Engagement on steroids: Doritos grabbed me with their Quest

Browsing a blog today, I saw an ad for what I thought must be a new adventure game reality TV show: The Quest.

Turns out it is a very cool creation of the Doritos people. You simply have to start by looking at this engaging landing page, which has several interactive elements.

I've been addicted to Nacho Cheese Doritos for years, but I guess I've been too busy wolfing the stuff down to notice their cool new marketing. This thing really caught me in my Riven and Syberia soft spot, so I clicked around.

The Quest turns out to be a contest with puzzles, not unlike the PC games mentioned above. The contest builds to a finale with a $100,000 prize.

Fortunately, they gave me hints to help me with the first puzzle, because I only ever pick up the nacho cheese, and had no idea of the bizarre flavors now available.

Pretty cool stuff, this.

Good games of this type provide frequent reinforcement [not unlike gaming machines] to keep you wanting more. Talk about sticky applications -- if you want me this weekend, I'll probably still be working on the next puzzle.

My take

Makes me wonder, once again, why some sites have to be so dull and boring. Granted, this is a snack food. But I keep wondering what a creative bank could do with this kind of thing. Or any kind of online training.