February 23 , 2010

Measure your digital footprint with Doritos
First-of-its-kind viral contest launched

The online space is dynamic, fast-paced and viral. Canadians are finally being given the opportunity to have their digital footprint measured and their social status quantified, with the help of a first-of-its-kind Doritos challenge – Doritos Viralocity .

Launched on February 14, the Doritos Viralocity Contest is a nation-wide initiative that asks Canadians to name the newest Doritos unidentified flavour, create a 60 second online video about what that flavour inspires in them and make it go viral. The person with the highest Doritos Viralocity score is eligible to win $100,000 cash and an additional $150,000 should they achieve Maximum Doritos Viralocity. Online stardom is the name of this game.

The winning entry will be determined by the final Doritos Viralocity score as based on the entrant's ability and effort to make their entry go as viral as possible. A custom-designed algorithm, as verified by 10 th Power Technologies Corp., will calculate each entry's Doritos Viralocity score as of 11:59:59pm ET each night during the contest. The measurement algorithm is a way of calculating how viral a video has become by pulling and compiling data from internal and external sources like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and AddThis.

Another unique twist about this year's Doritos program is the prizing structure. Instead of just one winner, the top 344 entries (as measured by their Doritos Viralocity score) will be eligible to win prizes of varying amounts of cash that correspond to their ranking.

“At Doritos, we're constantly looking for bigger and better, a new and exciting way to break ground, that puts the consumer in control,” says Tony Matta, Vice President of Marketing at Frito Lay Canada. “This contest is an opportunity for Canadians to tap into the viral nature of videos, use their creativity and create a digital footprint that will give them the chance to walk away with some serious cash. The Doritos brand was built by the consumer, so we've decided to hand over our brand yet again and let the consumer keep calling the shots with the Doritos Viralocity Contest.”

Ryan Coopersmith was last year's winner of the 2009 phenomenon, Become the Doritos Guru Contest, and is living proof that Doritos changed his life and encouraged his filmmaking dreams, while also bringing them to life.

“Doritos gave me a once-in-a-lifetime privilege and I'm so happy to see that they're doing it again, but with an edgy new twist,” says Coopersmith. “The online world is so powerful today and it's important to be different, stand out and create something catchy that is memorable to all Canadians.”

The key to the Doritos Viralocity contest is to be savvy about navigating through the online space. There are two simple ways to achieve Doritos Viralocity success:

•  Be Creative : do your research, watch and learn from other videos that have gone viral and create your own that's engaging, entertaining, quirky, humourous and one-of-a-kind

•  Spread the Word : take advantage of and use all of the social channels that exist to you, to get people watching and talking about your video

The new, Doritos Unidentified II flavour is available in distinctive gold bags at retailers across Canada , and contest submissions are being accepted at www.doritosviralocity.ca and www.doritos.ca from now until March 21, 2010 . While each submission must be in video format, a maximum of 60 seconds in length and include the proposed new flavour name, the way that entrants showcase their inspiration is open – dance, comedy, digital, painting – almost anything goes as long as it's engaging, entertaining and unique.

The Doritos® Viralocity Contest is supported with a custom website, Facebook fan page, Twitter account, YouTube channel, an extensive advertising campaign on national television and online, and media partnerships with MuchMusic and Astral Media.