The story unfolds in a series of social moments, showing a spark of artistic inspiration from both creators’ points of view to increase reach. In a ‘caught on camera’ style video in the heart of London’s creative scene, Soho, a Cheetle-covered tee becomes a moment of inspiration for Navinder. The sight of Aly candidly wiping the iconic Cheetle dust on his t-shirt triggers the street artist to create a bespoke piece of wearable art directly onto Aly’s front. To his own followers, Aly shares the moment from his perspective, with the series culminating in Navinder’s ‘Pashion 4 Cheetoz’ tee drop.
The collaboration taps into Gen Z’s passion for relatability with a collection that blends humour, relevance, and creativity in all the right ways. It’s a bold move from the food and beverage powerhouse, and a credible way to weave ‘Cheetle dust’ into Gen Z culture, and elevate it to iconic status.
In a nod to Gen Z’s seamless blend of physical and digital living, the campaign harnesses the mundane to inspire online buzz across Instagram and TikTok and takes it into the real world.
Coming full circle, the campaign will wrap with Navinder announcing a limited drop of the Cheetos tees on Instagram. Tapping into the drop-style hype, T-shirts will be available via an exclusive pin drop corner shop location for one hour only.
Meanwhile 30+ fashion-forward Gen Z creators will amplify the brand and embrace Cheetos’ mark of mischief by posting corner shop fit checks; bringing together the bold voice of Cheetos with gritty, slice-of-life content and targeting a cult following from start to finish; and the energy will live on through lo-fi wrap films, TikTok-native behind the scenes, and raw, vlog-style content from creator attendees.
Rachael Smith, Cheetos Senior Marketing Lead, said: “Cheetos is part of US culture. We had to think differently to build our own Gen Z brand embedded in fashion and culture in the UK. A new mindset. A new marketing era for the brand. Partnering with Navinder & Aly has been an exciting collaboration as we take Cheetos beyond the shelf and into fashion culture.”
On the campaign, Bel Moretti, Creative Director at DEPT®, adds, “The opportunity to make a ‘thing’ over an ad with a brand like Cheetos doesn’t come around too often – so we knew we had to get it right. We leant into the sharpness and playfulness of our audience with an artist that truly understands the art in the irony, one that we knew would land the right balance of mainstream brand and niche audience references. And together we turned our dusty cheetle hand prints into a thing of wearable beauty.”
Credits:
PepsiCo:
Rachael Smith – Head of Marketing – Snacks, Walkers & Smiths
Phoebe Chapman – Senior Brand Manager – Walkers Snacks & Cheetos
DEPT®:
Phoebe Ord – Business Director
Phoebe Law – Lead Account Planner
Plamena Manolova – Group Account Head
Tiah Slattery – Head of Influencer
Nadia Harrison – Influencer Manager
Bel Moretti – Creative Director
Meg Day – Senior Lead Creative
Bradley Palmer – Lead Creative
Solomon Greaves – Creative
Dani Watt – Lead Producer
Production:
CO-DIRECTOR Megan Day
CO-DIRECTOR Bradley Palmer
CO-DIRECTOR Solomon Greaves
DOP Liam James
PRODUCER Viviana Cabral
PRODUCTION RUNNER Brogan Cowie-Ferron
LOCATION MANAGER Angus Watkins
2nd CAM OPERATOR Zachary Hyland
CAMERA TRAINEE / DIT Guy Nitzani