A leader in its category and legacy Super Bowl advertiser, DORITOS is no stranger to bold, disruptive ideas. And so, when FRITO-LAY decided to air its first ever FLAMIN’ HOT television commercial at Super Bowl LVI, DORITOS knew it needed to find a way to turn up the heat on social media to match.
Whether at a party or at home posting to social media, everyone is watching and has opinions on the big game, the halftime show, and of course, the ads. In fact, it’s well-documented that people love watching Super Bowl ads because on average they are funnier and more entertaining than your typical advertising on television. With millions watching, there’s a fear of missing out - especially in the moment.
Building off of this insight, DORITOS sought to hijack the surround sound live debate that was inevitably going to accompany the big game on social media by asking fans to rate ads on a 5-point scale using flame emojis and the hashtags #FlaminHot #entry for a chance to win cash prizes.
Our objectives for this social media campaign were two-fold:
1) Drive brand love and cultural breakthrough - embed DORITOS into a disproportionate share of social media conversation happening on game day to stay top-of-mind during a culturally relevant moment
2) Extend the narrative of our Big Game FLAMIN’ HOT Super Bowl ad by incorporating visual cues and distinctive assets associated with the spot airing on TV to engage the FLAMIN’ HOT cult online
Focused on Twitter, the defacto “second screen” where Super Bowl viewers flock to discuss the game (and its ads) in real time, DORITOS developed a campaign that would enable engagement with the brand pre-, during-, and post-game while also connecting strongly to the overarching creative concept of “Unleash Your Flamin’ Hot.” We sought to dominate brand-related conversation on Twitter and lean into natural consumer behaviors on game day. One insight we know to be true is that fans love Super Bowl ads almost as much as they love the game itself. So, we thought why not have fans rate each commercial throughout the game by using our Flamin’ Hot scale for the chance to win cash? From there, the concept of “Flamin’ Hot or Not” was born. DORITOS would become the cultural commentator of Game Day by giving fans choosing power over all the hottest moments of the Super Bowl.
Our team knew we were cooking up something good, but like all good things our success did not come easy. From figuring out a workable entry mechanic that could be easily adopted by consumers while also staying on the right side of our Legal Team, to organizing a Super Bowl “War Room” so that we could engage with fans on social throughout the day in real time, there were many obstacles to overcome.
Fortunately we were able to do so and the results were truly fire! From rating how #FlaminHot the commercials are, to voting “Flamin’ Hot” or “Not” on every real-time moment of the day, we enabled fans to share their fiery opinions and even rewarded $500 to one lucky commentater for every commercial aired (and rated) throughout the game totalling $50,500 in prizing. This helped fuel over the top excitement and kept fans engaging with Doritos all. day. long.
The DORITOS “Flamin’ Hot or Not” campaign was hugely successful and delivered tremendous results exceeding all objectives:
DORITOS FLAMIN’ HOT OR NOT campaign was a FLAMIN’ HOT success, stealing the show during Super Bowl LVI.
