When a brand can capture three generations of music in a relevant, humorous way that justifies the millions it just spent on a Super Bowl campaign, that’s as close as it can get to drawing a perfect pop-culture triangle.

Frito-Lay came into Super Bowl 57 teasing at rapper Jack Harlow’s presence in its ad, then added hip-hop icon Missy Elliott’s collaboration. In the 60-second spot slated for the game’s second quarter, Doritos ostensibly pitches its Sweet & Tangy BBQ flavor by having Harlow give up rap to play the triangle and embark on a cameo-laden musical odyssey.

Elliott implores him not to take up the farmhouse dinner bell as a calling. Sway Calloway and Heather B. Gardner praise his ingenuity on their radio show. To the earworm strains of Anita Ward’s 1979 disco smash “Ring My Bell,” Harlow himself gets caught up win a Vanilla Ice-style “ding ding ding” spiral before receiving the accolades of millions.

But when awards season arrives and Harlow appears to have cornered the triangle market, who appears to ring in the bad news and take his award? None other than triangle virtuoso and all-around renaissance man Elton John.

“When we look at talent, we look at a few things,” Stacy Taffet, Frito-Lay North America’s svp of brand marketing told Adweek. “We look at people that are authentic brand fans—and these three individuals are—we also look at people that embody the values and the spirit that we have in Doritos, which is both self expression, charting a new course, trying new things and going into new places. Jack, Missy and Sir Elton all have done that in their own way.”

Harlow’s appeal to Gen Z and his co-stars’ appeal to millennials and beyond certainly helped as well. Embedded in this spot was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo during Sway and Heather B.’s segment that featured a dance from #DoritosTriangleTryout TikTok challenge winner Angelita Yadao-Payad from Hawaii. The January contest marked a return to customer-solicited content from the brand that hosted fan-made “Crash the Super Bowl” video for roughly a decade and built its own Legion of Creators during that time. This contest alone resulted in more than 1 million submissions.

“Up until this year, we haven’t had the creative idea or the platform lend themselves to involving the fans,” Taffet said. “When we had a creative idea where triangle-mania ensues and people go wild and it reaches every corner of the globe, including TikTok. It was the right time to put out a challenge and actually invite a fan to be part of the spot.”

Covering all angles

The ad itself is the center of a much broader strategy that began in early January with multiple teasers that slowly revealed its stars and the product they were endorsing. During the game itself, Doritos is recreating the Super Bowl commercial in the Metaverse and inviting fans to produce and record triangle-inspired beats inside Decentraland at Doritos Triangle Studios. 

Doritos is awarding prizes (including a $5,000 NFT) for beats that include crunching chips, crinkling bags and triangles. However, for those loathe to wander into the Metaverse, the Doritos Triangle Scheme lets fans scan a QR code on the brand’s Twitter feed on game day, get their own QR code, tweet it out with the right phrasing (#DoritosTriangleScheme, #Entry and @Doritos) and pull in followers. The more recruits a fan gets, the better chance they have of winning the $25,000 grand prize. Even those who don’t win can access triangle-themed prizes on the Doritos Twitter feed throughout the day.

“We look at the return on the investment for the Super Bowl not only on the day of, but on the amplification of the message,” Taffet said. “It really has meant the conversation has continued for longer, and we’ve gotten extra beats in terms of social conversation in terms of media coverage that just gets our brands out in the conversation for a longer period of time.”

CREDITS

Frito Lay North America

CEO FLNA: Steven Williams
Chief Marketing Officer FLNA: Brett O’Brien
Senior Vice President, Frito-Lay Core Brands: Stacy Taffet
Senior Director, Doritos Brand Marketing: Courtney Larson
Director, Doritos Brand Marketing: Marlowe Williams
Manager, Doritos Brand Marketing: McCallen Moser
Director, Strategic Insights: Brodie Dunn
Senior Director, Brand Communications: Dan Cohen
Director, Brand Communications: Ashley Capps
Associate Manager, Brand Communications: Lindsey Smith
Senior Director Media: Amanda Corral
Senior Director TM/Legal: Jeanette Zimmer
Senior Director Corporate Legal: Charlie Boehler

Creative

Chief Creative Officer: Margaret Johnson
Creative Director: Eamonn Dixon
Creative Director: Stefan Copiz
Associate Creative Director: Chase Doutre
Associate Creative Director: Danny O’Connor Copywriter: Pedro Furtado
Art Director: Fabio Santoro

Production

Head of Production: Jim Haight
Executive Producer: Sara Ward
Senior Producer: Alexei VanMourik

Account Management

Managing Partner: Brian McPherson
Group Account Director: Chris Nilsen
Account Director: Liza Chedrick
Account Manager: Camille LeJeune
Assistant Account Manager: Sara Young 

Brand and Communication Strategy

Partner, Head of Brand Strategy: Bonnie Wan
Partner, Head of Communication Strategy: Christine Chen
Group Director, Communications Strategy: Caitlin Neelon
Group Director, Brand Strategy: Ralph Paone
Director, Brand Strategy: Cassidy Wilber
Director, Communications Strategy: Jacob Sperla
Brand Strategist: Kelly Kikuchi
Communications Strategist: Mahima Silwal

Business Affairs

Director of Business Affairs: Judy Ybarra
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Annie Holmgren
Trafficking Manager: Rowena Cuejilo

Design

Executive Design Director: Ryan Self
Designer: Fernando Salvador Hoyos

Shakermaker

President, Music, Entertainment & Culture: Emma Quigley
Vice President, Music, Entertainment & Culture: Michael Monahan

Monsoon Entertainment

Owner: Danielle Vadai

Direct Focus, Inc.

President: Barry Rosen

Ketchum PR

Vice President, Group Manager: Travis Culver
Vice President: Brooke Brandenborg
Managing Account Supervisor: Natalie Houck-Meloni
Account Supervisor: Kelsey Kolisek

Production Company

Company Name: Hungry Man
Director: Wayne McClammy
Managing Director/Partner: Mino Jarjoura
Head of Sales/Executive Producer: Dan Duffy
Executive Producer/Producer: Rick Jarjoura
Production Supervisor: Yuki Wakano

       
Director of Photography: Dion Beebe Production Designer: Robb Buono

Editorial Company

Post Production: The Den Editorial
Senior Editor: Christjan Jordan
Editor: Matthew Hilber
Additional Editor: Pieter Viljoen
Additional Editor: Andrew Leggett
Assistant Editor: Jake Swartz
Assistant Editor: Nic Watkins
Assistant Editor: Laurence Thrush
Assistant Editor: Ramon de Souza
Executive Producer: Jennifer Mersis
Head of Production: Kristina Thoegersen
Producer: Jessica Davis
Producer: Gigi May

Audio and Sound Design Company

Company name: Lime Studios
Sound Design and Mix: Joel Waters
Audio Assistant: Collin Thomas
Associate Producer: Cassie Underwood
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

VFX Company

Company Name: The Mill

VFX

Creative Director: Oliver Caiden
VFX Supervisor: Oliver Caiden
Executive Producer: Hillary Thomas
Producer: Mari Suarez
2D Lead Artist: Oliver Caiden
3D Lead Artist: Graeme Trunbul
2D Artist: Andy Roberts, Piotr Bednarczyk, Dipansu Halder, Venkata Siva Kumar Mannepalli, Svilen Aynadzhiev, Gangadharam Raja, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ragesh Ramachandran, Pravin Shamrao Ingale, Vivek Gopalrao Tekale, Mahesh M S, Sandeep VS, Kunal Dilip Bendke/Md Munaam Gazzal, Sanket Suresh Mhatre, Sagar Adivarekar, Mayur Chandrakant Kothawade, G Maniraj, Akhil Mohan, Vishvajeet Kocharekar, Vilas Kailas Khiradkar, Sudhir Balaram Jadhav, Rohit Dinkar Kale, Riddhi Sinha, Nitin Yashwant Thorat, Hrushikesh Kadu, Bhushan Sanjay Tawade, Arulraj Giriraj, Anilkumar Chauhan, Amara Gokul Sainath, Aditya Shrikant Salunkhe, Putta Mahesh, Dhundappa Kallappa Pattan, Sikandar Shaikh, Sagar Dasgaonkar, Ajay S Kumbhar, Ashish Bhanage, Anuj Pathania