Cheetos and Amazon Ads develop a new kitchen appliance for snack-loving chefs to cheese-ify their recipes
23 November 2022
From cookies to salad to fried chicken and even sushi, culinary explorers are spicing up their dishes with a secret ingredient: Cheetos dust (technical term: Cheetle). Scattered over nachos, sprinkled atop a dip, or mixed into ramen – the cheesy snack makes for an exciting and unexpected addition to everyday fare. But for adventurous foodies and Cheetos fans alike, what would be the best kitchen appliance to perfectly handle this elevated ingredient? Cheetos, in collaboration with the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab, has developed the Cheetos Duster, a kitchen appliance available exclusively in the Amazon store that blends the snack into the right consistency for chefs to add to their plat du jour.
“After our successful collaboration on the Hands-Free House at South by Southwest, we knew Cheetos was interested in activating in bigger, more brand-building ways,” said Sarah Betts, Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab creative director, US Grocery. “So, to surprise and delight our customers with something buzzworthy and unexpected over the holidays, we looked at social trends around cooking with Cheetle. We found a natural opportunity for a product innovation that would make it easier for Cheetos fans to experiment with their favourite ingredient in the kitchen.”
To start dusting, customers can fill the glass jar with any of their favourite Cheetos snacks. From there, screw the jar onto the base, hold the Duster at an angle, and press the power button to start blending. Shake while blending for the dustiest results.
“Our Cheetos fans can never get enough Cheetle, so we’re fortunate to collaborate with Amazon Ads to create this innovative technology,” said Flavia Simoes, senior director of marketing at Cheetos. “Now we challenge our fans to see what new dishes our Duster inspires.”
Along with the Cheetos Duster, the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab has worked to develop an infomercial for Cheetos that shows the kitchen appliance in action. The campaign also includes a branded recipe hub where customers can get the ingredients they need in one place. These recipes include everything from Cheetos-dusted poutine, mozzarella sticks, hot dogs, gyros and latkes. Looking for something sweeter with a hint of cheese? There are also dessert recipes for churros, gingerbread cookies, birthday cupcakes and more.
Donuts
Hotdogs
Gyros
“With the help of our in-house team of designers, art directors, design technologists, writers, solutions managers, and producers, we worked with Cheetos to help them create the Cheetos Duster, which will be available for sale on the custom Cheetos Store just in time for the holidays,” Betts said. “We also brought a bit of nostalgia to the modern-mischievous age in the form of a 90-second infomercial filled with fun – and very fake – testimonial anecdotes on how the Duster has touched customers’ lives.”
To help build on the popularity of fans using Cheetos as an ingredient in recipes and to reach a younger adult Gen Z audience, Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab created this campaign to surprise and delight audiences.
The Cheetos Duster, which includes three bags of Cheetos, will be available on 21 November for $19.95, exclusively in the Amazon store while supplies last.