Guru

Doritos in Canada needed to address declining sales and loss of shelf space to competitors. Snacks are a low interest category for consumers, and innovation drives that interest. A number of recent lacklustre launches had seen the brand lose relevance with younger snackers.

Drastic action was required as competitor brands rushed to fill the gap left by Doritos. Recognising that their target audience of young snackers were in complete control of their media environment, and could dismiss any brands viewed as irrelevant, Doritos decided to hand over control of the brand to consumers.

Any brand looking to make user generated content the centre of its marketing campaign needs to achieve three things. Firstly, it needs to entice users to create. Second, it needs to engage an audience, and third – and arguably most important when dealing with the youth market – it needs to be cool.
Doritos strategy was to invite young snackers, or “gurus” to taste the new, unidentified flavour, give it a name, and create a TV ad to promote the flavour through social or local media. Doritos would push the “Guru” campaign in other media, to drive content creation, viewing, and ultimately voting to select a winner.

Teasers appeared on YouTube and Facebook, and during the commercial spots of the Superbowl, all pushing the online contest.
 
There were more than 4,000 user generated ads submitted, and between them they received 1,742,068 views. 588,841 votes were cast and 30,184 people joined the Doritos Guru Facebook page. This positive response translated well into sales, as Doritos recorded a 26.3% increase during the campaign.