Now that you’ve had some time to get over the shock of Fritolay’s bizarre finalist choices in the Crash the Super Bowl contest it’s time to decide which entries you’re going to get behind during the month-long voting process. What’s that you say, Mr. Sore Loser Man? You’re so disappointed in Pepsi and Doritos’ Top 10 that you’re not going to vote for any of them? Well that’s certainly understandable but not voting for any of the videos isn’t going to bother Fritoaly in the slightest. In fact, you might be giving them exactly what they want. I’ve heard a slew of theories in the last few days about why Doritos and Pepsi picked several commercials that would be destined to tank if they aired during the Super Bowl. Some readers have posted comments saying that they think Fritolay wanted to make sure their commercials don’t score all top 3 spots in the Super Bowl ad meter. (If that happened, they’d have to pay out 5 million dollars in bonuses!) One 2009 finalist has said that the executives at the ad agency Goodby/Silverstien (they help fritolay run and judge the contest) may be sabotaging the “Crash” on purpose because its continued success is making them and the rest of their industry look bad. But personally, I believe that the CTSB judges picked several weak, unappealing ads in an effort to funnel votes to the higher quality entries they want to see play during the Super Bowl. After all, the producer who’s ad scores highest on the ad meter wins a contract to produce a big budget commercial for Pepsi Max and Doritos. So I think the judges stacked the deck in favor of the producers that they think could best handle that assignment.
Or maybe I’m crazy. Maybe Pepsi and Doritos are totally psyched about all 10 of their selections and consider ALL of them capable of scoring in the Top 3 on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter. Whatever the case may be, if you choose not to vote for any finalist videos this year, you’re only hurting yourself. Because every day, 2 random voters will win a pair of tickets to this year’s Super Bowl. So you might as well vote. And if you’re going to vote, you might as well try and send a message when you do. That’s why I’m recommending that you vote for the Pepsi Max finalist and Doritos finalist that probably have the lowest chances of scoring well on the ad meter. That would be ADAM & EVE for Doritos and ELEVATOR GIRL for Pepsi Max.
Now admittedly, this is kind of a dickish thing to do. A few of this year’s Crash the Super Bowl finalists are pretty decent and some of them might even stand a chance at landing in the Top 3 on the ad meter. Isn’t “voting for the worst” just going to hurt the hardworking filmmakers that made good, Super Bowl-worthy ads? Naaaaw. Because don’t forget, only 2 ads from each product will get onto the game via the public vote. Pepsi and Doritos also get to select one ad each from their Top 5′s regardless of how many votes it gets. So the best ads are already pretty much a lock.
I think Doritos already plans to air “Birthday Wish” and is hoping to also air “House Sitting” and “The Best Part.” So why do I think “Adam & Eve” is a sacrificial “weak” entry? Because if it actually makes it to the Super Bowl, it’s doomed to tank on the ad meter. Nothing interesting happens for the first 20 seconds which means the Ad Meter Focus Groups won’t be turning their dials to “like.” Doritos has to realize this. So why would they pick it? Maybe they’re hoping to stir up some controversy? I don’t know. But I am pretty confident that “Adam & Eve” is not an ad they actually want to play during the game.
As for Pepsi, I think they plan to air “Torpedo Cooler” and are hoping to air “Love Hurts” and “First Date.” “Zero Calories, Psshh!” at least has funny sounds in it and bright colors so it’d score a little higher than “Elevator Girl” on the ad meter. If I were to meet one of the Pepsi judges tomorrow and if they looked me straight in the eye and told me that they honestly think that “Elevator Girl” is good enough for the Super Bowl and that it has a shot at landing in the Top 3 on the USA Today ad meter I’d call them a liar to their face. I think “Elevator Girl” is only in the Top 5 because the judges know that no one but the friends and family of the cast and crew of that entry would ever vote for it. So it has no real shot of making it to air….unless of course some asshole on the internet realized it’d be funny to try and get people to vote for the worst entries!
I know from all the comments and e-mails I’ve gotten this week that a lot of you are really feeling hurt about the way this contest has played out. And your feelings are justified. I know that some of you spent months planning multiple entries and spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your submissions. And you did this because until now, only entries that were actually TV-QUALITY had a shot of winning this competition. So to see an entry like “Zero Calories, Pshh!” make the finals and then read an article like this one where the director reveals that he literally shot and edited the ad in just 2 hours is a major bummer. Doritos and Pepsi let filmmakers waste their time, money and talent and so those filmmakers have the right to feel a little disgruntled.
Last month, roughly 10,000 people visited this website because they were interested in the Crash the Super Bowl contest. January is only 5 days old and we’ve already had almost 5,000 unique visitors this month. People are coming here because they are upset about the choices that Pepsi and Doritos made and they literally had no place else to go to vent their frustrations. I cannot tell you how many e-mails and comments I’ve gotten that said “thank you for letting me know I’m not crazy and that some of these choices are just not good.”
So in all seriousness, if you want to let the folks at Fritolay know that they made some bad decisions, you’re going to have to prove it to them. And the way you prove it to them is by voting the weakest entries onto the Super Bowl where they will crash and burn on the Ad Meter Poll. I don’t know about you but I think it’d be hilarious if we could actually get “Elevator Girl” to play for 100 million people. And I think it’s do-able. As I just mentioned, many thousands of people are going to see this post and most of them already are registered at CrashtheSuperbowl.com. Voting in this contest is incredibly easy. It will take you 10 seconds and you can vote for one Pepsi Max entry and one Doritos entry per day. There are still 26 days left in the voting. So let’s help Pepsi Max and Doritos get what they apparently want by voting for the worst of this year’s 10 Crash the Super Bowl finalists. Click the “Adam & Eve” and “Elevator Girl” images above to vote for those ads or follow this link: .
And if you’re one of the people who worked on these two ads, all I can say is this is nothing personal. I can’t fault you one bit for winning this contest. As one reader said in a comment, you won the lotto in a contest that was supposed to be based on skill. So just sit back and enjoy the ride. You do want your ad to air during the big game, don’t you? Well great! Then let us try and make that happen for you!
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Sistercoen,
Your anecdote about the fine arts competitions you’ve entered that ban previous winners from entering again is exactly the type of thing I had in mind when I made my earlier comment. Thanks for providing a good example of the practice. Like I’ve said, I agree that selling chips is a business but fritolay has chosen to sell chips in an artistic manner. The entire premise of the contest is that “outsiders” win a once in a lifetime shot at the bigtime. If the same lucky group of people keep appearing in the finals every year, it feels like “insiders” might have an unfair advantage. I hate to sound crass but if someone makes the finals and isn’t able to parlay that into a career, I don’t think winning again will be much help for them. The biggest prize in this contest isn’t the money, it’s the OPPORTUNITY you get if you make the Top 5. It’s hard to take yourself out of contention because of the money involved but I think it’d be quite admirable if past finalists were to step aside and let others have a chance at the opportunities they already have experienced. Just be because you CAN win the contest again, doesn’t mean you should.
Joey,
heh…you said the guy who made the ad where the water cooler was filled with Pepsi Max got robbed? That ad was called “Office Break” and it was directed by the guy who also directed “Birthday Wish.” So I’m sure he doesn’t mind just having one video in the top 10.
Jared (king),
I’m sorry but it sounds like you’re kind of still in denial here. The days when the CTSB was the #1 opportunity for freelancers is over. I personally think the contest won’t be coming back next year but even if it does I don’t think I could recommend anyone enter. The judges have shown they have no interest in “mid-level” productions and most video contest filmmakers produce “mid-level” content. But the judges seem to have a preference for videos that either cost $4,500 to make and have professional level production values or cost $30 to make and have almost zero production values. Your own CTSB finalist video was a “mid-level” production and you had submitted it this year in never would have stood a chance. That’s just not what the judges seem to be looking for anymore.
I think the most disturbing selection out of the entire top 10 though is Pug Attack. That video is a blatant rip-off of 2010 finalist Underdog. What does that say about what kind of videos the judges will be looking for? o matter how much creativity filmmaker’s show, the results of the contest will be limited by the creativity of the contest’s judges.
So anyway, I don’t think “voting for the worst” is going to wreck the contest…it’s already wrecked.
Agreed Beardy. Even if they did one next year and if one other Brand announces that they’re doing a similar contest the CTSB will be filled with amateurs waking up and grabbing their camera phones and entering.
I would highly encourage all of those who didn’t make it and honestly had an above and beyond idea and a well polished spot to enter Godaddy or any other contest.
Is there anyone here who will enter the Fritolay assignment over at Poptent?
Joey,
I haven’t really looked at the Fritolay assignment on poptent but I’d bet its being run by a whole different group of people than those that run the Crash the Super Bowl contest. For one thing, the CTSB people are going to be pretty busy for the next few weeks.
I’d also be winning to bet that whatever videos get bought from that assignment will be uber-professional looking. if they picked stuff that has low production values like some of the CTSB finalists I’d be amazed.
How does that usually work? Do the Brands look at all of the submissions or do the folks at poptent filter through the ones they think fits the clients needs.
Joey,
The brands make all the decisions and they watch all of the videos. Poptent is just kind of like a middleman that brings the filmmakers and brands together and runs the assignment. I get the feeling that potent sometimes recommends certain videos but the brand makes the ultimate decisions.
Hey Beardy,
I’m still in shock over the CTSB finalist picks and feel terrible for all the exceptional artist who will go unnoticed. I watched every single Doritos entry this year and never even considered the winners to be our competition.
The video we submitted was designed to do the following:
1) Make the Doritos “The Star”
2) Have several laugh points throughout the 30 seconds.
3) Target the demographics of a Superbowl audience.
4) Be specifically age and gender friendly.
5) Use an “Idea” that is completely original.
6) Do it with a budget and production quality anyone could do.
Here is our link:
Joey,
The spec spot Dave got an AICP shortlist nod: http://www.aicp.com/images/uploads/AICP_SHORTLIST_PRESSWEB_may24.pdf
Don’t know if that counts as personally benefiting, not sure which of Nola’s directors did it, but know its no longer on any of their shortened reels.
Additionally, I’m sure the Dandy Dwarves got some work for their amazing spot last year; as will whoever did Crunch or Bust this year.
Thanks again for the praise — we thought we were in it except for Birthday Wish. We won a few in 2010, so not sweating this as much — I personally think there are ways we could’ve made it a lot stronger in retrospect, and our next spots will be better for it.
We almost did a PepsiMax spot that was targeted at women a la Diet Coke. In retrospect, we now wish we had.
Robert,
Yes, you shot yourself in the foot doing Zombies, as it was 1 out of about 300 zombie submissions, lol. However it was done very well. Zombies ARE very popular and have a whole subculture and niche audience for sure. I don’t think it would fare well on the ad meter, but I do think if you wanted to do a feature film about zombies and had a great script, that you could get distribution in that whole world of independent horror type movie flicks. No doubt about it.
This year was zombies, last year was ninjas… who knows what next year will bring out, but because this contest opens around Halloween anyone who does anything remotely related to Halloween is going to be lost in the unoriginal shuffle of hundreds of others like it.
Hey chickenstax, thanks for the feedback. I’m 6’4″ so getting over myself won’t be easy but I’ll try. I didn’t know that you knew me? OH.. WAIT… you don’t. Not sure if it’s jealousy or if you just felt like complaining but welcome to the forum. I love this country and freedom of speach even if people don’t know what they are talking about, it’s great to be around it.
You’re probably a pretty cool dude (or chick) so I won’t shoot any insults your way, that’s not my style.
ps. I agree about M Night… what the heck happen to him making good movies?
Joe
Everyone is entitled to opinions and more than any other genre comedy will be up and down for audiences because humor is simply different for everyone.
Let’s REMOVE OPINIONS and talk about FACTS.
Now, to avoid jealous posters asking me to get over myself let’s leave my own submissions out of this all together… I challenge anyone who doesn’t believe this to be fact to go out and prove otherwise, but if you take 20 of the best submissions and stack them up with the finalists, then go out to people you don’t know so you don’t get biased feedback and ask them rank what they see, as matter of FACT 6 of the 10 finalists would consistently rank at the bottom – and several of the finalists might not rank in the top 10 for ANYBODY or at least over 90% of the poll.
Now 20 would be easier, but I would also add that you could do it with 40 and another set of 20 would also consistently rank above several of the finalists. And it’s not that the finalists did a bad job, it’s that there are soooooooooooo many that would score better.
So the primary issue on this forum is what is up? The question of how they were selected when a very simple test would show they have no shot on an ad meter and that a general audience would typically favor so many other ads.
Pepsi/Doritos had a legitimate shot at top three as they claimed they wanted, so why did they pass on that? That seems to be the answer nobody can answer, but I’m guessing most of the speculation about it is not far from the truth.
Now there is a couple of really good ones in the bunch, and if they aren’t passed over and air (and air early) they have a shot at something high on the ad meter, and maybe everyone will forget about all the rest of the ones that wouldn’t ever come close… but it still begs the question… WHY?
To: Joe Herbert
Tool Fight was the best commercial in the whole CTSB campaign. I hangout with some of the funniest/creative people on the planet and they all gave Tool Fight a thumbs up. Nobody had any negative comments and it was a perfect Superbowl Commercial. I would be interested in hearing what you say about my submission.
Scott, thanks. When I first read your comment I was wondering who from my camp made up a name and posted something flattering about us, hahahaha, but then you posted a link to your submission, so it wasn’t one of my actors blowing smoke on the forum =) so thanks for the kind words.
Just watched your spot, and I remember seeing that weeks ago and thinking cool another construction one! If you want my 2 cents focus more on the comedy moments – I love the sawing on the edge of the dorito! and less on anything that COULD be communicated as gross like spackling on a food product… however Doritos DID select a finalist that took the gross shock value approach so what do I know!
While there may be some “justified sour grapes” comments, and perhaps me or anyone may at times seem “full of themselves” but the reality is this… I would bet every (or almost every) submitter would agree that even if you take their work out of the equation, that there are still 50+ better options than most (not all) of the finalists this year
Nobody can be faulted for being disappointing in spending time energy and money (even if it was $10) to:
1. follow the instructions by putting together a spot that adhered to the judging criteria the best they could, and
2. by putting together a spot that targeted the audiences both brands (and specifically pepsi) said at the kick off event and every other announcement and all of their advertising to date has been geared toward, and
3. aimed for a spot that might score well on the ad meter since it was highly publicized that the top three spots were what they were after
… only to later find out none of these were used in selecting finalists.
If instead Pepsi said they don’t care about the ad meter what they want is a commercial that will be talked about and enjoyed by hosts of THE VIEW, then nobody would be upset, and this forum would be full of people saying why the hell did Torpedo Cooler make the cut?
Hey Joe,
It’s interesting that you suggest that top 20-40 thing; we actually did exactly that. We put together a top 30ish list which included all the finalists except Pug, which I hadn’t even seen, and aside from one person we always finished in the top 3.
That said, from a directors standpoint that didn’t stop us from being seriously worried about Birthday Wish which overall we ranked higher than in our testing. I can understand people’s frustration with Pepsi, some of the options are truly abysmal.
On a personal note, I thought your guys concept for the Skunk spot was fucking amazing, but fell just a tad shy on execution. I think it was the actors, which to me were the strongest part of your Crystal Ball spot. Also, something about the delivery of the kitty line; ie too formally setup, rather than “its not a dog its a …” burying it like “who’s my pretty… whose the best kitty, meow” to get to the punchline faster; I thought it was really quite a brilliant concept and thought the skunk execution was great.
One of the things I’ve come to realize with contests with a tiered prize structure and stages, is that in some situations, you simply cannot win everything reliably; IE, a spot that might win ad-meter, might not be able to get past the competition and the initial selection stage, and vice-versa, you end up with a set of finalists that end up having zero chance of sweeping the top 3. Sometimes you just have to make a decision; do you want to have a shot at the grand prize, or do are you just playing to make the finals.
Thanks Joe, I appreciate the view and opinion. We did submit two versions though. We did one with cream cheese (tile grout) and one without. Our actor squirrel seemed to always prefer a mixture of a Thai peanut sauce on the Dorito. Those SAG squirrels can be a real pain in the ass.
Yeah, not sure where you got a squirrel to do what you wanted, but nice find!
Thanks Michael, good luck to you. I would agree that Pepsi’s selections do tend to bring down the competition and Doritos with them… they tend to get lumped together with Doritos on this forum and over all, Pepsi’s final five are much more surprising/worse and subject to controversy than Doritos.
I still submit that both doritos and pepsi have two good ones each, and three insane options… and both sides have to pick one of those insane options to air during the game… THATS ASSUMING they air the two good ones on each side.
I want to take a quick second to be “full of myself” so bear with me here.
I think to take the #1 spot on the ad meter after nobody else could do it for 10 years straight (aside from budweiser) is fairly big advertising news.
I’m curious if that somehow hurt the ad industry – more than we know – because it is intentionally forgotten.
Last year CBS had a special before the super bowl on the best super bowl commercials of the past. In it’s top ten countdown it featured POWER OF THE CRUNCH which came in second to us in 2009 and finished 5th on the ad meter (a great spot by a great guy). And FREE DORITOS was nowhere to be seen in the top 10.
They are running another show this year, and have 10 super bowl commercial to rank as the best on their show, and of those ten they have underdog and power of the crunch and yet again conveniently left out the #1 spot we did.
Next… read this article from AdAge:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=145898
Notice anything intentionally left out of that article when describing past winners?
And this year they seem to be dodging the #1 spot.
Or maybe this (and there’s more) are all just oversights and coincidences.
I can’t really say or I will be so full of myself I might explode. But I’m not an idiot. lol. It’s no coincidence!
Oh.. here is the link to CBS’s this year with us “conveniently” left out of it.
http://www.cbs.com/specials/superbowl
Hey Beardy,
I’m hoping you will take a moment to recognize some spots that absolutely kicked ass this year.
DORITOS
1) DMV
2) Rebirth
3) Determination
Beardy,
I can’t believe Jared came over to your forum pretending to be buddy, buddy now trying to drive all the traffic to his site.
Sort of like what Frito lays doing with the contest. That guy is on Frito lays payroll.
I think it’s best if you ban his comments out of the hundreds of filmmakers who knows something was up with the contest he tries to protect them.
I love this forum I drive people over here but if that guys makes a comment on here I’m out!
His word means NOTHING!
@ Jared
You say “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” You couldn’t have said it ANY better. I entered this contest as a CONSUMER it just so happens that I make films:) I’m not different then the lawyer who enters the contest & shells out money to make a slick ad. What do we have in common? We both like Frito lay products.
As consumers we were led to believe based on the previous years that they’re looking for the best of the best when it comes to this contest.
The fact that I buy Pepsi Max b/c it was marketed to me as a manly drink. Frito lay burned a bridge when they decided to pick woman targeted ads. Not only did JOE HERBERT state that they specifically said they’re targeting males they did a complete 360.
So when you say “Don’t bite the hands that feed you” there will be no CTSB if the consumers decide that they no longer wanted to buy Fritolay products.
I buy products I have the right to speak my mind and complain just like any other consumer.
You’re not a representative from Fritolay and with your unsupervised comments you only dig them into a bigger hole.
So trying to speak up for them thinking it’s going to get brownie points gets you no where fast!
They have yet to respond to this thread who happens to be consumers of the product! It’s not our fault that we just so happen to be filmmakers.
I’ll email them directly and as a consumer I expect for them to respond accordingly.
I say Beardy and The Queen fight it out physically. I’ll shoot it on my flipcam. Beardy, rub your sweet beardness on Her Highness. Can we do this???
Just spoke to the queen she said it’s that time of the month.
@ queen also I just started into the world of contest
So I have 9 years to go! Also I’m a filmmaker of tens years and the business has been great