2023 Winner

PepsiCo’s Cheetos decided to turn the iconic orange dust people wash off their fingertips, called Cheetle, into a point of pride. With Citizen Relations, the company erected a 17-foot statue of a hand holding a Cheetos Puffs snack in the tiny hamlet of Cheadle, Alberta – “Cheetle in Cheadle” – then did nothing. While at first, a few passersby stumbled upon it, eventually thousands would travel across Canada for a selfie with the statue. Attention from global media outlets led to a 1,735% increase in Cheetle mentions, 2.2 billion impressions, 1,103 earned traditional hits, 777 earned social hits, a 47% increase in regional sales and a 23% increase in national sales. Actor Don Cheadle told TV host Jimmy Kimmel he’d even put it on his lawn.
And only $5,000 was spent on paid media.

Credits

CCO: Josh Budd
Art Director: Shirley Xu Wang
Copywriter: Marly Dichter
Production: Frankie
Executive Producer: Dave Lembke
Fabricator: F&D Scene Changes
VP: Alexandra Green
Director: Emily Walker
Account Managers: Niki Javdan
Senior Account Executives: Alexandrea Smith
Account Executives: Katie Haller
SVP, Strategy: Lindsay Page
Research Analyst: Shamshir Malik