Creative Effectiveness > Creative Effectiveness: Sectors
CAN'T TOUCH THIS
GOODBY SILVERSTEIN & PARTNERS, San Francisco / CHEETOS / 2022
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Summary of the work
From the way popcorn had been marketed by the dominant players, it seemed that the popcorn audience wanted the antithesis of Cheetos—a clean, simple, wholesome, on-the-go snack for a clean, wholesome life.
But looking deeper at the popcorn audience, we found that 56% of Popcorn buyers shared the mindset of a typical Cheetos buyer: they're practical jokers who add a bit of mischief when life gets too serious. Inside the bland decorum of popcorn land, there was a little mischief waiting to get out. No one else in the subcategory was speaking to this group; it suggested that there was an opportunity for Cheetos to get their attention by acting differently from the rest of popcorn.
Looking at our Rejuvenile audience of Cheetos superfans, we noticed that many embraced an aspect of the Cheetos snacking experience that flies in the face of the “clean ‘n’ easy” popcorn experience: the messy, sticky orange Cheetos dust that gets all over your fingers, leaving you unable to touch or do much else.
On social media we noticed our fans jokingly celebrating this product truth as something weirdly aspirational. It gets them out of boring, serious things like work, chores, errands, etc. The dust, essentially, gets them out of “adulting.”
The strategic solution for our campaign was clear: we needed to lean in to our biggest disruptive popcorn-subcategory challenge—the messy, indulgent Cheetos dust. We’d turn our apparent weakness into an aspirational strength, speaking directly to the inner mischief of any popcorn eater who shares the Rejuvenile mindset.
Our big idea: turn Cheetos dust into a superpower that gets people out of monotony and into mischief.
First, we named and claimed the dust: Cheetle.
It’s not an alternative fact—just a fact. The dust is called Cheetle. To claim it, we created an integrated social campaign dedicated entirely to the Cheetos dust itself. Our brand’s mascot, Chester, started the conversation by announcing its technical term, Cheetle, through an online video he posted to Twitter. From there fans and press alike began to participate in the debate. We even got Dictionary.com to make a formal entry for the word.
Next, we gave it power.
Given how we were launching a new product in a category that played by different rules, we needed the biggest, splashiest place to launch, with maximum eyeballs and velocity. This took the brand back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 10 years.
We teased our comeback with an online video revealing the “real” Cheetle-covered backstory behind the iconic track “U Can’t Touch This” by Rejuvenile supreme MC Hammer.
On the big day, we turned MC Hammer’s track into the perfect excuse to get those with fingertips covered in Cheetle after eating Cheetos Popcorn out of adult responsibilities. Your boss hands you papers to file? Sorry, can’t touch this—got Cheetle on my fingers. Your neighbor asks you to help move? Sorry, can’t touch this—got Cheetle on my fingers. Your family asks you to babysit? Sorry, Cheetle! You get the picture.
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