Doritos x Burger King: The Flaming Billboard

Tasked with launching Doritos’ ‘hot’ new flavour collaboration with the home of flame-grilling, Burger King, we needed to find a way to communicate that Flame-Grilled Whopper Doritos had arrived in a way that stood out in a crowded brand collaboration space.

Getting people talking at launch was critical to create early awareness and demand. Furthermore, with more than 60% of UK adults reporting they rarely pay attention to billboards, we knew this was a channel we could stand out in by being different.

So on the day product hit shelves, we combined Doritos’ bold brand and distinctive triangle crisps with Burger King’s flame-grilling flavour expertise to make a statement that was impossible to ignore and set the conversation on fire.

While our cooks flame-grilled Whoppers inside a Burger King in the UK, we flame-grilled a 200 square foot Doritos billboard outside.

We had just 30 seconds to capture the shots we needed to grab the attention of the world before the billboard burnt down. Crowds began to gather, as well as local media and influencers. It had become a spectacle, as all good OOH advertising should.

After capturing attention in the real world, the true impact of the billboard was felt when it captured the attention of social media and national news.

The Doritos Flaming Billboard earned nearly 820 million media impressions (vs. 500m target) across over 185 pieces of editorial, and national publishers from ITV1, Heart Radio, the Daily Express, The Mirror, The Sun and The Metro drove hype about the “lip-smacking collaboration”.

Social set ablaze with over 700 article shares, and content reached 10million+ people. In total over £1.8mm of advertising was earned.

Two weeks after the activation, 7mm over 18s in the UK still remember the stunt. 1 in 3 Gen Zs (a key Doritos target) saw the billboard, and 55% of Gen Z and 20% of the UK public are now more likely to try the product.

Most importantly, in its first week Whopper Doritos became the bestselling Doritos flavour in the UK (UROS).