Source: PepsiCo

The launch is billed as Doritos’ biggest ever

Doritos is set for a showdown with Pringles with the launch of a quartet of ‘Stax’ snacks in recyclable canisters.

Billed as Doritos’ “biggest ever launch”, the brand has created four flavours – Ultimate Cheese, Sour Cream & Onion, Mexican Chilli Salsa and Flaming Chicken Wings – packed in recyclable and resealable 170g canisters.

The chips themselves have been given a new shape “optimised to fit their unique packaging”. However, they still “take design cues from the triangular snack”. 

The NPD marked “a landmark diversification for the Doritos brand”, said owner PepsiCo’s marketing director for sharing snacks Clafoutie Sintive, adding the brand hoped to broaden the appeal of canister snacks to younger shoppers. 

“We know that Doritos appeals to generation Z, a generation that notoriously looks for brands that challenge the status quo,” she said. “Consumers now expect brands to have high sustainability credentials and will often make buying choices based around them – a movement largely led by gen-Zs.”

The launch will be backed by a TV ad centred on ”the rise to stardom of a young musician rewarded for making a bold choice that changed his life forever”, as well as a “playful” out of home and digital push, and influencer partnerships. The brand said the push would reach over 50 million UK adults, including 15 million gen Z shoppers.

The snacks roll out this week (rsp: £2.50/170g). The Flaming Chicken Wings variant is exclusive to Tesco.

The news comes on the back of a solid year for Doritos in the supermarkets: the brand grew its value sales by 5.7% to £205m last year, with an £11m gain [Nielsen 52 w/e 31 December 2019].