Doritos x F1: Race to Win

How PepsiCo UK used an on-pack Formula 1 promotion to drive repeat purchase, sustain consumer engagement over several months, and deliver a fully verified campaign across two markets.

The Brief

PepsiCo UK came to us wanting to activate Doritos’ Formula 1 partnership through an on-pack purchase-to-enter promotion. The objectives were clear: drive incremental product sales, encourage repeat participation over an extended period, and make the F1 partnership feel like a genuine part of the campaign experience — not just a logo on a pack.

The promotion needed to run across the UK and Republic of Ireland simultaneously, with a mechanic that would hold consumer interest from January through to early April. A single-entry draw was not going to do that.

PepsiCo also needed someone to manage everything behind the scenes — the legal framework, independent verification, winner communications and fulfilment oversight — so the internal team could stay focused on the brand and marketing work.

The Mechanic

The “Race to Win” promotion ran from 26 January to 5 April 2026, with a wrap-up draw period extending through to 28 June 2026. To enter, consumers bought a participating Doritos promotional pack, scanned the on-pack QR code or visited the campaign website, and submitted the unique code from their pack.

The mechanic was structured around two prize routes, which gave the campaign both immediate appeal and a longer-term reason to keep entering.

Race 1: Instant Win

Hourly winning moments ran throughout the promotional period between 8am and 8pm each day. Prizes included official F1 merchandise and Doritos x F1 co-branded items. The hourly cadence gave consumers a clear, repeatable reason to come back — entry was capped at one per person per day, which kept the mechanic fair and the engagement consistent rather than front-loaded.

Race 2: Grand Prize Draw

All entrants also went into a grand prize draw for a small number of Formula 1 experiences. Prizes included pairs of grandstand tickets to the Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2026, with the top prize including a cash supplement alongside the tickets. These were the kind of prizes that gave the partnership real weight — experiences that most consumers would not get access to any other way.

Wrap-Up Draw

A final wrap-up draw ran after the main promotion closed to distribute any remaining unawarded prizes, with a cash prize available in this period. It also gave PepsiCo a clean close to the campaign with no loose ends on prize fulfilment.

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What We Delivered

We supported PepsiCo across the full campaign, from the initial compliance review through to final prize fulfilment:

• Compliance advisory — we reviewed the campaign structure, mechanic and eligibility criteria against UK and ROI promotional regulations, including the specific requirements that apply to purchase-required mechanics and campaigns involving licensed brand partnerships.
• Terms & Conditions — we drafted and finalised the complete T&C suite, covering summary terms, POS wording and the full promotional T&Cs. Everything from entry limits and prize tiers to winner obligations and eligibility was defined clearly before launch.
• Independent instant win verification — we independently generated and verified the hourly winning moments before the promotion went live. This created an auditable record of random and fair prize allocation that PepsiCo could point to if needed.
• Prize draw administration — we ran both the main grand prize draw and the wrap-up draw as an independent verification service, within the required timeframes.
• Winner validation and communications — we handled provisional winner selection, eligibility checks and all winner-facing correspondence through a dedicated campaign contact channel.
• Prize fulfilment oversight — we oversaw the delivery of merchandise, ticket prizes and cash payments in line with the approved T&Cs.
• Audit and governance documentation — we maintained full independent verification records throughout, so the campaign was audit-ready from start to finish.

A note on data handling: All personal data collected through the promotional platform was processed in line with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Winner data was used solely for eligibility verification and prize fulfilment. We operated as a data processor within the framework set by PepsiCo as the promoter.

How It Performed

The dual-race mechanic held up across the full promotional period. Consumers had a clear reason to engage daily through the instant win route, and the grand prize draw gave the campaign a sustained pull that a single-entry format would not have achieved. The daily entry cap worked as intended — it kept participation consistent rather than concentrated at launch and then forgotten.

The Formula 1 prize experiences carried genuine weight. Grandstand tickets to the British Grand Prix are not available through standard promotional channels, and that scarcity made the draw feel worth entering throughout the campaign, not just in the first week.

On the operational side, the campaign ran without significant issues across both markets. Winner verification was completed within the required timeframes, all prizes were fulfilled in line with the approved T&Cs, and PepsiCo had a single point of contact for compliance queries and winner management throughout. That reduced the internal coordination burden considerably and meant the brand team could stay focused on the campaign rather than the process behind it.

The full independent verification record was maintained from launch through to the wrap-up draw close — audit-ready and available if the licensor or regulators had required it.

Key Takeaways

A strong partnership still needs a strong mechanic

The Formula 1 name added appeal, but it did not create engagement on its own. The Race to Win structure — with daily instant wins, a tiered prize pool and a headline draw — gave consumers an active reason to participate. Without that, the partnership would have been decorative rather than functional.

Repeat engagement needs to be built into the structure

If your goal is sustained participation over weeks or months, the mechanic has to support that from the outset. Entry limits, prize timing and reward frequency all shape whether people come back or treat the campaign as a one-off. That is worth thinking through before the T&Cs are drafted, not after.

The stakes go up when licensed IP is involved

When a campaign includes licensed brand rights, premium prizes and purchase-required entry across multiple markets, the margin for error narrows. Independent verification, properly drafted terms and thorough winner documentation are not just good practice — they are what protects the client, the partner and the promotion itself if anything is questioned later.

If any of this sounds like the brief you are working on, it is worth a conversation.

Email us:

info@promoveritas.com

Call us:

+44 (0)203 325 6000

Write to us:

PromoVeritas Ltd, Monument House,
215 Marsh Road, London, HA5 5NE, UK