Let the Fight Begin

Doritos began the wave of consumer generated and controlled advertising and now is determined to further let consumers control the brand and its identity. After the success of their “Crash the Super Bowl” campaign, where consumers submitted homemade commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, Doritos is now launching the “Fight for the Flavor” competition.

Snackers are urged to try two new flavors, Wild White Nacho and Smokin’ Cheddar BBQ, and then go online and vote on which flavor will be produced permanently. There has been a rash of clever advertising promoting the mock “fight” between flavors and the voting micro site created for the campaign also offers a game where you can box as one of the flavors. Doritos seems intent on continuing to blaze the path of creating a brand identity that is generated by users as they have created a Web site known as, “Snack Strong Productions,” which is an online movie studio for all of their new user centric promotions.

This leads marketers to wonder how other brands will try to adopt this unique strategy. The benefit is that you get consumers to be very engaged in your advertising and let them control to a degree what they want to see in a brand. The downside is that you may alienate your target audience if they do not feel compelled to participate. In the future, will we be able to control who our favorite companies' spokesperson is? Are we going to help design our next cell phone? Will we control when our favorite TV shows air? Not likely, but it is nice to know that organizations are realizing the importance of what their consumers think and incorporating these ideals into their business model.

About the Author: Eric Kardesh

As a member of Off Madison Ave's public relations team Eric provides strategic planning and tactical support to client accounts. He focuses on the creation of client tools, public relations documents and engages in actively pitching local and national media on a daily basis. In addition, Eric works closely with the agency's interactive team to implement public relations initiatives within the social media realm and assist in the execution of integrated projects. Eric graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in human communication.

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1 comment so far

Ellen says:

"In the future, will we be able to control who our favorite companies’ spokesperson is?" Interestingly enough Eric, Pizza Hut recently let viewers vote on their new VP of Pizza! Nick Mathis is the new Honorary VP of Pizza, who submitted his entry video to YouTube.

Today it seems like companies are taking more initiatives to incorporate the consumer, which is great to see. There a lot of TV shows also, such as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and others, that give the audience and viewers at home a lot of control over who stays in the competition and who goes home!