In 2020, new regulations were put in place by the Mexican Government which meant we had to evolve our brand and rethink our most recognizable brand asset. Chester. So, we thanked him for all the hard work and got to work ourselves redesigning the brand from the ground up.

Cheetos has a 40-year history in Mexico, and Chester has been our mascot for 30 of those years. He has been one of the most loved and well-known characters in all of Mexican culture. Mischievous. Fun. Undoubtedly, Chester was the most iconic asset for the Cheetos brand. However, under these new regulations we were presented with an opportunity to evolve the brand and in turn share our learnings with other countries facing similar limitations.

By far our biggest challenge was finding a way to keep the voice of the brand alive without its iconic spokesperson. We faced some tough questions. Like, how do you distinguish each flavor’s personality nuance without an actual personality behind the brand? How do you maintain the mischievous and fun positioning of the brand without the mischievous and fun Chester? Chester is baked into the DNA of the brand.

From a marketing perspective, our brief was to revolutionize Cheetos packaging while maintaining brand essence, without using Chester. Basically, we had to replace something everyone has known and loved for the last 30 years with something new that they’ll love just as much.

We got to work on The Big Letter C. A new graphic asset, The Big Letter C, is an uplifting symbol that represents the essence of the brand. This C is a typographic element that’s designed to be authentic and unique. It’s mischievous. It’s fun. It works across the flavor portfolio. And it can be localized. Additionally, for consumers, this design had outstanding results. Folks really feel that this new design reflects the brand positioning. This local design has been so well received that it’s being implemented in other local markets. We developed a design framework that other markets can use if they’re facing similar restrictions.