Vol. 92 Doritos: Gaming, fashion, and chip flavors 🎮

NPCs in the Spotlight

Though they’ve often been seen as niche, popular gaming platforms like Twitch and Fortnite offer powerful channels to engage. 

Twitch draws millions of daily viewers who spend hours watching others play, while Fortnite transcended gaming and transformed into a social space where people attend virtual concerts, spend time with friends, and shop digital goods. 

Marketers are increasingly experimenting with ways to embed themselves in these worlds. Balenciaga was the first luxury fashion brand to partner with Fortnite, launching a digital fashion line. For 9 hours, Wendy’s live-streamed themselves destroying freezers in Fortnite’s restaurants to protest frozen beef. And recently, Doritos got in on the game, too. 

This week, Case Studied explores how Doritos boosted sales and awareness among Gen Z by tapping into gaming culture. 

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The Brief:

Doritos operates in an incredibly competitive category. To stand out, the brand has long leaned on bold, irreverent marketing. And while their buzzy campaigns may not make a difference to every person walking down the snack aisle, it’s certainly impactful among the Gen Z audience. 

But in order to stay relevant among this demographic, Doritos has to consistently and frequently live up to its reputation. An opportunity to do so came last year. 

The brand was gearing up to drop a limited-time spin-off of the classic All Dressed flavor. So they created a campaign that took a similar “classic with a twist” angle. 

The classic, in this case, was sponsored “skins”, aka outfits that game characters wear. These are a common marketing approach in the gaming world, and for good reason—customizing main characters’ appearance is a huge part of gaming culture. And that culture is quite lucrative, representing a $50 billion industry. 

As for the twist? Instead of sponsoring main character outfits, Doritos became the first brand to “dress” non-playable characters (NPCs). 

The Execution:

To promote their new Tangy All Dressed flavor, Doritos partnered with BBDO Canada to create “All Dressed NPCs.” To start, they partnered with high-end fashion designer Markantoine to create a fashion drop that was made exclusively for NPCs in Fortnite. 

Of course, the outfits modelled the new flavor’s branding and each character had Doritos bags in hand. But they didn’t just rely on eye-catching outfits—Doritos made sure to add in-game incentives that could boost engagement. Each NPC had a challenge associated with it, which players could unlock by interacting with them. 

With the fits and game logistics set, the NPC fashion collection was dropped in a Twitch live stream by popular Fortnite creator Nick Eh 30, who has 5.8 million followers. The drop immediately drew tons of attention, with streamers discussing the outfits and spending more time with NPCs than they normally would have. 

But one reaction was particularly impactful—someone said, “I definitely am sad that I won't be able to add any of these pieces to my actual wardrobe.” Since Doritos already had the designs, they took that feedback and ran with it, creating real, physical clothing based on the digital line.

The Results:

According to the 2023 Media Agency Campaign Tracking Report, the Twitch live stream smashed benchmarks: chat engagement was up 325.9%, viewership was up 279%, and total minutes watched was up 619.8%. 

Doritos saw sales jump by 26% and brand awareness increased by a whopping 70%. Plus, they got plenty of earned media from it. PR coverage of the campaign racked up 18.8 million impressions across 178 outlets.

The Takeaways

1. Partner with creators who can authenticate your idea. 

Nick Eh 30 played a major role in the success of All Dressed NPC. It added a (literal) human element to the campaign as well as major credibility among the community that Doritos was targeting. 

For your brand, consider working with creators who have technical or cultural authority in your target space. Their involvement can make your idea feel less like a one-off stunt and more like part of the culture.

2. Find a twist on familiar tactics.

In-game brand activations like skins are nothing new, but Doritos made theirs stand out by tweaking their approach in a new and exciting way. They took characters who no one usually pays attention to and made them the stars of their campaign.

Look for ways to add a unique spin to tried and true tactics. Even small creative twists (think: a scratch-and-sniff billboard like Billie) can transform a standard activation into something audiences will remember and talk about.

3. Act on audience reactions (when it makes sense).

Though they may not have initially planned to, Doritos took their digital campaign into the physical world. And the main reason was that a fan talked about wanting to wear the NPC outfits in real life. This quick pivot gave the campaign a second life and reinforced that the brand was listening to its audience.

For your own campaigns, pay attention to audience feedback in real-time. Not every comment should shift your strategy, but when you see a spark—like a request or idea that builds naturally on your activation—consider leaning in. Acting on those moments shows responsiveness and can generate entirely new waves of earned media.

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