Dive Brief:
- Cheetos is raising money for charity with the introduction of a limited-edition holiday cookbook featuring recipes inspired by the PepsiCo's Frito-Lay snack brand. Consumers can score a copy of "Bon-Appe-Cheetos: A Holiday Cookbook by Chester & Friends" by visiting a microsite and donating at least $35 to nonprofit World Central Kitchen, per an announcement shared with Marketing Dive.
- The cookbook features 22 recipes that use Cheetos as an ingredient. Celebrity chefs Anne Burrell, Richard Blais, Ronnie Woo and Casey Webb created the holiday recipes. Cheetos fans also can try to win a copy of the cookbook by following the @Cheetos account on Instagram and using the #BonAppeCheetos and #Entry hashtags in a post showing meal and snack ideas that include Cheetos.
- Cheetos fans who are unable to claim a copy of the holiday cookbook can still find a few recipes from the MoreSmilesWithEveryBite.com website that PepsiCo set up for family-friendly recipes featuring Frito-Lay snacks and Quaker Oats products as ingredients, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Frito-Lay's campaign for its Cheetos cookbook is designed to inspire people who have spent more time making home-cooked meals during the pandemic while raising money for charity. Almost two-thirds (63%) of U.S. consumers said they planned to use cooking at home to stay entertained during the winter wave of COVID-19, according to PepsiCo's internal research. The survey also found that 63% of people said they needed inspiration for recipes, while 71% in the next six months will use recipes that are easy to prepare or have shortcuts. With its cookbook, Cheetos can demonstrate how its brand provides a solution to homebound chefs, especially as the possibility of stricter lockdowns on businesses like restaurants looms.
Cheetos' cookbook offer and PepsiCo's MoreSmilesWithEveryBite.com website are a sign of how their marketing has changed during the pandemic. In past years, Cheetos had developed experiential campaigns such as a pop-up restaurant called the "The Spotted Cheetah" named after its Chester the Cheetah mascot. The restaurant's menu featured Cheetos-filled recipes created by Anne Burrell, such as Cheetos Crusted Fried Pickles and Cheetos Sweetos Apple Crepes. Cheetos built on that a year later with the opening of another pop-up restaurant called "The Flamin' Hot Spot" with chef Roy Choi, who developed recipes featuring the spicier version of the cheesy snack. The brand also published the recipes online for people who wanted to experiment with the dishes at home.
By running a contest on Instagram, Cheetos can engage younger consumers who are spending more time on social media to stay connected with others. The holiday campaign comes as snack foods have seen higher sales during the pandemic. For parent company PepsiCo, Frito-Lay has been a bright spot of revenue gains that outpaced the growth in its soft drinks business, whose sales have suffered as many bars, restaurants and hotels operate at limited capacity. Frito-Lay North America experienced 7% sales growth in Q3 from a year earlier, helping to lift total revenue by 5.3% to $18.1 billion for PepsiCo, per a quarterly report.