A few months ago. Doritos Canada launched an integrated campaign that asked consumers to name their new chip. The bags featured large question marks and users were asked to submit a 30 second spot to a Doritos YouTube page. The top spots, by votes, were selected to the finals and a group of Doritos clients selected the final winner. The winning spot won a $25K cash prize as well as 1% of total Canadian sales of the chip for as long as it is in production.
Prior to reading on, click here and watch the spot that is going to hit national airwaves soon (can't embed the clip for some reason).
I'll admit, when this campaign first came out I was pretty interested in entering the contest. I sent out an email to some colleagues suggesting that we enter and they were interested too. Then I bought some bags of chips and had an impromptu tasting in my living room. Things were going well, until I realized that there was zero chance I was going to take the time to think of a script, shoot a spot, edit it, rally my friends to vote for it and spam everyone I knew in the hopes of winning a prize.
I realize that I'm not in the 13-24 target and I also know, based on the 2100 entries and 1.5 million unique visits to the YouTube page over the campaign period, that there were people who had the time and desire to enter the contest. The results are good, for sure, but what does the brand get out of this?
For starters, I don't think the spot or name do Dorito's justice. I don't think that it is funny, off-beat or memorable (except for it's crudeness) in any way. I'm also not a fan of the name (I'd prefer 'Sweet Heat' but whatever).
Overall, is user generated content all that it's cracked up to be? I realize that Doritos has been doing this for years - highlighted by their 'Crash the Super Bowl' work - but is it paying off? Moreover, are the creatives unable to develop their own ideas that can become long-standing campaigns?
Social media thrives on user generated ideas. And some campaigns work well (especially ones that use the crowd to generate ideas for them). But others fall flat for me. They don't seem to build the brand as much as maintain it. These spots aren't interesting unless you know that someone random created them for a one-off contest. What happens next year? A repeat? Probably.
In the end, this campaign will receive a number of nominations and good press. The results are good and it was highly integrated. But looking back on the final product that was created for the brand, was it worth it?
