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Doritos Expands Video Game Emphasis

Doritos/xbox

Doritos is continuing its relationship-building with young males by pushing the video gaming channel hard.

In a single day, the Frito Lay North America brand announced this year's version of the "Unlock Xbox" contest that it sponsors with Microsoft, and a new partnership with Major League Gaming to launch a football competition aimed at amateur gamers.

The Unlock Xbox contest offers video game enthusiasts the opportunity to design a new Xbox 360 Live Arcade game that "embodies the big, bold, intense spirit of Doritos." The original round of the contest in 2007 led to the development of a consumer-created game, "Doritos Dash of Destruction," that became the fastest Xbox Live Arcade game to reach a million downloads.

"Many of the people who love Doritos also love gaming, and this innovative program gives our fans a chance to live their dreams," noted Frito Lay group VP, Ann Mukherjee, in making the announcement. The Xbox Live subscriber base now exceeds 20 million subscribers, according to Mark Kroese, general manager of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Advertising Business Group.

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Fans can review the submission terms and enter their ideas via video submission through October 4, 2009 at unlockbox.com. The promotion will also drive traffic and involvement by offering site visitors a chance to instantly win prizes when they cast votes for the finalists between Nov. 29 and Dec. 31.

The Xbox campaign is an extension of the "fan empowerment" strategy that began with Doritos's "Crash the Super Bowl" concept. Since 2007, the brand has been enabling fans to create its Super Bowl commercials, with winning results, including being ranked first in USA Today's Super Bowl XLIII Ad Meter.

The new partnership with MLG will create the Doritos MLG Skills Combine, a nationwide, multi-day competition in which amateur players will be put "through their paces" by MLG League officials and pros, with the aim of evaluating their potential to compete in the MLG Pro Circuit.

For Doritos, the partnership represents a way to reach and support "the millions of MLG fans who dream of turning pro one day," the brand's director of marketing, Rudy Wilson, confirmed.

The partnership spans live and online competition and evaluation, original programming, online tournaments and a retail program that will be announced in the fall.

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