Doritos Rainbows showed the power of true corporate involvement, when a brand goes beyond advertising messages celebrating diversity to actually take a stand and create a real product that integrates their message with the cause they support. To expand on what the brand positioning “For the bold” means and affirm that “There’s nothing bolder than being yourself,” we created a product that stood as a social platform of support. Each bag contained rainbow-colored chips and a quote of support on the back, submitted by members of the LGBT community. Doritos Rainbows were only available online at DoritosRainbows.com. To claim a bag consumers had to decide how much they’d donate—starting at a minimum of $10—and could tweet a quote of support with #boldandbetter. All the donations went to the It Gets Better Project to support its mission to inspire hope among LGBT youth. The bags were delivered via mail.

Doritos Rainbows starts with the development of the first bag of multicolored, rainbow-inspired chips ever created by Doritos and involved the entire company. The package was designed to allow each bag to have a quote of support from someone in the LGBT community and was printed digitally to allow for diversity. In other words, each bag was a personal message of support. We partnered with the It Gets Better Project in its mission to inspire hope among LGBT youth and built a website that allowed donations to be made directly to the foundation. On September 16, 2015, Doritos Rainbows was launched with posts on Facebook and Twitter and with a press release. In 12 hours the product had garnered over 1 billion impressions all over the world, and the #boldandbetter hashtag had flooded social networks, the news, blogs and media outlets. By that night all 11,500 bags had been claimed.

Doritos Rainbows was the most successful product announcement in Frito-Lay’s history, with 1.5 billion media impressions in 12 hours and nearly 2 billion media impressions total—$170 million in ad-dollars equivalency—with positive sentiment of 84% in the coverage. All the bags were claimed in 24 hours, raising $180,000 for the It Gets Better Project, their largest donation ever. Doritos Rainbows was a top trending topic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram simultaneously, above the Pope’s visit to the U.S. Each post on Instagram generated 175% more likes than average—the brand’s followers doubled, with 20,000 new followers. Posts about Doritos Rainbows on Twitter generated 500% more retweets and 300% more likes than the average brand post, and 95% of the tweets were positive or neutral despite the sensitive subject. On Facebook, posts generated 30 times more shares than average, 12 times more likes and 70 times more comments, reaching 10 million people.

Doritos Rainbows was more than a product; it was a product that launched a social platform of support. It brought company endorsement and commitment to a cause to a new level and showed how brands can take a strong stand on important issues not only with their advertising but also with their products and actions at a corporate level. It shows what can be accomplished when the agency-client relationship becomes a true partnership that allows for new, brave product ideas to come to life.

Although Doritos is widely popular among older Middle Americans 35 to 55 years old, the brand’s target is the guy in his early 20s, the college student with a youthful mindset who is constantly connected and who defines himself by his experiences. The brand calls them “Hyperlifers,” and, in general they’re supporters of the LGBT community. So we challenged them to demonstrate their support and fight the high rate of suicide among LGBT youth with their tweets and donations. Doritos Rainbows was not only a product but also a social platform of support. Bags weren’t available in stores and could be claimed only online with a donation and a tweet. Immediately after the announcement, thousands rushed to DoritosRainbows.com to get the historic chips. And as they did, they flooded their social networks with public demonstrations of encouragement by using the hashtag #boldandbetter.

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal, 2015 was a historic year for the LGBT movement. But although you can create laws, you can’t legislate or adjudicate acceptance. The prospect of “coming out” is so scary that suicide is the leading cause of death among LBGT young people in the US. Over 30 percent of them have attempted to kill themselves. For years, Doritos has positioned itself as a snack “for the bold.” With the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest coming to an end after 10 years, Doritos saw an opportunity to elevate the idea of “for the bold” in a culturally relevant way. The brand has always made strong moves. It was time to take the next step. How do we amplify the idea of being bold and take on a cause that’s socially meaningful while staying true to the brand’s motto?