Gamers and snacks go hand in hand.
With billions of gamers across the globe spending hours on their favorite games, having something to munch on while they play is almost a necessity.
Most of the time, players go with dishes or snacks that are easy to eat and packed with flavor, and that is why pizza or tortilla chips have become the ideal snack choice for gamers.
This is also why Doritos, the flavored tortilla chips made by Frito-Lay, has gained widespread popularity among gamers because of its crispness and savory flavor options.
However, eating the snack during long gaming sessions came with a caveat: Its iconic crunch sound.
Recognizing this problem in 2023, Doritos came up with a solution that not only dealt with a point, but also attracted attention toward its brand.
An Out-of-the-Box AI-Powered Solution
Even though snacking during gaming sessions is commonplace, the noise made when consuming snacks like Doritos can still lead gamers to get distracted by the munching of the people they are playing with.
According to Doritos’ own research, two out of three gamers ranked crisps as the worst noise they could hear during a gaming session.
Photo from Unsplash
This distraction could then lead to negative feelings such as annoyance, or to an action as drastic as rage quitting during a game session.
Simply said, something had to be done…
… and this was where Doritos and its team stepped in!
Eager to turn its weakness into a strength, Doritos and its partner, Smooth Technology, came up with Doritos Silent, a piece of noise-cancellation software that obfuscated the sound made when gamers bit into their tortilla chips.
How did this work?
The software separated the audio snippet of someone’s voice from the distinctive crunch sounds made when eating crispy snacks in real time.
This software solution leveraged AI tech that was trained on over 5,000 Doritos crunch noises, so regardless of how a player ate his or her crispy snack, the Doritos Silent software filtered out the noise made by all the crunching.
Following the creation of the software solution in 2023, Doritos partnered with Twitch streamers, GamingBible, and other online personalities to generate hype for the Doritos Silent app.
The result?
The Doritos Silent app enjoyed over 3 billion social media reach, generated over 1.8 million visits for its website, and helped Doritos achieve over USD 50 million in sales!
Additionally, videos about Doritos Silent earned millions of views on streaming platforms like YouTube.
Aside from these results, the Doritos Silent app gained citations from prestigious awards-giving bodies like D&AD, The Drum Awards, and Cannes Lions.
These results not only show the effectiveness of the digital guerrilla marketing stunt but also the creativity of it!
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Re-engaging brand loyalists and reaching out to new ones at the same time is very challenging.
However, by diving deep into its target customers and putting a creative spin on solving one of their pain points, Doritos was able to do both at the same time.
By leveraging the insights it had at its disposal and utilizing the latest in technological advancements, Doritos was able to meaningfully and organically interact with its target audience.
So, the next time you plan your next guerrilla marketing campaign, keep what the snack brand did in mind!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing can be inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you find this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!”
Cheers,
Dyane Diasanta
Senior Content Writer
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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