Due to Covid and shelter-in-place restrictions, Doritos knew their consumers were looking for inspiration to fill their downtime. That free time led to a surge in recipe searches, gaming, and streaming.
To help fill the downtime void, and increase mental availability of Doritos, we aimed to position the brand as an unexpected ingredient to fun and easy recipes one could make at home, taking snackers' taste buds to another level.
In partnership with Collab (a digital talent network and entertainment studio), the Late Night Taste Buds original content series was born. Bringing the most delicious, sometimes weirdest, often hilarious but approachable recipes to the forefront.
Recognizing the need for content, and the fierce brand loyalty to the product, Doritos positioned itself as the versatile late-night snacking complement to existing Gen Z eating habits with the Late-Night Taste Buds Series.
Featuring beloved YouTube stars Kian Lawley & JC Caylan, and guest star talent, five 3-5 minute episodes were curated highlighting fun and appetizing snack and drink recipes one could easily replicate from their own home.
To scale the series, amplification was placed behind the videos across YouTube and Instagram, two platforms we knew Gen Zs rely on for recipe content
Results proved that Doritos answered an insatiable desire for new ways to prepare their favorite chips.
The average engagement rate with the videos was 6%, which outperformed the YouTube Food and Beverages benchmark of 4.9% engagement rate. Talent paired with the approachable nature of the recipes likely drove that increased engagement. Fans of the headlining talent flocked to the Doritos YouTube channel to see their favorite creators make magic in the kitchen. This fierce and loyal fanbase was vocal about what they loved (the recipes, the dynamic, the concept) and shared their critiques on what can be improved (even pitching potential guest stars for future episodes).
Doritos also saw an uptick in YouTube page subscriptions, seeing 6.5k+ during the time frame the Late-Night Taste Buds series was live.
