Cheetos had a goal to stay relevant during the winter sports event. As the No. 1 brand of cheese curls, sponsoring the USA Curling team, a fun and quirky sport similar to our brand, was the perfect gateway. At the time, USA Curling was an underappreciated team ranked last in the world. However, to Cheetos, this team of underdogs showed promise.

We needed America to start talking about curling if we wanted to stay top-of-mind throughout the month-long event, so we began rallying the country for the sport. Leading up to the competition, we created buzz through social posts, celebrity influencers and a limited-time product called Cheetos Curls. All this accumulated to the ultimate curling anthem: a music video.

Music is a powerful tool—especially for millennials. We chose to spoof a popular song in hopes that fans would continue to drive conversation long into the legally restricted timeframe.

The campaign was divided into two phases anchored by a hero piece of digital content. In the months leading up to the release, the campaign focused on organic social posts and grassroots activations.

The 360-degree campaign supported the music video with a national media tour, followed by a social engagement campaign, which lived in-store nationally. Cheetos also hosted an event to culminate the program and celebrate USA Curling’s big win.

? Pre-video launch (Oct.–Dec. 2017)

? Sponsorship announcement (Sept.–Oct.)

? Social

? Press release

? Awareness (Nov.–Dec.)

? Social

? Event activation

? Post-video launch (Jan.–March 2018)

? Tease

? Launched innovation product: Cheetos Curls

? Social

? Launch (Jan. 9)

? Digital and social media

? National media tour

? Engagement (Jan.10–Feb. 28)

? Social and influencer program

? PR support

? In-store

? Celebration (March 1)

? Event activation

Media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube

The song was picked up as the cheer of choice for curling across the nation, encouraging fans to support the team by sharing #DoTheCurl. The song’s impact was felt throughout the games, cheering on the team to the finals. The results include:

? 1.5 billion broadcast, print and online impressions (300 million above goal of 1.2 billion)

? Curling had the highest popularity spike of any sport on Google (+80.68%)

? 28MM total music video views on YouTube

? 2,433 mentions of #DoTheCurl on Twitter with a potential reach of 21MM

? 1,636,842 mentions of curling on Twitter with a potential reach of 18,409,400,711

? YouTube Cheetos brand interest saw a 47% lift

? 55,800 Facebook/Instagram clicks to full-length video

? The Cheetos brand saw a 7% increase in total trademark sales vs. a year ago during the program timeframe