Sweet jumping Jesus! The Top 10 finalists for the 2011 Crash the Super Bowl contest were revealed a little after midnight last night and I absolutely could not believe the results when I saw them. I mean literally, I did NOT believe the results I was looking at. The reveal was scheduled to happen at exactly 12AM but when I checked the site at ten after, the finalists had yet to be posted. I checked again a few minutes later and the site was blank. So when the 10 finalists finally appeared I honestly thought that there had been some kind of glitch or something and several random videos were being used to fill some of the the finalist slots. I know it must sound like I’m joking but I’m not. The results of this contest are just simply that unbelievably disappointing.
I’ve been looking forward to the reveal of the CTSB finals videos for weeks, not because I thought I might win but because I love watching great video contest entries. And until now, the Crash the Super Bowl finalist videos tended to be some of the best, funniest, most cleaver, most memorable commercials of the year. (Just a few days ago I was at a New Year’s Party and I heard someone say “Keep your hands off my momma, keep your hands off my Doritos!”) But the 2011 batch of finalists are just so…so…lame. All of the finalist ads are ok, and a few are even pretty good but most of them range from annoying to mediocre. And one of them probably should have even been disqualified for violating the rules.
On Saturday I posted my predictions for the Top 5 Pepsi Max ads and it turns out I was way, way off. I got 1 out of 5 correct (Love Hurts.) One other ad, “Torpedo Cooler” made my Top 30 list. The other 3 finalists did make my unofficial “decent entries” list (I bookmarked every entry I saw that was at least ok) but I never, NEVER would have excepted to see some of these spots make the Top 5. There were just SO MANY BETTER ADS submitted I cannot comprehend what led Doritos and Pepsi to make some of these choices.
One of my other predictions did come true though and it came true in a BIG way. I predicted that this year, the CTSB judges would be looking for commercials that did not look as professional as past finalist videos. I predicted they’d be looking for stuff that seemed more home-made and was maybe even rough around the edges. And let me tell you, some of these finalist videos are pretty rough! I love that Fritolay is willing to give videos of low production quality a shot but I expected the ads to also be funny! If a video looks bad and sounds bad and isn’t funny or interesting, then it’s just a bad ad. I would much rather see 10 super slick but funny ads dominate the Top 10.
By now you’ve probably watched all Top finalist videos for yourself. But I’m going to give each spot a brief review. I’ll be scoring each ad on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being a total embarrassment and 10 being one of the best commercials of the year. Click the images to watch the ad on the CTSB site. Here are the Doritos ads first followed by the Pepsi Max ads:
ADAM EVE. VCN’s score: 5/10. This is one of the coolest commercials for apples I have ever seen. Too bad it’s supposed to be an ad for Doritos. It’s hard to tell since the chips don’t appear until the very end. The ad looks gorgeous and the girl is crazy hot but the pay off is a total groaner. After the chips are revealed I half expected to hear that ironic, anti-climactic trumpet sound. You know…waww waaaaaaw. Is this ad really special enough to air in front of 100 million people on Super Bowl sunday? Chances on the Ad Meter: LOW. Except for the pretty CG background and the “naked” girl, there is nothing going on here that would cause viewers to crank their dials to “like.” In fact, it might even offend some of the more religious members of the Ad Meter focus group.
BIRTHDAY WISH. VCN’s score: 6/10. Birthday Wish is one of the best of the Top 10 and it was directed by 2010 Crash the Super Bowl finalist Kevin Willson. Last year his ad “” played during the Super Bowl but didn’t crack the Top 10 on the ad meter. Though this spot is funny, I believe that it probably is in violation of the official rules of the contest and should have been disqualified. The rules state that all sound effects must be original. This ad is filled with sound effects and I swear I recognize several of them. The first time the kids all yell “yayyy!” sounds like a popular stock sound and I KNOW I have heard those robot noises before. I think they come from an old robot toy. So the sound guy may have recorded the sound from the toy but it’s still copyright infringement if he did. Jan 5 UPDATE: I’m lowering the score for this ad from 8/10 to 6/10. I was so distracted by the lack of quality in some of the other finalist videos that I let the slickness of this ad distract me from it’s content. Re-watching it I realize that the product it is meant to advertise, Doritos only get about 3 SECONDS of quality screen time. This contest isn’t a film festival. The selected ads still have to sell some chips. Chances on the ad meter: GOOD. The ad is funny and interesting all the way through though it lacks a big punchline. I can see this making the top 5 but not the top 3.
HOUSE SITTING. VCN’s score: 6/10. I can sum up my reaction to this spot in three letters W…T…F? The ad is well made and nicely paced but it just gives me the heebie jeebies. There’s just something creepy about a cremated old man coming back from the dead. And the circumstances of this spot are pretty weird. For one thing, why would a “grandson” have his grandfather’s ashes? Did none of grandpa’s children want them? And how many 25 year old’s have you ever met that keep someone’s ashes on their mantle? One last question, how will this ad make anyone want to buy or eat Doritos? Chances on the ad meter: MODERATE. This is not an ad that anyone is going to love but the “happy ending” would keep it from sinking too low in the rankings.
PUG ATTACK. VCN’s score: 4/10. I liked this ad a lot better the first time I saw it…when it was called Underdog. I means seriously Fritolay, you picked another finalist ad about a guy who tries to torture a cute dog by offering him Doritos? At least last year’s dog-centric finalist video was clever and wacky. This ad is just drawn out and predictable. And I think viewers are going to remember and realize this is probably a rip-off. (seriously, click that link to compare them) The people who made it had to have been trying to do their own version of that ad, probably because Underdog did so well on the ad meter last year. I mean the ad even ends with the dog eating from the bag on the ground just like in Underdog. Chances on the Ad Meter: LOW TO MODERATE. The dog is cute but the ad is soooo drawn out. Viewers will get bored before the punchline comes. I’d expect it to rank at about #17.
THE BEST PART. VCN’s score: 7/10. Do people watching the super bowl really want to see one man suck orange “cheese” off the fingers of another man? No…probably not. The lead actor’s performance is funny but the character is kind of a rip off of the characters that comedian Nick Swardson does. Jan 4th UPDATE: The phrase “Mmmm, Cheese!” has been stuck in my head since yesterday and I’ve actually chuckled to myself as I recalled the ad. That says A LOT about the effectiveness of this commercial. Chances on the ad meter: MODERATE. “Hey, is that Mclovin in that ad!? I think it is!!” That’s how a lot of people are going to react when they first see this commercial. No, that’s McLovin from SuperBad. But if viewers THINK that’s Mclovin they might actually score the ad higher just because they like seeing that guy. But the unappetizing finger and pants licking could turn off a number of ad meter viewers.
ELEVATOR GIRL. VCN’s Score: 2/10. This spot will probably forever have the distinction of being the worst Crash the Super Bowl finalist ever. It is so appallingly bad that you have to wonder if it was made by the son of some big shot at PepsiCo. The jokes and performances are as bland as the visuals. A plain white elevator? That’s supposed to catch viewer’s eyes during the Super Bowl? And the “punchline” is so lame and so poorly delivered that my immediate reaction was “is that it!?” This entry isn’t even good enough to play at 2am on Nick at Night let alone the Super Bowl. Chances on the Ad Meter: NONE. There is no way in the world the Pepsi judges could think this spot would ever make the Top 3 on the ad meter. This pick is so suspiciously bad that I can’t help but wonder if they are trying to tank this contest on purpose.
FIRST DATE. VCN’s Score: 5/10. Personally, I like this one but I don’t think it’s right for such a high profile contest. I remember thinking this ad was cute and funny when I first saw it but is this really a Super Bowl commercial? If it plays during the big game are people going to want to watch it again later on youtube? Are they going to want to tweet the link or post it on their facebook pages? Would anyone even remember this ad by the end of the game? Chances on the Ad Meter. LOW. The low production values and lack of action will turn off most viewers right from the start. It does start to get funnier as it goes on but the whole ad is just too low-key to make an impression on focus group viewers.
LOVE HURTS. VCN’s Score: 9/10. This is the best finalist of the entire Top 10. It’s funny all the way through and it actually tells you why you should drink Pepsi Max; it tastes good but it also has zero calories. But the best thing about this ad is that it features a classic Crash the Super Bowl surprise at the end. Chances on the Ad Meter: HIGH. If any CTSB ad has a chance of making the Top 3 this year it’s this one….but I don’t think it will. Let’s be realistic here; the ad features an African American woman assaulting a pretty blond white girl. Some folks are going to be offended by that. Those people will be idiots but there are a lot of idiots in this country.
TORPEDO COOLER. VCN’s Score: 8/10. This is the best ad of the bunch after Love Hurts. It was directed by 2010 CTSB finalist Brendon Haywood. Brendon’s ad didn’t wind up airing during the Super Bowl. Since one team of finalists actually got two ads in the Top 6 last year, Brendon was the only guy in the contest who didn’t get to see one of his commercials air during the big game. I remember getting the feeling that the other finalists and the Fritlay folks felt really bad for the guy since he was the only “non-winner.” Like I said, this is a good ad and it made my Top 30 list. But could this choice be Fritolay’s way of giving a nice guy a second shot at the bigtime? Chances on the ad meter: MODERATE TO GOOD. This is a funny ad that looks great and has some cool effects in it. I can see this spot making the Top 10 on the ad meter.
ZERO CALORIES? PSSSHT! VCN’s Score: 4/10. Psssht indeed! What the F%*& is this video doing in the Top 10!? More than 1400 commercials were submitted to this contest. Is this really one of the best?? The only reason I can think of that this ad made it is because it features all women it was submitted by someone named BrandyGill74. In all the years the Crash the Super Bowl contest has been run there has never been one, single female finalist. Fritolay knew that was unacceptable and I think they decided there had to be a female director included in the top 10. And “BrandyGill74” sounds like the screen name of a 36 year old female director. Seriously, that’s the only explanation that makes any sense. This commercial is simply annoying as hell. The sound isn’t even any good. It’s not fit for TV. UPDATE: Turns out “Brandy Gill” is a guy.” I think his name really might have helped his chances though. Chances on the Ad Meter: NONE TO LOW. Who could like this? Seriously, who? Does Pepsi think it will appeal to women? Because I think most women will see this and just think that’s one group of weird white ladies.
Ok, now I know I’ve been pretty harsh on some of these ads but I want to stop and take a moment to offer my congratulations to all the finalists. No, seriously! I mean it. We have a rule here at Video Contest News; don’t hate the player, hate the game. You can’t blame anyone for winning a video contest fair and square. Judges sometimes make idiotic decisions but it’s not the filmmaker’s fault. Some of this year’s finalists got incredibly lucky and I’m sure they know it. So good for them for pulling off a win. I can’t say that I’m not jealous.
But I also can’t say that I’m not pissed. Something seriously wrong has happened here. Pepsi and Doritos snubbed hundreds of decent ads in favor of some incredibly lame videos. And this isn’t sore loser talk. I think the general public and marketing professionals are going to be stunned when they see the ads that Fritolay and their consultants at Goodby/Silverstein selected to represent their brands. Goodby/Silverstein is a very big and respected ad agency. How could they let their clients make such awful choices? If a spot like “Elevator Girl” winds up playing during the Super Bowl it will be a major embarrassment for everyone involved. Hell, it will be a major embarrassment for people who are not involved like YOU and ME! I think the most troubling thing about these results is that if companies think these 10 finalists are the “best” that we “little guys” can come up with, the video contest/user-generated ad phenomenon might be in serious trouble.
So, what do YOU think of the 2011 Crash the Superbowl finalists? Speak your mind in the comment section!
Posted in 
Tags: 
garyvader….great job on your spot. Thought it was funny and original. Acting was great too, your lead sold it! Excellent work!
To who ever cares to watch:
Here are our entries that we put together.
“Extra Point” (Yeah we know, paper football. But we wanted to give it a go anyways) /#/gallery?video=1405
“Breaking News” /#/gallery?video=947
“Horsin’ Around” /#/gallery?video=5544
Thanks
Thanks man. But after 2 years of not making it, I think I’m done. Last year I feel like the finalists were worthy so I had no problem not making it. Now I have no idea what they want, so the effort required probably won’t be there next time.
@Lou Rubidoux I HIGHLY doubt that’s Joe Herbert, In fact I’m a million percent positive that’s NOT him for anyone questioning my opinion I would personally email him don’t be surprised when he says it ain’t him.
The reason I say that why would he waste his time when he’s been shooting commercials, making board games, doing other things as well in the industry. Number 2 I’m positive that “he” wouldn’t b/c he’s putting down other contestants who obviously shouldn’t of won.
If you look at my previous post I mention “Joe” in quotations because I know it ain’t him.
But if would make sense for someone to POSE as him as it keeps traffic to this site, or someone is just having a field day posing as the guy who owned over Madison ave for 1 day!
Here’s his email for anyone who dares to insult my intelligence – –
tlupher3,
Thanks for mentioning THE AMAZING DORITOS MACHINE as one of your top 5 picks. My son and his friends did that one (he was lead actor as well) and they are in total shock at not having made the finals.
They also did MEET MAX.
Joe Herbert, I am a big fan of your work! You are an inspiration to many of these film makers. Keep doing what you do.
Ginny
garyvader,
My son and his production team feel the same way as you. Exact same way.
This was their first time entering, but they are confused. Beardy gave a great critique of their work, and they basically accepted that this is perhaps why they won’t make finals, however, after seeing the finalists, even his opinions of what they were looking for went out the window.
I think they should enter next year, but they don’t want to bother with this competition now. It’s a shame.
For who ever would like to watch and give thoughts:
These are our entries:
“Extra Point: (Yup we know, paper football. But we wanted to give it a go) /#/gallery?video=1405
“Breaking News” /#/gallery?video=947
“Horsin’ Around” /#/gallery?video=5544
Thanks for the opinions
DoritoFan–
I made every list last year as one of the top spots. Except the one that mattered. But I could live with that because great spots made it and you never know what they are looking for. There may be a better spot that makes it or not, but at least it is a good spot that makes it. They usually have a strategy for doing well in the ad meter. That makes sense.
This year I, just like your son got some nice words and made a few lists again only to be beaten by spots that will help Fritolay keep this contest going strong. that’s there strategy right now. It truly is. they get more bang for their buck out of having us create something and then share it with the world verus them placing high on the admeter. And if they do both, look out. That won’t happen this year. I had a strategy this year to enter the PepsiMax side because I felt that there would be way less entries and give me better odds. that, I was so right about. But they misrepresented the target and what we thought they wanted. The elevator spot will help them get 8000 entries next year. Anyone with a camera will see that and jump in. I pray that spot makes the cut, which it never will. But I would love to see them have to run it. Long-winded here but keep rocking. Tell your son he’s got skills and this contest is not a true indicator of his talent.
Wow. That’s a lot of comments.
First of, Joey, that is for sure Joe Herbert. I directed “Snack Attack Samurai”, a finalist last year, and “That’s Impossible” and “Science!” this year. I’ve met Joe personally, and the Joe Herbert on here is definitely him.
As far as the spots this year are concerned it’s a strange crop, that’s for sure. You’ve got some entries that are obviously really good and the rest are fairly questionable. As to the reasoning, who knows! I can tell you that Joe is right. The people at Doritos and Pepsi know what they’re doing and if they picked these, it was for a reason.
Maybe they want to end the contest. Maybe they want certain spots/people to win (isn’t one of the prizes a directing job with Doritos?). Maybe they caught flack for previous years entries being too “slick looking” – I know that was said a lot last year about certain spots. I think the person who said that they wanted to ensure entries next year was probably on to something. No one will enter if they think only spots that look great and have high production value will make it. At some point, they’ve got to have spots that don’t look good.
I’m also quite sure that Doritos picks spots for reasons that have nothing to do with the overall appeal of the video. Last year “House Rules” aired, despite not having enough votes to make the top 3. Why? Well, first and foremost it had about 3 seconds of gold with that kid, but that does not an ad meter beating ad make. The other reason is that, if you looked at the finalists, it was the only spot that didn’t have solely white talent. As I’ve stated before, Doritos is a diverse brand in a diverse country and they need to represent more than just white talent. I think that ad ran, in part, because of that and I think that was a reasonable decision – in fact, I applaud them for it. To their credit, and speaking volumes about how savvy they are there, that spot rated #1 on many post game polls. In fact, still, when I tell people I did a Doritos ad that year, they say… “oh, the one with the kid smacking the guy? I loved that one.”
Did it have a chance to beat the ad meter? Not really. But Doritos walked away with a 98% brand approval rating after that Super Bowl. I think they had other agendas and they worked quite well.
In the end it’s a contest though. People have to win, and thousands more have to lose. Even if you had a ton of confidence in your ad, there was a poor chance you’d make it. We beat out ads last year that I thought were better than ours, not many, but some. I asked about some of them and the explanation was always the same – “We know what we’re doing and we know what will work.” Notice they never said what their goals actually are, just that THEY know them.
My point is this: don’t worry about it. If you like your ad. Great. Slap in on that there real of yours. Winning isn’t necessarily always about being the “best” generally, it’s about meeting the exact need for whoever is judging.
Anyway. It’s a wild world and this contest chucked some of us on our ears this year. Joe. I think Tool Fight should have made it. Brendan. If we win them superbowl tickets by voting for you every day we are going to wreck it AGAIN this year! — oh, and Torpedo cooler is for sure playing.
Thanks for being a great blog host Beardy.
Hey Brendan I’m happy for you bro, you definitely deserve it. I will say I was disappointed last year when your spot didn’t air. It was one of two others that I felt were stiff competition. I’m glad to see you back in the saddle and them giving you the opportunity to hit’em again. Not only am I pulling for you because I know you as a great guy but I think your spot is solid (last year’s …solid too) but I think you’ve shown that “discouraged” is not in your vocab. and that’s a great thing! Doritos went another direction this year, don’t know what direction that is but it’s good to see familiar faces in the running.
My spots didn’t even make it to the website, encoding problems is what I was told. I have no complaints they treated me well, though I did come across several really good spots, including the Herberts’ work that I don’t understand how they didn’t make the cut. Joe’s mention of the Doritos family possibly trying to purposely not take the top spots definitely has merit. I don’t know why they would several solids in their hat and end up with what they have. Perhaps it’s advertisement politics, which is not my field so I just leave alone. I definitely see the Herberts’ reasoning though and understand their points. You guys are a great team of fellow film makers and I was honored to have met you guys. You gave me some pointers along the way as well and I thank you both.
To those great spots that didn’t make it …don’t be discourage, use it as fuel. I’ve gotten a fair amount of work from the buzz generated from my House Rules spot and I too came back with a purpose. If you guys (Joe,Dave, Brendan) get a chance check them out on youtube, type my full name. I’d love to hear your feedback. Hey Brendan, great job man!
Zombies this year, maybe dogs next year! At least we were the best of the zombie entrances!
/#/gallery?video=3038
wow,
you can have academy award winning actor ernist borgnine in your ad, and still not crack the top 10!! wtf
i like the eve spot. but thats about it.
A friend who was involved in this year’s contest, recently asked me to take a look and give him my “professional” opinion, perhaps since his entry wasn’t chosen.
Having done that (and in the process finding this website) I’ve decided to also present my 2 cents worth here.
I basically have a fresh set of eyes – not having been involved at all in the contest (and just this week viewing last year’s winners along with this year’s entries) and by the way I am a successful director in L.A. so hopefully I have some understanding of what “quality” is (although just about every “Hollywood Director” is conceited enough to feel that his opinion is the gold standard in a world of bronze) so perhaps my opinions are just rusted iron.
Last year had some very good commercials with high production values, quality writing and with messages/ punchlines that I believe hit the mark with Doritos target audience. The winners were all great and I especially liked “House Rules”.
Regarding the 2011 Finalists, Beardy has provided a quality unbiased evaluation of the Top 10 and his comments are very accurate.
Adam Eve looks amazing – the girl is great, the apple wonderfully delicious, high production values, but the guy at the end and the punchline are a bit flat, however, I could see this making it onto the Super Bowl.
Birthday Wish is very good, however, the final tag begs to have Doritos in it somehow. Perhaps simply placing the Mommy closeup after the Logo break and having both Mommy and son with Doritos falling out of their mouths agasp at his pole spinning.
I also like House Sitting, but not necessarily to sell Doritos if that makes sense.
Pug Attack, as has been mentioned is similar to a prior entry, but aside from that, I don’t really like the dog running towards a glass windowed door – are we to believe he’s trying to get the dog to go Splat on the door.
Elevator girl is horrendous. A finalist? “I like to buy in bulk” is bad as (4) rolls do not bulk make. “What’s that smell” is terrible. I like the hook “What are you trying to say” but the set up for it is weak and please someone get me a more photogenic elevator.
First Date has some nice juxtaposition of thoughts, but I don’t think “I want to sleep with her” is family friendly Super Bowl dialogue.
Love Hurts is done well to a point, however, the final scene could have been directed better. For example, have some sweat on the girl and don’t have her do an “over the top” blatant waving her hand “Hi” – an exhausted, sweaty demure smile would have sufficed and been more realistic I believe.
Torpedo Cooler is very good. I could nitpick – the two guys sitting beg to have a different background (other than the dark greenery) and I’d like to have visual confirmation of who is pushing the “button” (perhaps with a clothing cue or slightly pulled back shot), but overall it might have the best Super Bowl chance. Also great dialogue “Sweet Mother” – I’m serious – great G Rated words that convey the message – an intelligent writing choice – which leads to my next appraisal.
Zero Calories PSSSHT! I don’t mind this spot as much as others do, however there’s one major flaw, the “Bullsh..” at the end. Just replace this 1/2 word and I would sleep easier putting in on during the Super Bowl. Think GEICO Drill Sargeant Therapist Commercial – “You Jackwagon” conveys the message without using bad words. Thank you “Sweet Mother”.
And one last comment on the “Doritos Machine” commercial that didn’t make the finals. I love the lighting, love the dialogue/voices, love the Pizza Box Plans, love the amazement in Sitting Guy’s eyes (although the timing could be a hair better), and love the Doritos Machine.
Unfortunately, the demise of this great commercial was the hook line “Disgusting”. I know it’s followed by “Let Us Make Them”, but it’s the “disgusting” that will sit with viewers.
I can feel the pain, such promise in the first 23 seconds. Seven BIG seconds to create a catchy POSITIVE hookline, I can already think of one awesome ending that would have gotten this on the Super Bowl and wouldn’t even require building the set again …
I wonder if you can change the ending and re-submit it next year?
Can someone please comment and critique my videos? This was my first year and I would greatly appreciate it! I would LOVE it if you critiqued my videos Beardy, even though you said you wouldn’t. Here they are…
/#/gallery/?video=5165
and…
/#/gallery/?video=6749
Thank you to anyone who comments!
Very good posts all around. Despite some disappointment and confusion on the new direction they seem to be taking, the over all feeling I get from most of this forum is admirable and respectful and positive but honest. I enjoy being around it.
Another little Ad Meter tidbit (I have TONS):
WHEN a spot airs matters greatly! Every year of this competition the order the spots have aired is the same order they finish on the ad meter. Had HOUSE RULES aired last year first in the UNDERDOG potions, or even SAMURAI or SMACK ATTACK, there is a chance they might have scored #2 also, or at the very least higher than they did score. No second half ad has ever won the ad meter. The high ones are usually in the first quarter or early second quarter.
Had our FREE DORITOS commercial not aired first and early in the game, it’s very possible it doesn’t take #1.
It takes A LOT more than position to score well, but position does play an important part in how you rank on the ad meter.
I created a website for my team and I’m happy to share it:
http://www.herbertbrothers.com/doritos/ad-meter.asp
I also know where and how the ad meter focus group is determined. I made details on average ages, incomes, race breakdowns, and more of the locations they pool these people from. I record local, regional, and national events that have a possible effect on the people in the ad meter focus group. I know the average number of cuts on top five or number 1 spots over the past decade… the average number of key funny moments and how far into the spots they each occur and so very much more.
I mentioned in an earlier post, and you can check it on my link above… that in the past decade only 1 commercial using a hot chick / sex appeal cracked the top 5 (it was #5) thus none cracked top 4.
Last year UNDERDOG ranked second on the ad meter. In my research for last years events and news that could play some influential part on the ad meter focus group, I discovered that half of the people selected were from SAN DIEGO. San Diego is continuously rated among the top (usually number 1) cities in America for Dog Lovers. There events and parks just for dogs. There even a dogs singles mixer where people bring “single” dogs to meet mates. Several dog magazines rate San Diego is the number 1 place to live for dog owners… and the list goes on. It probably wasn’t much, but I bet that fact helped a spot with a dog get a little extra boost in ad meter score. Maybe enough to go from #3 to #2 which for the finalist meant an extra $200k in winnings.
PUG ATTACK has an uphill battle because you can’t regurgitate the same ad this year and repeat it. The pool won’t be from San Diego this year.
Anyhow… just rambling on…. maybe someone will find this information interesting.
I think that their strategy was to sort of target the Beavis & Butthead types who tend to get on YouTube and make videos with titles like, “Dog Snores While Riding Skateboard” or “Guy Gets Kicked in Nuts” go viral nationawide. The “Elevator Girl” spot for Pepsi Max this year is a good example of something like this. It may not be just, but it does make some sense. If Doritos wants to make a quality spot with a lot of care and craft, they can just make it themselves exactly the way they want. Unfortunately, those viewers who appreciate quality will have to wait to watch all of other non-Doritos/Pepsi Max Super Bowl spots this year. This contest was a mess.
Oh and snickers has a very nice home field advantage on the ad meter… 50% of the people in the ad meter focus group is ALWAYS from McLean, Virginia. Why? Well, USA Today is headquartered there. There is another major corporation located in McLean. I’m sure you guessed by now it’s MARS (makers of snickers). 50% of the focus group is from the same home town, and it’s not like McLean is a huge town, so MARS represents a good portion of their economy etc. There’s also a good chance that several people in the focus group know someone who works for MARS.
Now, while this is a very nice advantage for Snickers, their spot last year earned it because it was simply outstanding and I think would have won regardless of their location, but in many instances that home field advantage so to speak would certainly give them a nice little boost.
Joe
Yo Joelle, what’s up dude??? Damn I can’t believe how chill you are about “encoding problems.” I would have flipped my shit. Thanks for your support, man! I appreciate it. We all had a good time last year didn’t we? As Ben said, whenever you tell someone about this contest, they always say “oh you made a commercial? Was it that one with the little kid?” So props on that. Your spot turned viral too, I can’t believe the hits on youtube. And say hi to your buddy, he was cool!
Is atariatari Ben or Cole? Come clean or we’ll just call you BOLE. Dude, I gotta say now that I’ve seen Joe and Dave H’s spots—all of them—I’m shocked none of them made it. They were great! That’s thing about this contest, and why I’m not taking my finalist stuff for granted, there is more than quality to consider. There is branding, inter-office politics, etc…just lots of stuff that is out of a filmmaker’s control. I mean Pepsi Co’s revenue is like 13 billion annually or something. Lots of factors! So, anyway, shoutout once more to all those who made great spots this year, powerbomb to Impossible to Kyle’s golf cart crash to the Herbies awesome ones.
bh
Joey,
I can confirm that “joe herbert” really is Joe Herbert. He e-mailed me from the address you listed after the finalists were announced. A lot of the Herbert Bros team read this website so if someone was pretending to be Joe they’d let me know. The Herberts are partly responsible for making the crash the super bowl contest the success that it is so I can definitely see why he’d still be emotionally invested in it.
Adfan,
I totally get that Doritos/pepsi might want to capture the “magic” that viral videos seem to have. They did succeed in selecting ads that have the same LOOK as youtube videos but they forgot that videos go viral because the content is interesting. If an ad like “Zero Calories, Psssh” or “Elevator girl” were as funny as “david after dentist” then I think viewers wouldn’t care about low production values.
Joe,
Thanks for posting that link! Very interesting stuff. Whatever the video was it’s been removed though.
I had linked all of the top five since 2002 on that site.. if you click on any of them on the right… yes one or two might have been removed from youtube and I need to find it again, but 95% of the links to all the spots top five over the past 8 years should work.
I also liked Who Needs One garyvader. Went the extra mile on production value for sure… nobody else had anything like it.
splazem:
/#/gallery/?video=5165
/#/gallery/?video=6749
Was this made the two young gentlemen acting in the commercial? I suspect it was, but my apologies if not.
If it WAS then I think it ranks very high among what people that are doing, and with no crews and equipment, etc. WORLDS BETTER than anything I produced (or attempted to produce) at that age when I was just getting out the camera and experimenting with friends.
Compared to the higher quality, more polished spots for the super bowl it would rank below those… The biggest piece of constructive criticism I have would be the sound, because hearing the wind and the loud air sound can hurt a production, and even more so when the level of it changes between each cut… though I suspect there was nothing you could do about that under your circumstances. What I recommend anyone who doesn’t have a great sound equipment is to come up with a concept that has little or even NO dialog, throw some background music on it, and you’ll have something with superior sound. =)
Joe
We hope to be seeing a lot of your awesome non-Finalist videos in our newest round of Online Video Contest’s 2nd Chance assignment! http://www.poptent.net/assignment/232
Brendan.
No need for Bole. AtariAtari is Ben. I’ve got a room sized Atari collection, hence the name.
Joelle. Wow that blows about the encoding.
We did a commercial which we were quite proud of called Custody Battle.Guess we’ll try it again next year.
Joe Herbert– I am a huge fan and your comments regarding my spot, “who needs one” have made my year. And we are only 6 days in. Thank you.
G
Dear Joe Herbert,
Thank you so much for criticizing our video. I am the same age as the two kids in the movie, but I was the “brains” behind the production. I shot my videos with a Flip HD 3rd generation and edited it with iMovie. There really wasn’t much I could do about the sound like you said, but maybe next year I will get better equipment. Your idea for the no dialogue video is a good one, I just didn’t have a good idea for it. I will definitely do that next year. Thank you for commenting on my videos. No one has done it so far, and this was my first year doing it so I desperately wanted feedback to improve. Thank you for the complement.
Splazem
P.S. If you really are Joe Herbert, this means the world to me. If not, well, it still means a lot that you commented.
HAHA It’s really me splazem… visit herbertbrothers.com and email me from the site if you feel like a more personal discussion on your spots and my suggestions for improving in the future, so that we don’t use this site to do it. Good luck to you.
I’m confused.
A lot of responses didn’t make it up. Am I being banned?
atariatari,
Not at all. I haven’t seen any other comments from you come through. I checked my wordpress spam filter and there were none there either. If you tried to leave some recently they seem to have gotten lost between you and me.
Beardy,
Since no one has commented in a while, can you take a look at my videos. You can find them above. It would mean a lot to me.
Splazem
Splazem,
I think Joe Herbert (and yes that really is him) pretty much said everything there is to say. If you’re the same age as the guys in the video your work shows a tremendous amount of promise. Most entries made by teenagers make no sense and just feature people acting goofy. But your scripts are actually structured like real commercial scripts.
But you’ve got a long way to go. If you’re interested in film-making now is the time to start learning how to learn the technical aspects of it. Take some classes and start saving your money so you can buy a real camera (an HD canon T2i is only $900 and looks 100 times better than a flip camera.) When you start winning contests let me know and I’ll post the results.
good luck.
THANK YOU SO MUCH BEARDY! I will look into the T2i, but for now I will have to make do with the flip. I love your website and keep up the good work.
-splazem
Beardy,
Real quick, I own a Nikon D90, how does that compare to the T2i. I am posting this because I just saw that the T2i is a DSLR. Let me know if you have spare time please, it would be extremely helpful!
-splazem
splazem,
I don’t know much about nikon cameras but the D90 is a DSLR that records HD video. So it sounds like you already have a pretty good camera. Check though the manual and try out the video mode. It will be really hard to get used to though. DSLRs don’t really auto-focus as you shoot like a regular video camera would. And your camera should have a tiny mic built in but the sound won’t be great.
I have a t2i and like it but it took me 6 months just to get good at using it. You basically have to set everything manually. And the footage is tough to work with too. If you’re using imovie you’ll probably need to render the footage before you can even play it on the timeline.
DSLRs are hard to get used to but they’re worth it. I don’t know about this year but last year several Crash the Super Bowl finalist videos were shot with Canon DSLRs.
Thanks Beardy
-splazem