Introduced in 2020, The Cheetle Detector signaled Cheetos’ comeback to the advertising realm at the Super Bowl, featuring MC Hammer’s iconic hit “Can’t Touch This.” The 30-second advertisement showcased Cheetos’ new Popcorn, portraying a man cleverly maneuvering through different situations with a reliable excuse, utilizing his hands coated in Cheetos dust. The app enabled users to scan their fingers for Cheetle, and a successful scan would unlock an extended video of the Super Bowl commercial featuring MC Hammer.

The initiative proved immensely successful, prompting a reimagining and a fresh collaboration among Cheetos, Adidas, and artist Bad Bunny to launch an exclusive fashion line. However, given the prevalent challenge of bots and resellers swiftly securing items online, Cheetos aimed to ensure the new collection reached its genuine fanbase. Accessing the exclusive line became as simple as displaying Cheetle-covered hands to any device camera, a task shopping bots couldn’t replicate. With an impressive 3.93 billion PR impressions, this innovation enabled thousands of true Cheetos fans to exclusively obtain pieces from their fashion collection.

At first glance, the concept may seem simple, but in reality, it’s more challenging than one might anticipate. Ultimately, our approach involved a blend of hand tracking, customized machine learning, and color grouping being handled client side. Despite facing numerous challenges and experimenting with various systems for detecting Cheetos dust, our skilled team successfully developed an application that garnered nominations or won prestigious industry awards.

Awards & Recognitions:
One Show: 2-Silver, 1-Bronze, 2-Merit
Webby Awards: Winner
Andy Awards: Gold
D&AD: 1-Wood Pencil, 1-Shortlist
Cannes Lions: 3-Shortlists
ADC Awards: 2 Bronze