Doritos: THE QUEST

Objective

Doritos launched a branded puzzle game campaign to drive engagement and awareness for a mysterious new product flavor. The campaign challenged players to solve an online mystery and uncover a secret destination city through collaborative puzzle-solving. By combining digital and real-world elements, Doritos aimed to create buzz and incentivize participation with a significant $100,000 grand prize.

Solution

The Quest was a two-phase interactive campaign. In the online phase, players solved digital puzzles and riddles to progressively uncover clues about a secret destination city. The top performers were invited to Las Vegas for the offline phase, where they competed in physical challenges to complete the quest. The campaign featured a narrative-driven experience with webisodes documenting the hunt. The game was built as a web application and required no client-side installation, making it highly accessible to players.

Results

The campaign attracted over 70,000 active participants who engaged with the puzzle mechanics. Global online communities formed around solving the challenges, demonstrating significant viral potential and word-of-mouth engagement. The campaign was recognized by industry award platforms (FWA). Specific metrics on conversion, sales lift, or ROI were not published in available sources.