Frito-Lay announces winner Doritos contest during Super Bowl, looking to rekindle youth interest in its brand

Introduced in 1966, Doritos, which according to Frito-Lay comes from the Spanish term for "little bits of gold,"rose to fame as comfort food mostly for male students and young professionals who craved the chip's intense flavor, spiciness and crunch while watching football games or pulling all-nighters.

Teens and young adults are Doritos' heaviest consumers, and their munching habits contribute to its more than $1.7 billion in annual sales in the U.S. Frito-Lay once relied heavily on celebrities like comedian Jay Leno and Ali Landry, a former Miss USA whose Super Bowl ads earned her the moniker "Doritos Girl,"to promote its chips. But about five years ago, consumers seemed to lose interest, and in 2005, U.S. unit sales for all Doritos products slipped 8.2%, according to market-research firm Information Resources Inc.

After these sales declines, Frito-Lay snack-food unit is trying to rekindle interest in its 42-year-old Doritos brand by turning over as much of its marketing as possible to the irreverent voices that attract consumers half as old as the brand. To do that, Frito-Lay in the past two years has carefully engineered an edgy marketing blitz designed to look as little engineered as possible.

PepsiCo is expecting a big pop when, at the end of the first quarter of the Super Bowl, the company will air -- at a cost of more than $5 million -- a 60-second music video featuring the winning artist or group chosen by consumers in an online vote. None of the three finalists' songs mentions Doritos, although the Doritos name and logo will be included in a text accompanying the video.