Mumbai: There is no flame hotter than the flame of hell. Or is there? True to its bold style, Doritos, the world’s number one nacho chip brand very recently took social media by storm with an innovative LinkedIn campaign for their latest offering – Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot. The two-minute-long campaign video was a LinkedIn-first ad that left viewers in splits and has been appreciated by one and all for its creativity, differentiated strategy and clutter-breaking visuals. Keeping with its fiery persona and unmatchable comic timing, the brand gave the Devil a humorous spin, capturing his ‘Sizzlin’ Hot’ experience as an intern at the PepsiCo India headquarters.
In a confab with Indiantelevision.com, PepsiCo India associate director - brand marketing Ankit Agarwal and Leo Burnett India national creative director Vikram Pandey (Spiky) discuss about why PepsiCo India employees were the influencers in this campaign, about it being a LinkedIn-first campaign, the campaign garnering a large number of views, and more.
The Devil – Founder & CEO at Hell, lands an internship at Doritos after learning that ‘Hell’ has lost considerable market share since Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot has become the hottest thing. As an excited intern, he posts a vlog showing off his social skills, interacting with colleagues across departments and trying his best to blend in on the job, something everyone can relate to. Finally, he meets the team behind the successful Doritos launch. When he tastes the Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot chip, he admits that it is too hot for him to handle and that he was not ready for it! Stung by its irresistible hotness, the Devil is also seen sneaking some in-house Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot packets into his backpack.
Inspired by the globally iconic and widely loved platform, Flamin’ Hot, Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot is one of the hottest-of-its-kind in the category that will make anyone say “Yeh #ChipsNahiFire Hai”! The introduction of this new product is a response to the increasing consumer demand for spicy-flavoured snacks, with ‘chilli’ being one of the top flavour buckets that is growing rapidly in the category.
Edited excerpts:
On the film having cameos by PepsiCo India employees as influencers
Agarwal: At PepsiCo, we believe in the power of our employees. When we were creating a campaign, that was tailor-made for LinkedIn and involved a corporate setup, we felt that it’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our beautiful India office and our super-talented employees. Who better depicts the life of the Devil at PepsiCo than our actual office and our own employees? The move was appreciated across LinkedIn and went a long way in building authenticity around the narrative.
On the first time a campaign was shot at PepsiCo India’s headquarters. What made it special and memorable for you?
Agarwal: They say it takes a village to raise a child, and true to the saying, a lot of people were involved in creating the winning Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot product and the amazing campaign behind it. Shooting at PepsiCo HQ and shooting with some of the people who were involved in the journey of Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot was our way of thanking them for the wonderful work they have done. What made it special and memorable for me was that we could give visibility to these amazingly talented folks who work behind the scenes and help us win out there in the market.
On the extensions of this campaign, other kinds of campaigns or both – this year
Agarwal: The disruptive LinkedIn campaign is part of a robust 360-degree surround campaign that we activated for our latest offering, Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot. Launched in December, the all-new Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot is one of the hottest-of-its-kind in the category that will make anyone say “Yeh #ChipsNahiFire Hai”! With the TVC, we received an overwhelming response to one of our boldest flavours ever that encouraged us to bring alive the core message through various formats, platforms and activations.
We began the year by partnering with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and The Social Lab to launch special Doritos Heat Pods in Gurugram that provided shelter and warmth to over 500 underprivileged people during one of the coldest winters seen by the city this year. We launched a bold and unique influencer activation on Instagram, where for the first time, a foods brand didn’t let the influencers eat the product at all! We also celebrated a Sizzlin’ Hot’ Valentine’s Day across Instagram with a witty and steamy dating profile that had brands, fans and followers feeling the heat. Over 30 of India’s iconic brands like Uber, Pepsi, Slice, KFC, Taco Bell, 7Up, Sting, Durex, Make My Trip, Yatra.com, Cornetto, Dish TV, Mamaearth, and Kohler joined in on the fiery banter on social media. And for the LinkedIn activation, the campaign has extensions like memes around the Devil and brand partnerships built in.
In the upcoming months, we will continue to not only familiarize Doritos with our targeted consumers but also strengthen our connection with them through overall brand resonance that is positive, bold and inspiring.
On the numbers in terms of viewership and success of this campaign
Agarwal: The one-of-a-kind campaign has garnered an overwhelming response from industry experts, influencers and brand fans across LinkedIn. We attained 295K views, an engagement of over 255K and 9MN+ impressions.
On the brief that was given by the client for this film
Spiky: The brief was to tap into LinkedIn as a platform and engage young professionals in a whole new way. The new flavour from Doritos – Sizzlin’ Hot, was the perfect opportunity for this conversation.
On the creative thought behind such a film
Spiky: The idea came up in a brainstorming session with the client. LinkedIn is full of enthusiastic young employees putting up Vlogs of what their experiences are like at their new job. We wondered what it would be if The Devil – Founder & CEO at Hell, lands an internship at Doritos, now that Doritos Sizzlin’ Hot the hottest snack has been launched, and ‘Hell’ has lost considerable market share. From there on it was a joyride. Thinking up the way he looks, to the way he will record his Vlog to how PepsiCo employees would react to him, we just had a blast.
The campaign had a variety of legs built into it that were positively received by all. We hope that the future holds just as much excitement around our campaigns.
On being a digitally-led campaign
Agarwal: This campaign was always conceived to be a digital-first campaign, that too specifically focused on LinkedIn. Digital is an important part of Doritos media planning, and we are seeing the mix of digital going up every year for us. It’s a great medium to have a 2-way conversation with our consumers.
On launching this campaign as a LinkedIn-exclusive one
Spiky: LinkedIn has grown exponentially in the last few years and tapping into the platform to engage with the younger workforce was a perfect brand fit as well. Also, the idea of the Devil as an intern at Doritos made a perfect fit for LinkedIn.
On renditions of this campaign on other media as well
Spiky: As of now, it’s single platform focused. But social media is an interesting web of so many connections and possibilities, and we are already seeing the campaign jump across other platforms organically.
On experimenting with newer methods of advertising and marketing the brand
Agarwal: The brand is always looking at new and disruptive methods for marketing and advertising the brand, the LinkedIn campaign is a classic example of that. The idea is to be present where our audience is present in a way that is relevant to them, and you will see in the future many such innovative campaigns coming out from the house of Doritos.
