DORITOS | DIPS DESPERADO | 2012
A legend about a man who never existed moved dip sales / DORITOS "DIPS DESPERADO"
Only 1 in 10 people in the UK were dipping their chips. To move that number, AMV BBDO invented a legendary Mexican who never existed.
The problem
Doritos sold well as a product meant for sharing, but the habit of pairing it with dip hadn't taken root. While half of consumers in the US dipped their chips, only a small portion of UK consumers did the same.
The insight
The team wondered if they could get people's bodies to simply remember the act of dipping itself. So they turned "dipping" into a game, inventing a fictional Mexican sport called "El Flicko"—where you flick a chip to hit a bottle of salsa—wrapping the act of dipping itself in entertainment.
The idea
The hero is Esteban Ortega, the "World Chip Flicking Champion," a fictional figure from 1967 to 1989 whose legend includes flicking a chip into a well 85 meters away and shooting down 10 beer bottles with 9 chips. Shot in the style of a spaghetti western, the film depicts his glory, his fall, and his comeback in old age, and the story leads into a smartphone/Facebook game at the end. The copy is clever too—the line "Double-dipping is allowed here" really lands.
What happened
The game was played more than 2 million times within a month of launch, and dip sales recorded their biggest growth ever. It also won multiple awards, including a Cannes Lion, Clio Gold, D&AD, and The One Show.
Afterthought
The sheer nerve to build out an entire fictional life for a man who never existed. Rather than pitching the product feature (dipping) head-on, they took the long way around and pinned it to a legendary character—I think that approach is dead right. I'd honestly love to watch a sport where you flick chips.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2012
