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Doritos turns football myth into marketing moment

The Triangle Theory, Doritos, Brazil

Brazil – PepsiCo Brazil has launched The Triangle Theory, a Doritos campaign that reimagines footballer Ronaldo Nazário’s iconic 2002 half-moon haircut as a covert brand stunt, blending nostalgia, satire and investigative storytelling to spark cross-cultural conversation.

Rather than traditional media, the brand seeded ‘leaked’ archival footage on social platforms to fuel fan theories, before gaining traction through coverage from TNT Sports. At the centre is a 12-minute mockumentary combining thriller tropes with dry comedy, featuring interviews with Ronaldo, sports historians and stylists, deliberately blurring fact and fiction.

By leaning into cultural memory and Unhinged Humour, Doritos demonstrates how narrative-led campaigns can cut through saturated media environments filled with short-form content and ‘brain rot’.

The mockumentary campaign film is a light-hearted continuation of the Heritage Brand-umentaries trend we identified in 2025, which saw brands turn to cinematic documentaries and long-form storytelling to showcase their history, craftsmanship and cultural roots.

Strategic opportunity

Invest in long-form, narrative-led campaigns that build rich brand worlds over time, using storytelling, humour and cultural context to invite deeper audience engagement and drive lasting relevance

Why Heated Rivalry is releasing its soundtrack on vinyl and CD

Global – The viral music of Heated Rivalry – a television drama following rival ice hockey players navigating a secret romance – is releasing a physical soundtrack on vinyl and CD, alongside digital formats, via Milan Records.

The series premiered on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the US in November 2025, quickly gaining traction for its music and storyline. The album brings together 11 tracks – including by Feist, Wet Leg and Tatu – alongside an original score and a previously unreleased bonus track.

Designed as collectible artefacts, the Heated Rivalry records and CDs include fold-out posters, imagery and liner notes by creator Jacob Tierney. As streaming-first entertainment builds fandom, physical formats are re-emerging as tactile extensions of culture and identity. The Future Laboratory’s Parasocial Relationships in 2030 report explores the psychology behind merchandise as a key driver of fandom: it extends beyond music artists and provides a tool to deepen loyalty in a variety of categories.

Gen Z, in particular, are gravitating towards physical items as a form of screen-free detox, a trend identified in The Future Laboratory’s Future Forecast: Technology report in 2025.

Photograph by Sabrina Lantos, HBO Max, US

Strategic opportunity

Take a page out of the fandom playbook by translating digital-first cultural moments into physical artefacts – such as packaging, print and collectables – to appeal to tech-fatigued consumers and turn engagement into lasting brand attachment

Stat: How rising temperatures are rewriting the rules of movement

Abdullah AlOthman Desert X AlUla 2022. Photography by Lance Gerber, Saudi Arabia

Global – Rising temperatures could lead to 470,000 to 700,000 additional deaths worldwide each year by 2050, as extreme heat drives populations toward sedentary behaviour.

A study published in The Lancet Global Health drew on World Health Organization surveys and climate data spanning 156 countries over 22 years. Researchers found that for every additional month when the average temperature was above 28°C (82°F), physical inactivity rates rose by 1.4 percentage points globally. The people most at risk are those in Central America, the Caribbean, equatorial Southeast Asia and eastern sub-Saharan Africa.

Some forward-thinking governments are addressing the issue: for example, Singapore has introduced tools to help residents assess the health risks of outdoor activity in high heat, and Dubai plans to develop The Loop, a 93km (58 mile) climate-controlled elevated walkway and cycling track.

This signals urban spaces being designed to support health and longevity. As explored in The Future Laboratory’s Global Wellness Summit Debrief 2025, liveable cities include shaded streets, walkable neighbourhoods and climate-resilient infrastructure, with developers such as Aldar embedding wellness features into some of the world’s hottest cities.

Strategic opportunity

Brands operating in fitness, wearables and preventive health have an opening to develop climate-adaptive movement tools – think heat-indexed workout recommendations, safe-window alerts and indoor activity substitution features that activate when outdoor conditions exceed safe thresholds