Marketing in the News: Doritos dials up ’80s-style telethon for ‘Stranger Things’ final season
By Gustavo Morales
When I discovered this article, “Doritos dials up 80s-style telethon for Stranger Things final season” on Marketing Dive. I think it was brilliant how Doritos was able to capitalize on such a great opportunity by being able to collab with Stranger Things and bring the fans something entertaining by taking a nostalgic approach. The way Doritos has marketed itself has always intrigued me when it comes to their commercials and especially when I was younger. I remember when I was in elementary and middle school my teachers would play Doritos commercials to make us laugh and it rarely failed, like the famous Doritos time machine ad. I would even buy Dorito chips to redeem prizes like double XP whenever they did a brand crossover with video games like Modern Warfare 2019.
Instead of Doritos trying to sell cool ranch chips, they aimed at giving a loyal fanbase a memorable experience. Doritos created a nostalgic '80s-style telethon to celebrate the final season of Stranger Things, partnering with Netflix. They added a hotline number on special edition Stranger Things chip bags and built a story around it. The campaign mixed ideas like the call-in hotline alongside modern marketing like social media and digital ads. Doritos brought in celebrities like David Hasselhoff, Paula Abdul, and AFL. The reason for this is because they recorded messages for the hotline so when fans called these celebrities would leave fun messages giving the fan a memorable experience by being able to interact with the Stranger Things world while the campaign stayed true to Doritos bold and playful brand image.
The value proposition behind Doritos has always been about more than just snacks. Their goal is to create bold and playful marketing that can make consumers express themselves, it is in their slogan, "For the bold in everyone." The ad shows that they were not just selling chips but also selling nostalgia. The ad made Doritos feel like part of pop culture rather than just another brand trying to push their product on a popular show. They are very well known in the Call of Duty community since a lot of people have the impression that gamers live off of Doritos and Mountain Dew due to how much Call of Duty and Doritos have collaborated in the past. The same can be said about their bold and exciting Super Bowl ads.
This was a pretty smart brand crossover considering that this is the show's last season. Doritos partnering up with Stranger Things was able to use that loyal fanbase engagement and turn it into an interactive experience for the fans. Instead of just posting ads on social media, they gave fans the opportunity to actually participate by calling the hotline, leaving messages, and interacting with the story world. I believe if people are able to actively participate in something they care about then it will create a strong connection and in this case it also led to people talking about the brand, while Doritos is still portraying its bold image.
I think the nostalgia marketing approach can be risky if it does not feel genuine and it may even come across as forced. If the approach is well planned it can be a really effective way to make people interested. This approach backfired on Cracker Barrel when they tried to modernize their logo but fans did not like it and they had to switch back to the old one with Uncle Herschel. In this case the challenge was making a campaign intriguing to people who are not already fans of Stranger Things. But I believe Doritos handled this really well by keeping everything fun and bold while giving fans something special to interact with, which is the chance of being able to call the hotline and hearing messages from David Hasselhoff, Paula Abdul, or AFL.
If I were the product manager of Doritos, I would definitely consider adding a few extra ways to give fans an opportunity to be more involved like a digital scavenger hunt that connects to the hotline messages, which would greatly please the Stranger Things fanbase. Another great idea would be to reward fans who call in with exclusive prizes. Those prizes could be free merch or even tickets to a Netflix premiere of the show. I think these ideas would definitely drive both engagement and sales.
Something I learned while doing this assignment is how campaigns like Doritos show how impactful nostalgic marketing can be when it is done right. I have seen these types of approaches being used in the past when it comes to video games and it actually being extremely effective. Another thing that this assignment has taught me was that nostalgia combined with modern marketing may build strong connections between brands and audiences. The Stranger Things partnership felt genuine because both brands share an exciting and adventurous personality.
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