Today when the biggest football game of the year is in full swing people will anxiously await to see which team wins and if the half-time performance will live up to its hype. However, seeing as you’re reading this blog you’re probably interested in seeing which commercials will be worth skipping the bathroom run. Considering the Super Bowl is the biggest stage for a brand to reach 
an audience, brands are dropping up to $6 million dollars for 30 to 60 seconds of your attention. That would include Chevrolet, PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Skechers, GoDaddy.com, and others. Instead of creating a Super Bowl commercial in house or through an agency, Doritos (owned by Frito-Lay) let consumers take a swing at it, all in hopes of winning a seriously grand prize.
As an official sponsor of the NFL, Doritos started the Crash the Super Bowl in 2007 which has quickly become an amateur director’s dream. In the contest directors create a Doritos commercial to compete against other submissions in hopes of receiving the most votes by consumers. Out of this year’s 6,100+ submissions, 5 madeit to round two where they received $25,000, a trip to Indianapolis to attend the game, and the chance to move to the final round. Out of the top 5 ads, only the top 2 rated ads will air during the Super Bowl and the directors will find out who made it with everyone else—during the game. Out of the two ads, to determine the grand prize winner, the ad that receives the #1 spot on USA Today’s Ad Meter (or the USA Today’s Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter) will win (Dr. Evil voice) $1 MILLION DOLLARS!!! (Clears throat) Not stopping there, the winner will also get to work creatively with The Emmy Award winning trio The Lonely Island. It’s quite possibly the best avenue for a director to showcase his work to an eager audience, display his capabilities to prospects, add a major name to his client list, and free himself from a freelancer’s rate. And if you think the ad will only air during the game think again—it’ll run for weeks following and be featured on news networks and magazines (i.e. Advertising Age). The director’s work and name will be everywhere and the publicity will be life changing at the least.
For an ad that doesn’t get the million dollars, there’s still a prize that I’m sure will suffice. The ad that ranks #2 and #3 on the USA TODAY Ad Meter or the USA TODAY Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter will receive $600,000 and $400,000 respectively. (Makes me wish I were a talented director.) But why use this meter and not say…YouTube? Simply because since starting in 1989, the USA Today meter is considered to be the most influential Super Bowl rating system in the ad industry. It “tracks the second-by-second responses of a panel of viewers to ads during the national broadcast of the Super Bowl and ranks them favorite to least favorite” (-Doritos press release). So it’s reliable, unbiased, and the decision maker for the contest.
The finalists and their ads that have placed them in the top 5 are:
• “Dog Park” by Tyler Dixon
• “Sling Baby” by Kevin T. Willson
• “Hot Wild Girls” by Brad Scott
• “Man’s Best Friend” by Jonathan Friedman
• “Bird of Prey” by Joby Harris (video below)
To find out who are the big two, you have to watch the game and then follow the USA Today meter to see who came out on top
“Bird of Prey” Doritos Crash the Super Bowl ad
For more information on the contest, check out its press release.
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Doritos contest images: Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl YouTube Channel
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