• by Les Luchter , April 14, 2022

You can’t eat Skullcandy, the line of headphones and earbuds geared to Gen Z. But you sure can munch on Doritos, the tortilla chip brand from PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay.

To mark 4/20, the day of cannabis celebration when the need for munchies is perhaps at its highest, the two brands have teamed to offer a product that goes not in your mouth but in your ears: a decidedly inedible pair of earbuds that nonetheless look like Nachos cheese chips.

The limited-edition $34.99 product (only 420 have been made -- get it?) follows a February Skullcandy collaboration with Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser beer, which saw the brand offer a complete line of Bud-logoed earbuds and headphones, and a March team-up with Pit Viper sunglasses, with products geared to evoke the ‘90s via neon pink, purple and blue colors.

Budweiser, Pit Viper and Doritos are also supporting Skullcandy’s “Find your Frequency” campaign, which launched this month. The brand’s idea is to take a different monthly theme, starting with “Connection,” and support it with not only limited product drops but also such elements as music performances, athlete collaborations and social causes.

Subsequent monthly themes will include “Expression,” “Creativity” and “Play.”

Each theme has its own color palette, which worked out nicely for the Doritos tie-in, Skullcandy’s chief marketing officerJessica Klodnicki, told Marketing Daily, since “Connection” uses a “mixture of red/orange which naturally associates with Doritos’ iconic nacho cheese flavor.” She also pointed out that 4/20 “has historically been one of our highest revenue moments outside of the holiday season.”

As befits an audio-centered brand, music plays a key role in the overall “Find Your Frequency” campaign. This month’s first featured artist is Eyedress, with a performance of “Something About You.”

Other Skullcandy “Amplifiers” discussing what “Connnection” means to them include skier Kelsey Boyer and snowboarder Taylor Lundquist (“Connection is a big frequency in my life. I feel like once you connect with yourself, you find connections with your hobbies and your craft. And that brings other people into your life who are connected to the same things.”)

The aim of “Find Your Frequency,” Klodnicki said, is “to allow people to find/express themselves in a way that is distinctively them.” The various brand tie-ins (with more are the way, she added, including “an incredible collaboration which will help launch the brand into an entirely new category come fall 2022”) seek “unexpected partners who are passionate about elevating self-expression.”

“Combining our unique brand voice with those of our partners helps encourage and excite our audiences,” she explained. “All our brand partners join in at times via social to support product drops and online conversations more overtly through their own lens/perspective.”

“Find Your Frequency” will also support  Skullcandy’s ongoing “Music With a Mission” cause-driven partnerships with other nonprofits like climate advocate Protect Our Winters.