When Wednesday returned to the cultural spotlight ahead of its second season, many brands pursued the opportunity through familiar licensing playbooks. Cheetos took a different route. Instead of adapting its brand to fit the show’s world, the campaign reinterpreted a single character to reinforce an asset Cheetos had already spent years building.
By casting Thing as a “spokeshand,” the brand used the Netflix IP to amplify its long-running obsession with cheetle, the orange cheese dust that defines the product experience. From Times Square out-of-home stunts to social content designed to feel accidental and user-generated, every element served a brand joke that existed well before the collaboration.
We're going to break down how Cheetos structured the campaign, why the character choice mattered, and what the activation reveals about turning licensed IP into brand-owned cultural moments rather than temporary partnerships.
- One Character, One Brand Asset, One Cultural Moment
- Staying Loud Without Letting IP Take Over
- Casting IP to Serve the Brand, Not the Other Way Around
- Making “Cheetle” the Creative Glue
- Turning Out-of-Home Into a Content Engine
- When Ads Are Designed to Feel Like Accidents
- Product as Proof of the Collab
- Why This Campaign Worked
- Key Takeaways for Marketers
One Character, One Brand Asset, One Cultural Moment
The Cheetos x Wednesday collaboration was built around a deliberately narrow creative focus. Rather than spreading attention across multiple characters or storylines, Cheetos centered the entire activation on Thing, positioning the character as a “spokeshand” rather than a traditional brand ambassador.
The campaign rolled out in the weeks leading up to the show’s second season, combining out-of-home spectacle, social-first video, and a limited-edition product drop. Netflix served as the entertainment partner, but the creative direction remained firmly grounded in Cheetos’ own brand language.
The central objective was not awareness of the show, but amplification of cheetle, the cheese dust that has long been a defining part of the brand’s identity.
Every execution point reinforced that singular idea. Thing’s role was to track, touch, and spread cheetle across environments, from billboards to sidewalks to packaging. By reducing the campaign to one character and one brand asset, Cheetos created a cohesive narrative that could scale across channels without losing clarity or tone.
Staying Loud Without Letting IP Take Over
One of the primary risks in entertainment partnerships is brand dilution. High-profile IP can easily overpower a campaign, leaving audiences remembering the show but not the advertiser.
For Cheetos, the challenge was to harness the cultural energy of Wednesday without surrendering creative control or flattening its own irreverent identity.
The solution was to avoid relying on plot references, catchphrases, or star power. Instead of borrowing from Wednesday’s storyline, the campaign focused on behavior and tone.
Thing did not act as a character from the show so much as a chaotic extension of the brand itself. The humor was awkward, disruptive, and intentionally messy, mirroring how Cheetos has historically shown up in culture.
By treating the IP as a casting decision rather than a creative framework, the brand maintained authorship. Audiences were invited into a joke that felt familiar to Cheetos fans, even if they were only casually aware of the show. That balance allowed the collaboration to feel culturally relevant without becoming dependent on the Netflix property for meaning.
Casting IP to Serve the Brand, Not the Other Way Around
The strategic insight behind the campaign was rooted in fit, not fandom. Rather than asking how Wednesday could elevate Cheetos, the brand asked a more disciplined question: which element of the show could naturally amplify something Cheetos already owned?
Thing was the answer because it mapped cleanly onto an existing brand obsession. For years, Cheetos has leaned into fingers, messiness, and the unavoidable presence of cheetle. A disembodied hand that crawls, touches, and leaves traces behind was not a creative stretch. It was a shortcut.
That decision reframed the partnership. Instead of building new meaning around the IP, the campaign used the character as a delivery mechanism for a familiar brand joke. Thing did not introduce audiences to Cheetos. It reinforced what they already knew, just through a culturally relevant lens.
This is what made the collaboration feel owned rather than rented. The Netflix property added attention and context, but the creative logic remained brand-first, ensuring the activation strengthened long-term brand equity instead of existing as a one-off moment tied to a release calendar.
Making “Cheetle” the Creative Glue
Rather than inventing a new campaign idea for the collaboration, Cheetos treated cheetle as the connective tissue across every execution. The orange residue was not just a visual cue or a punchline. It was the narrative engine that tied the character, the stunts, and the product together.
Thing’s behavior across the campaign was deliberately simple. Wherever the hand appeared, cheetle followed. Fingerprints showed up on billboards, sidewalks, taxis, and packaging, turning a familiar brand trait into a physical trail audiences could recognize instantly. That consistency allowed the campaign to move fluidly between formats without needing explanation or copy-heavy storytelling.
By grounding the activation in a long-standing brand asset, Cheetos avoided the common pitfall of IP-driven campaigns that feel fragmented across channels. Whether audiences encountered the campaign through out-of-home, social video, or retail shelves, the same idea carried through.
Cheetle made the collaboration legible at a glance and ensured that, regardless of context, the takeaway remained unmistakably Cheetos.
Turning Out-of-Home Into a Content Engine
The most visible moment of the campaign came from out-of-home, but its real function was digital acceleration. In Times Square, Thing appeared to break free from a massive LED billboard, leaving trails of cheetle across nearby ads, surfaces, and landmarks. On paper, it looked like a classic stunt. In practice, it was engineered to be discovered, filmed, and redistributed.
By “defacing” billboards from other brands and extending the cheetle trail into taxis, sidewalks, and street-level objects, Cheetos created an experience that felt unscripted and slightly disruptive. Passersby were not presented with a clear call to action. Instead, they were given a mystery that invited documentation and sharing.
This approach reframed out-of-home as the starting point rather than the destination. The physical spectacle existed to seed social feeds, reaction videos, and speculative posts, especially during peak tourist season when visibility and user-generated content capture were highest.
@thebingbuzz #Cheetos_Partner Thing from Wednesday escaped the billboards and left a trail of chaos (and Cheetos Flamin' Hot Fiery Skulls) all over NYC. Catch Wednesday Season 2 on Netflix August 6th 🔥 @Chester Cheetah
The result was an activation that felt larger online than it ever could in person, proving that OOH can still be effective when designed with social behavior in mind.
When Ads Are Designed to Feel Like Accidents
Beyond the Times Square stunt, the campaign leaned heavily into social content that intentionally blurred the line between advertising and found footage. Short-form videos showed everyday people following cheetle clues around apartments or city streets, only to be startled when Thing suddenly appeared.
In unboxing videos, creators casually pointed out that Thing “obviously has Cheeto fingers,” treating the connection as self-evident rather than sponsored. Others staged discovery moments where cheetle fingerprints appeared on mirrors, makeup brushes, podcast notes, and studio desks, followed by mock frustration at the mess left behind.
@lindanguyenlee #Cheetos_Partner @Chester Cheetah x @Wednesday Netflix took over Times Square and will be taking over your screens on August 6th on @Netflix. Thing has stolen my Cheetos® Flamin’ Hot® Fiery Skulls and it won’t get away with it! #cheetos #wednesday
These videos worked because they followed a consistent narrative logic. Cheetle functioned as proof that Thing had been there, turning brand residue into a storytelling device. Viewers were not told what happened. They pieced it together visually.
Retail discovery reinforced the effect. Creators finding Fiery Skulls at their homes or following cheetle trails to their workdesks mirrored the Times Square stunt in miniature. The experience felt distributed, as if Thing was moving through real environments rather than contained within a single activation.
@jiggysawgirl #cheetos_partner Being the official Thingertips of Cheetos has gone to Thing's head! He wants to make sure everyone knows that Wednesday season 2 is out now only on Netflix. #Cheetos #Wednesday
♬ Wednesday Main Titles (Single from Wednesday Original Series Soundtrack) - Danny Elfman
Crucially, the product rarely led the story. It appeared at the end as an apology, a clue, or a reward. That sequencing preserved the illusion of spontaneity and kept the content from collapsing into overt promotion.
Product as Proof of the Collab
The limited-edition Flamin’ Hot Fiery Skulls played a supporting role, but an important one. Rather than leading the campaign, the product acted as a physical confirmation that the collaboration was real and intentional.
Skull-shaped puffs and Wednesday-inspired packaging extended the campaign’s visual language onto the shelf without requiring consumers to understand the full narrative to participate.
@morganchompz #Ad Get ready to watch Wednesday on Netflix with the new Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Fiery Skulls co-created by Thing! Grab them in an online exclusive bundle on the TikTok Shop now! @Chester Cheetah #cheetos
For Cheetos, the product did not introduce a new flavor direction so much as reinterpret an existing favorite through a cultural lens. That restraint mattered. By avoiding overengineering the SKU, the brand kept the focus on tone and collectibility, allowing the packaging and shape to do the storytelling work.
In this context, the product functioned less like a sales hook and more like a souvenir. It gave fans something tangible to associate with the moment, reinforcing brand recall after the stunts and social content had faded, while still fitting naturally within Cheetos’ broader portfolio.
Why This Campaign Worked
The campaign succeeded because it was built around alignment rather than novelty. Thing was not chosen for popularity alone, but for how seamlessly the character mapped onto Cheetos’ existing brand assets and humor. That fit allowed the collaboration to feel intuitive instead of engineered.
Equally important was the brand’s willingness to let chaos lead. From out-of-home stunts to jump-scare social videos, the activation trusted tone over messaging. Cheetos did not explain the joke or guide the audience toward a takeaway. It created moments that felt strange enough to invite curiosity and sharing, especially among Gen Z audiences.
Finally, the campaign treated physical and digital channels as interdependent. Out-of-home seeded social discovery, social amplified cultural relevance, and the product reinforced the story at retail.
Each element had a distinct role, but all pointed back to a single, brand-owned idea, ensuring the collaboration strengthened long-term equity rather than existing as a temporary tie-in.
Key Takeaways for Marketers
This activation offers several transferable lessons for brands considering IP-driven collaborations.
- Cast characters based on brand fit, not fame: The strongest collaborations amplify existing brand assets instead of introducing unfamiliar ones.
- Use IP as a delivery mechanism, not the message: Let the brand joke or insight lead, with entertainment properties adding context rather than control.
- Design physical stunts for digital behavior: Out-of-home works best when engineered to be captured, shared, and reinterpreted online.
- Let tone do the heavy lifting: Humor, mischief, and self-awareness can earn attention without explicit calls to action.
- Treat limited-edition products as cultural artifacts: Packaging and form can reinforce a campaign narrative without overcomplicating the product itself.
