Have you seen the latest Cheetos campaign? This is the coolest thing I’ve seen from them in a while. Our favorite cat, Chester Cheetah is the leader of an underground following, Orange Underground. (Note, this is not the fluffy, bouncing Chester.) Oh, and watch the video more than once.

What make this campaign cool is the marketing tactics they use to draw attention to their underground following and thus drive traffic to their Web site, where you’ll find a whole nation of Orange Underground followers. Not only are these followers now part of an exclusive group, but they are inspired to a call of action and videotape their RAoCs. So not only do you now create an exclusive following, but now you have a group that interacts with each other to further promote a brand.

And while this did not get such stellar ratings and praise from Advertising Age, I think Cheetos hit the nail right on the head with the audience they are trying to reach. It’s great to see that this company is taking the time to really evaluate their audience and find out what appeals to them. So who cares if Mom doesn’t care for the ad, she’s not the target audience. This reminds me of “old school” Facebook, before all the advertising links and the university’s dean wanted to “Add you as a Friend.” Make things simple and mainstream and you will get many people who might like your product, but make things exclusive and edgy and you will draw a crowd that will be loyal ambassadors of your brand.

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