According to research, Generation Z, defined as ages 8 – 22, doesn’t respond to advertising.
Even when brands play a bigger role than ever in our lives, the “Netflix and chill” squad simply ignores overt advertising.
What’s a leading tortilla chip to do?
If you’re Doritos you discard your logo and name and pray the group responds to your shape. In this case, a triangle.
Pepsi’s leading chip brand and AOR Goodby Silverstein & Partners believe that the triangular shape is as iconic as the Nike swoosh, the Starbucks mermaid or the Target target and has decided to put its money where its chomping mouth is in a new campaign.
Beginning yesterday, Doritos removed its logo from all advertising and social content in order to build the brand with its iconic triangle design.
Its new name – ‘Logo Goes Here.’
The brand hopes that the Gen Z remembers the classic colors of its bag, the chip-shaped icon and other ownable attributes like nacho cheese dust.
The new campaign consists of a :60-second “Anti-Ad” digital video – feeling more like influencer-created content – that shows various triangle shapes and Doritos bags with the logo blurred out.
Even the legal small print that often appears at the bottom of the screen is fun. “Lawyers love to spoil the fun. ‘Another Level’ is a trademark of Frito-Lay North America, Inc. Pretend you didn’t see,” it states. Watch below:
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Rachel Ferdinando, senior vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay, told WSJ there is now a new “desire to almost reject traditional advertising.”
The OOH works hard to push Doritos’ well-known flavors – #cheesy, #cool, #spicy, #ranch – so audiences don’t have to guess what product they’re being sold. It also helps that we are told that the brand name rhymes with “I need those.”
During the campaign, all Doritos social channels will remove their logos and brand mentions, including all previous content. If you click on Doritos website, which has now been replaced by LogoGoesHere.com, not only will you find the logo is missing, but this new mantra as well:
Fans will also be given an opportunity to generate their own content (as well as ‘Triangle themselves’) and share what ‘Another Level’ means to them with the #LogoGoesHere hashtag.
According to The Drum, the campaign is the largest digital investment Doritos has done for a brand equity campaign, according to the brand.
The digital buy specifically targets Gen-Z more than ever before, including partnerships with Uproxx and NTRWK (80% of app users are 18-24) along with YouTube skip ads and other digital play. There will also be a series of TV and digital spots that include no logos or mentions of the brand, premiering during the MTV Video Music Awards.
Brands really play an enormous role in our lives. Whether it’s owning the naming rights to a stadium or sponsoring a concert or in the case of Nike, pushing a political agenda. Doritos is banking on that it has earned the right to exist as just as icon.
That said, losing the logo is all well and fine for Gen-Z. But don’t forget us old folks who still might need a little help remembering what Doritos flavor we love. Like mine is, um… um…
Source: The Drum
