Doritos is using its official Formula 1 partnership to unlock something rare for a snack marketer: worldwide reach that runs almost the entire year. The PepsiCo brand recently launched a new global campaign and ramped up experiential marketing, taking a deliberately fan-centric approach to a sport where the vast majority of enthusiasts watch races from home rather than trackside.
That home-viewer focus anchors “The Crunch Prix”, a campaign built by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, with visual effects from Untold Studios. Its 60-second hero film sends viewers hurtling down a race track on whatever they happen to be sitting on, from couches and recliners to gaming chairs and even a bathtub, all triggered by a single bite of a chip. Part of the wider “Taste the Thrill” platform, the work rolls out across social and out-of-home channels.
For Doritos and PepsiCo, an official F1 partner through 2030, the racing series delivers three strategic advantages, according to Kyle Gore, vice president of global marketing for Doritos: a worldwide footprint, an evolving fan base and events spread across roughly 10 months of the year. Gore said F1 has pushed the brand to bring more fun, excitement and fan access than the team initially expected.
The reach is significant. The partnership lets Doritos activate in more than 50 markets, while F1’s audience, reshaped by Netflix’s “Drive to Survive”, skews more female, younger and digitally native, all priority targets for the brand. Its 22 races double as an activation platform for dining innovations and experiential plays.
Doritos brought that to life with its Thrill Zone, debuted at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. The space featured immersive activities, a virtual racing game and live interviews with commentators and creators. The brand also ran two food trucks under its Doritos Loaded initiative, serving a recipe from newly signed partner Gordon Ramsay, with purchases entered into a prize draw. Gore likened race weekends to music festivals: multi-day events across large spaces where fans spend 12 or more hours and need places to gather.
The F1 push draws on lessons from PepsiCo’s other sports bets, including scaling its NFL partnership beyond the US and Lay’s World Cup activity across North America. But Gore said F1’s full-calendar footprint is unmatched, giving local markets a genuine sense of ownership that single-country events cannot.
The scale brings complexity. Doritos must orchestrate content that serves fans of the brand, the sport, Ramsay, partner team Mercedes-AMG Petronas and drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, while protecting each brand involved. Local teams are also learning to market around races staged far from home, since a Grand Prix in China or Australia matters just as much to fans in Brazil or the US.
Gore compared the effort to the Super Bowl “war room” he ran in the US a decade ago, now stretched onto a global, always-on stage. The challenge, he said, is orchestrating content across every market and quickly spotting and sharing what resonates.
