Why has Doritos been skipping print and radio from its media mix?

PepsiCo’s Nacho chip brand, Doritos, which is known for having a bold persona has brought two of its ‘explosive’ and ‘detonating’ international offerings to India under the rolled fiery tortilla chip sub-brand- Doritos Dinamita.

Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com on the launch of the two new products under the brand Doritos, Pranshu Sahni, Category Lead- Doritos, PepsiCo India, stated that since the bold and younger consumers that associate very well with international imagery and products it was only prudent that Doritos, an innovator of corn-based products, got its globally differentiated offerings, Doritos Dinamita Fiery Chilli and Lime and Doritos Dinamita Sizzlin’ Hot, in the country based on a taste that is adapted and customised for the Indian palettes.

Conceptualised by Leo Burnett, the creative AOR of PepsiCo, the brand has launched a campaign film bringing to life the snack’s ‘explosive’ format by featuring a bunch of campers stranded in the middle of nowhere but saved by the bold move of the youngest in the group.

The campaign film: 

Commenting on the media mix for the new sub-brand launch campaign, Sahni stated that since Doritos caters to the younger consumer cohort wherein an average consumer of the brand spends approximately 4.5 hours on the internet, the brand has decided to first go live on Digital via a slew of ad spots albeit the 40-seconder running on YouTube, 20-seconder running on Disney+ Hotstar during the World Cup or even the shorter 6 and 3-seconders for creating awareness and once that sets in, the brand communication will be lapped up further via the 360-degrees campaign comprising of influencer marketing.

“Normally, 70% of the marketing mix of any campaign is the hero campaign or the TVC which helps you to get awareness and that's what we are trying to do with the DVC because that's where consumers will come and see and understand that our new product offering Doritos Dinamita is available in the market. The remaining 30% will be bumped up with a strong surround which comprises all the influencer-led programs as part of the 360 degrees communication because once we have driven the awareness via our hero campaign, the surround will help us build frequency of that awareness around different mediums,” he stated.

Commenting on whether or not would other traditional channels such as TV, Radio and Print be a part of the marketing mix, Sahni stated that since Brand Doritos is more sensorial in nature, the company would want to be more visual rather than being on radio and print where people can't see the products or brands and neither can they experience it.

“Similarly, we are not launching the hero campaign on TV as of now, because what we have understood from our data is that digital as a medium is where our TG is spending the maximum time versus a TV and hence we will be capitalising on the same with our strong digital media strategy,” he said.

The film opens with the campers desperately waiting to be rescued for the past two days and failing to get the attention of the chopper hovering over them. Just then, the youngest of the lot stumbles on the last packet of Doritos Dinamita in his backpack and looking at the dynamite shape and explosive flavour of the chip, he has a ‘eureka’ moment. He crunches on the chip to create an explosion that diverts the chopper back to the campsite, and thereby successfully rescuing all of them.

Sharing the rationale behind coming up with a non-brand ambassador-led hero campaign amidst the festive season, he mentioned that since brand Doritos has always been a brand for the young and bold consumers, in this case, what the brand has done is that it has made the new innovation launch all the more consumer-centric by making them the actual protagonist in the film.

Further talking about how the salty snacks category has been developing in the past few years in India, Sahni said that it has now become all the more crucial to come up with innovations, which may be international in nature but are suited for the Indian taste palettes and are relevant for the consumers. Hence the launch of new sub-categories for further expansion in the country, as opposed to getting too localised or merely getting the local products which suit the taste buds in the market.

“We undergo a very strong consumer testing process before we launch anything in the country. Given that the chilli bucket along with the Sizzlin’ Hot bucket, which is our global platform, are both doing really well in the country and are working in the salty category, we developed the two products as per the Indian taste buds and mind you, their taste is actually different from that of the variants which are available in other markets,” he said.

PepsiCo is currently working on other flavour variants for diversifying its Doritos Dinamita offering in India but because the launch of the Dinamita edition is a first in the country and the platform is new for consumers to understand, it will take some time.

Moreover, he also mentioned that the two new products, as of now, are already available in the market across traditional trade, modern trade, e-commerce and quick commerce in the two larger packs priced at Rs 20 and Rs 30 given that Doritos has been a premium brand  which is why the pricing hasn’t changed much, he opined.

Of this, he also pointed out that it was the quick commerce and e-commerce channels that the brand resorted to first for the launch of the new offering. Not only it is easy to launch and build the imagery there but also because it wanted to understand how the market is reacting to the product and having received positive and good results in the first 15 days, the brand shifted gears to the traditional trade channels as well comprising of mom-and-pop stores.

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