Superbrands case studies: Doritos (2024)

Case study provided by Superbrands.

Market
The British public eat £93 million worth of tortilla chips per year. That figure has increased by nearly 40% over the last five years and Doritos is the undisputed market leader, with a 79% market share. Looking at the wider market in which Doritos competes, the entire UK market for snack foods (including crisps, other savoury snacks, nuts and biscuits) was worth, according to IRI Research, £3.5 billion in 2003.

Given the size of the market, it experiences relatively modest growth - just 2% a year -however social snacking is one of the main growth areas of this market. This demand for social snacking has had the effect of prompting demand for larger bags, which allow sharing between friends. Pepsico-owned Walkers Snack Foods is the biggest player in the UK snack foods market, followed by KP, which is owned by United Biscuits. However according to IRI data on bagged snacks brands, as of 2003 Walkers Snack Foods dominate the top five positions. With core Walkers occupying the number one spot followed by Walkers Sensations at number three, and Doritos at number five. In addition Doritos is currently experiencing 15.4% growth per year.

Achievements
It is an accolade for any brand to get to the point where it is automatically associated as the leader of its category and this is an achievement Doritos can claim. Doritos, whose name comes from the Spanish means 'little bits of gold', has become synonymous with tortilla chips. It has become a true global Superbrand, a fact recognised when it won the Euro Effie Silver for best international food and non-alcoholic beverage campaign in 2003.

The brand has grown thanks to some breakthrough consumer insights. For example, in 2001,Walkers Snack Foods saw a great opportunity to create a whole new market for their products in the UK. A comprehensive quantitative study undertaken by the company identified that 'home evening snacking' was the biggest snacking opportunity during the day, when people relax in front of the TV, or with friends, and want a big tasty snack to share. The challenge for Walkers was to conquer this as yet relatively untapped market, as it offered Walkers huge growth potential in a mature category seeing only modest growth. The decision to launch a new version of Doritos-Dippas Dips and Chips into this gap in the market, using the tagline 'Friendchips' was a masterstroke for Doritos and transformed the fortunes of the brand. A major £7 million ad campaign ran, introducing the concept of 'dipping' with friends.

In the immediate aftermath, sales of Dippas Big Bags rose 76% year-on-year. This created a halo effect, boosting overall sales of Doritos by 13.2%. The strategy was so successful that it was repeated in Belgium, Holland and Spain. The success of Friendchips helped Walkers Doritos win the Marketing Society award for 'Best Consumer Insight' in 2002. Doritos Dippas also received an Asian Trader Best New Food Brand award in 2001.

History
The conquest of Mexico by Spain in 1521 gave rise to one of the greatest culinary revolutions in history. When the Spanish explorer Cortez and his followers came to the new world in search of fortune, they found a wealth of new foods, including the tortilla.

It wasn't until 1966 that Doritos Tortilla Chips 'conquered' the US, where they soon became a big hit with consumers. Taco-flavoured and Nacho Cheese flavoured Doritos followed in 1967 and 1972 and in 1993 the range was further extended with Doritos Thins (Lightly Salted and Salsa 'N Cheese flavours). These were introduced nationally with actor Chevy Chase as the celebrity spokesman.

Doritos were launched into the UK in 1994. They hit the shelves as small bags with strong flavours, such as Cool Original, Tangy Cheese and Cheese & Onion. The advertising reflected the concept of a snack with big flavour and big crunch. In 1998 Doritos were launched as big bags featuring the same flavours as the original packs. The advertising at the time reflected the concept of shared snacking. In 2003 Doritos were relaunched as one brand for two occasions. The small bag was targeted at the younger teen market, while the big bag was targeted at the evening snacking market.

Product
The production process of Doritos begins with the harvesting of whole corn kernels fresh off the cob before the cleaning and grading of the best quality kernels takes place. These corn kernels are cooked, soaked and washed before being ground into a soft pliable dough. The dough is then kneaded before being sheeted into a thin layer and cut into the specific Doritos shape. Once this is cut into shape the chips pass through a toasting stage before going on to be fried. After frying, the chips pass through a tumbling drum where the flavours are added.

Before passing onto the packaging stage, the crisps pass through a final quality checking process and then through the weighing machine to make sure that they meet the required weight specifications before they are put into packets. Walkers products are packaged using a 'nitrogen flush' to remove the oxygen from the packaging. Nitrogen helps keep the fresh flavour of the crisps by excluding oxygen and atmospheric moisture, which can cause staleness. The packs themselves are made from metallised film. This is made by sticking two layers of polypropylene together, one with the metallic layer and the other with the print.

The metallic layer and print are sandwiched in the middle. As far as the product range is concerned, Doritos currently come in three flavours:Tangy Cheese, Cool Original and Extreme Chilli Heatwave, these flavours are all available in 40g and 60g bags. In addition these flavours are available in mixed bags of six and ten packs. Tangy Cheese and Extreme Chilli Heatwave are available as single flavour six packs. Doritos Dippas currently come in five flavours Lightly Salted, Hint of Lime, Hint of Chilli, Hint of Garlic and Hint of Curry in 200g bags, while Lightly Salted is also available in 300g bags. Doritos also makes a range of dips to go with its tortilla chips. These are available as Mild Salsa, Hot Salsa and extra Hot Salsa, available in 375g jars.

Recent Developments
In November 2003 Doritos launched Christmas tree-shaped Doritos Dippas. The launch was supported by a TV ad campaign and posters. The product had been trialled in ASDA during Christmas 2002 and was a big success. In 2003 the small bags were re-launched and a new flavour Extreme Chilli Heat Wave was added to the range. Since then the small bag range has performed particularly well.

Between June 2002 and June 2003, the penetration of Doritos small bags into the marketplace rose by 80%. This was an important development for Doritos, as previously big bags were the biggest contributor to sales and were growing at a much faster rate.

All of this helped the brand figure prominently in Marketing Magazine's 2003 Biggest Brands survey, which showed Doritos recording the second highest year-on-year growth rate in the bagged snacks category, with sales between 2002-2003 up 25%.

Promotion
Doritos has a strong promotional heritage in the UK, stretching back to the launch of the brand in 1994.The original bags were called Movie Bags, and from these early days, the brand forged a natural link between relaxing and eating Doritos whilst watching films.

Many may still remember the use of Doritos 'idents' in the breaks during ITV films.

Featuring the faces of icons like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, John Wayne and even Lassie, the idents had an irreverent humour and helped establish the brand as one to appeal to slightly rebellious teenagers, or at least young at heart people who liked to 'Live Life Loud'. This line was taken from the brand's US advertising and continued in the UK until 1998.

The brand also famously signed Simpsons star Homer Simpson in a £8 million deal, making the cult hero the 'face' of the brand in a pan-European advertising campaign. This is also well suited to the brand's edgy image, appealing to the younger consumer. In 2001, Doritos changed promotional direction as it successfully chased the new territory of 'evening snacking'. A major TV push behind Doritos Dippas Dips and Chips was launched, carrying the line 'Doritos Dippas - perfect for chilling out with your mates'. The creative idea of 'Friendchips' helped cement ownership of this fast-growing opportunity for Doritos.

The Friendchips campaign has run since launch and to date there have been 20 different executions. For the launch period in the UK,Walkers developed special promotional 'chip 'n' dip' sample packs of Doritos Dippas, which retailed in supermarkets at 79p. At point-of-sale, special bays were constructed in supermarkets, which allowed Doritos Dippas dips and chips to be merchandised together for the first time. The point-of-sale did not reference the advertising, the purpose was very much simply to 'marry' Doritos Dippas chips and dips in consumers' minds, encouraging them to see dipping as part of their everyday snacking repertoire and not just for special occasions.

More recently, in 2003, Doritos continued its longstanding association with film by running a promotion in partnership with Blockbuster and Odeon cinemas, giving consumers the chance to win free video rentals and cinema tickets. Also in 2003, Doritos signed TV and music star Kelly Osbourne to star in ads promoting 'small bag' Doritos and the launch of the Extreme Chilli Heatwave flavour.

Things you didn't know about Doritos
The Friendchips campaign has been so successful that it has been run in other countries - Spain, Holland, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, Venezuela.
Literally translated into Spanish, 'doritos' means 'little bits of gold'.
The favourite flavour of Doritos is Tangy Cheese.
The favourite Doritos dip is Mild Salsa. The favorite time of day for people to eat Big Bags of Doritos is between 8pm and 11pm.

Brand Values
Since the launch of Friendchips in 2001, the essence of the Doritos brand has been sociability.

Doritos has a distinct personality within the Walkers family. Whilst the Walkers brand itself is seen as a down to earth, populist brand with family values, Doritos has a more adult personality -more daring, irreverent, and uninhibited. This is consistently reflected in the tone of the marketing execution and in the media placement.

(c) 2004 Superbrands Ltd

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