Gen-Z Opps: Tostitos shifts marketing strategy to reach younger audiences

Sales Lead: To bolster brand awareness, Tostitos has started leaning more heavily on audio.

• Right now, audio makes up more than 30% of any given Tostitos campaign.
• Per marketing director Hana Golden, audio can build brand awareness and recall well.
• Tostitos recently rolled out sonic branding and a new sonic logo via its cross-channel media campaigns.
  • The rebrand has reportedly led to a 38% brand recall increase and a 13% higher brand favorability score.
  • The new logo has proven especially popular among Gen-Z and millennials, specifically those from 18-34 years old, who said it better embodies Tostitos's brand.
• The brand has been spending more on streaming audio channels such as Spotify and Pandora and has started investing in sponsorship agreements with various podcasts.
  • Tostitos also works with influencer and celebrity partners on various playlists on the aforementioned audio channels and on TikTok.
  • For example, its 2022 Cinco de Mayo campaign starred Latin American icons, actor Danny Trejo and Musician Sofia Reyes.
• The brand will likely:
  • Return to heavier ad spend, particularly via digital channels
  • Seek additional influencer partners
  • Seek new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • Primarily: Gen-Z
  • Secondarily: Millennials

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Since the beginning of 2022, Tostitos has allocated roughly $23.3m toward national TV commercials.
  • Last year: The brand allocated around $32.4m toward this channel last year after having spend 27% less, around $23.6m, in 2020.
  • 2022 ad programming: Tostitos's 2022 commercials have targeted the male audiences of shows such as NFL Footall, Friends, NBA Basketball, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and The Big Bang Theory.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The brand has spent approximately $10.3m on digital ads YTD.
  • YTD data: So far this year, Tostitos has earned ~1.2b digital impressions via Facebook (42%), Instagram (40%), desktop video/YouTube (16%), and Twitter (2%) ads.
  • Last year: The brand's estimated full-year 2021 spend reached $17.4m, almost triple that of $6.4m in 2020.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The brand utilizes local broadcast.
  • It additionally invests in sports sponsorships with teams such as the New York Giants, the New York Jets, and the Dallas Cowboys.
  • It holds planning conversations in Q2 and buying conversations in Q1.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Parent company Frito-Lay is currently vulnerable to review due to an ongoing US CMO search, so it may need a brand-specific PR agency partner for the Tostitos brand. It doesn't currently seem to have one.
• Current agency roster:
  • The Marketing Arm: Digital agency partner
  • Goodby, Silverstein & Partners: Creative agency partner
  • OMD: Media agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Kantar.