As we have touched on before, every now and then brands decide to get married. The fairy tale, of course, is that two brands love each other very much and choose to ride off into the sunset together. The reality is something much more akin to what we learned way back in Econ 001 – that marriage tends to lead to economic benefits all around.
On June 27th Burger King released a video of Chester Cheetah, from Cheetos, “unboxing” the company’s anticipated limited-time snack collaboration – Mac n’ Cheetos. Call it a wedding announcement, of sorts.
Brand collaboration relies on more than just innovative minds mashing up ideas in a backroom somewhere. It’s important that the two brands have identities that complement one another, that they would, as Dan Beem president of Cold Stone Creamery said, “be friends in real life.” It’s a relationship that requires a shared sense of priorities and a quality product, but the result of which can prove to be valuable for the critical fast food practice of growing menus and generating social media buzz.
Taco Bell
So how will this latest collaboration fare? To get an idea of the possibilities, take a look at the case of Taco Bell’s collaboration with Doritos, which resulted in the popular launch of Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos.
The anatomy of the Doritos Locos Taco is fairly simple. It’s a Taco Bell taco wrapped in a shell made from modified Doritos chips of different varieties, from cool ranch to nacho cheese.
The new menu item was introduced in 2012 and within a year had sold more than a billion units, not only that, but Taco Bell had to hire an estimated 15,000 additional employees to keep up with demand. It was the most successful launch in the company’s then 50-year history. The first 10 weeks saw 100 million unit sales and the same quarter the Doritos Tacos were released witnessed a 6% lift in overall sales for the chain.
Burger King
Burger King’s Mac n’ Cheetos are about as technically complicated as the Doritos Locos Tacos. They’re oversized Cheetos stuffed with gooey mac n’ cheese and served warm in a five-piece box for the price of about $2.50.
Results So Far:
With its release just a few days old, the online response to Mac n’ Cheetos has already been staggering. Photos and videos of people eating and reviewing Mac n’ Cheetos are popping up on YouTube and Twitter and the Burger King Snapchat filter, “Cheese the Day,” is being widely shared in celebration of the release. To get a sense of the sheer volume of online reactions, search Twitter for the hashtag #MacnCheetos. Early reviews have been mixed, but are largely positive – which would seem to indicate that, in general, people don’t think the concoction is half bad.
Predictions:
It would be premature to say that Mac n’ Cheetos will do for Burger King what Doritos Locos Tacos did for Taco Bell. It does, however, look promising. The two brands complement each other – both targeting a snack-centric consumer with a desire to indulge, and to indulge 100% when they do, for many consumers the product delivers on quality and the King and Chester Cheetah are even taking Dan Beem’s advice and acting like friends on social media:
It’s also good to remember that Burger King has had success with brand collaborations before. Their A1 Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger, which featured Kraft’s trademarked A1 sauce, is just one incarnation of A1-related menu items that Burger King continues to churn out. Their collaboration with Cinnabon led to Minibons, which helped to boost sales and achieved the national rollout that Mac n’ Cheetos is still hoping to receive.
True, these two successes are less…adventurous than Mac n’ Cheetos, but they do prove that Burger King considers taste when creating a new product, as opposed to just initial buzz. If there’s one thing that seems to determine the success of these brand mashups, taste is it.
When It Just Doesn’t Work Out:
Consider the failure of 7-Eleven’s Doritos collaboration, Doritos Loaded. The snacks are nacho cheese-filled, Dorito-shaped bites with a “crispy Doritos-flavored crust.” Doritos Loaded launched in 2014 and was largely panned by consumers and critics alike for tasting like cardboard or a “confused chicken nugget” and seems to stand as the ambassador for lazy brand marriages. While Doritos Loaded are still available, they didn’t deliver the quality necessary to call them a success or to generate positive, lasting impressions on consumers. In this case, all of the social media buzz surrounding their release actually ended up magnifying the overwhelming negative sentiment about the quality of the product itself.
If You Remember Nothing Else…
The keys to a successful brand marriage, or collaboration, are shared priorities, complementary brand messages, plenty of buzz-worthy social media potential and a quality product – which for food and beverages means a product that consumers will actually want to eat. Go figure. And the future of Mac n’ Cheetos? Based on all of the evidence so far it’s looking bright. So here’s to the happy couple.
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