead: Stephanie Page, VP GAD
Account Lead: Hailey Scott, Account Director
Creative Lead: Derek Blais, SVP CD
Strategic Lead: Colin Kikcio, Senior Planner
Production Lead: Dave Lembke, Executive Producer, Flare