Typically, like most marketing folk, I am overly critical any ads and the first to fire cantankerous at mediocre and off-equity ads (at least among family and friends). To this concept, I have to give props…
Driving down the road this week, I heard an advertisement for Doritos 1st, 2nd and 3rd Degree Burn chips. The chips attribute their burn to jalapeno, fiery buffalo and habanero flavoring. The radio ad took the cliche format of some calling into a “crisis center” with their mouth basically bursting into flames.
The rather comical, but otherwise unremarkable ad then took a turn toward ingenius. The crisis center hotline “representative” recommended Pepsi Max Cool Burn, with a hint of lime, to quell the ailing caller’s burn.
What? Pepsico, hats off to you! This is probably the best example of joint product marketing I’ve ever seen. These techniques have been around as long as grocery store end caps, but this, in my opinion, verged on GENIUS!
What are your thoughts? Do you have a favorite example of co-branding like this? I bet nothing has driven the sales of cross-category products as effectively as I imagine this will since some one dropped a Mentos into a 2-liter of Diet Coke…
Some other resources you might be interested in:
- Exploding Mentos & Diet Coke
- A “Banned” Doritos Burn Commerical (note: this is not the one I am referencing)
- BevReview.com’s article on this initiative