Time's up!
Well D (for Doritos) is finally here. Right now it’s 4PM on November 21st which means you only have eight hours left to submit your 2011 Crash the Super Bowl entries. And then tomorrow the wait begins! I get a lot of e-mails this time of year and usually people want to know when Doritos will contact the finalists. The official rules state that Doritos will notify the finalists within 6 weeks. But 6 weeks from today happens to be Monday, January 2nd. During the last installment of The Crash, the finalists were announced on January 3rd. I’ve talked to a number of past finalists and it seems like Doritos usually calls the winners (yes, they’ll actually call you if you make the top 5) just before Christmas. But the contest did start a little later than usual this year so what the heck do I know.
Right now, there are already more than 1,500 submissions posted in CTSB gallery. But when the orange dust settles I bet there will be close to 2,800 entries. That’s a lot less than in year’s past but the lower number is probably because this year, the contest moderators have been doing a great job of keeping people from uploading multiple entries. In past installments, it seemed like every 10th video was a repeat. I guess people uploaded the same videos over and over because they weren’t sure if their submissions went though.
But 2,800 submissions is still a crazy amount. And guess what? This year I have made it my mission to watch every, single CTSB entry! If you watched 2,800 thirty-second commercials in a row, it would take you 23.33 hours to get through them all. But to be honest, I’m not watching every entry from start to finish. In fact, I usually click the “next” button on most entries after about 10 seconds. You see, my goal is to find all the submissions that have a good chance of making it to the Top 5. So if an entry has major technical problems that I suspect will keep it out of the running, I skip it. And after like 15 seconds if I’m not hooked I usually move on to the next video.
This method saves me a lot of time but it isn’t exactly thorough. Sometimes I get in the zone and I skip past videos before I really give them a chance. So readers, I need your help. If you see a really awesome Crash the Super Bowl entry, let me know! And yes, you can send me your own submission if you think it’s especially great. In about two weeks I will post a list of all my favorite 2011 CTSB submissions. How long will the list be? I have no idea! Instead of doing like a “Top 50″ I’m just going to link to every ad that I think is good enough to win….and maybe I’ll throw a few personal favorites in there as well.
So if you have a great entry you want to show me, click the comment button and post the link. Or you can e-mail me at . As always, I’m happy to do a mini-review of every ad you guys send me. I’ll try and be gentle but I’ll also be honest. Just a couple rules; please, don’t ask me to critique an entry that you didn’t help create. Also, I can only do public critiques. So if you want me to give you notes on your submission, post it in the comments section rather than e-mailing it to me. And finally, Full Disclosure: I did shoot a CTSB entry of my own but I will try and be objective and fair….even though my entry is easily the best this year!
Good luck everybody. If you get a call from Doritos saying that you made the finals, be sure to let me know! Yea sure, that would probably get you disqualified but I totally promise to keep your secret…
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Here are my two entries.
What say you, Beardy?
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Please check out 4 vids by Rok3.. done on verry low budget..Thanks..
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Thanks for your review Beardy. We almost added a ball licking that the dog did before he ate the dog food from the dads face. This is a very hard contest to gauge because last years winner had a guy giving head to another guys finger, an assault with a deadly weapon, animal abuse by having a dog jumo into a glass door and a horny guy thinking about getting into that girls pants. A little dog food and a kid screaming seems pretty tame, but who knows what these guys are thinking. it would be interesting for people also to post on your site how they made the videos such as camera used, lens and always the funny stories that go along making these.-Thanks again for the review.
Happy Holidays
. Looking for some constructive feed back on my Doritos Video Submission: The Great Doritos Caper”
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beardy,
Fair enough, this was the version that got the most laughs/views so I figured I would put it up. the original is her tazing him and walking away with the chips. all six versions are up on the site if you have some time to check them out cool if not all is well.
Thanks for your time
if you go to the gallery
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and type in taze they are all there.
Yo!
Chad from “Pepsi Max is Magnus” and Poptent.net
Here is our ad for this years Crash the Super Bowl.
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Thanks and I’m hoping it makes your list this year. I mean, we had a giant tongue made. Come on… LOL.
Hey Beardy,
Thanks for being willing to watch all of the submissions! I tried diligently to keep up, but my wife eventually got sick of me ALWAYS watching them, so I had to just give it up. I directed and edited this submission, and would appreciate your feedback, good or bad. Thanks!
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P.s. Which one’s yours?
Beardy,
Emailed you as well but thought I’d follow up on this thread. My team and I (user: Nachomamas) have created four spots for this years contest and would love for you to check them out. Here are the direct links to the commercials. Enjoy!
SHRINK RAY: /#/gallery?video=14584
PATERNAL INSTINCT: /#/gallery?video=16943
RESCUE MISSION: /#/gallery?video=14605
LOST DOG : /#/gallery?video=16965
Here is mine, see what you think. Thanks.
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Yo Beardy!
The Pepsi Max spot from last year was ‘Car Seat’… You had it in your ‘random top 30′ list…
http://www.damonart.com/gershom_baby.html
As for your comments, I’d agree, as we did have a bunch of some funny footage shot; linebacker-like hit of old lady holding up traffic yet saving her at the same time, the ‘pre-game’ of the ritual before the run (aka, search all over house for Doritos), a 3 point stance to hit the tree to knock ‘snowflake’ out… Just hard to pack it all in 30 seconds as in the end, it’s a commercial about Doritos. So we had to ‘kill our babies’ as we put it… Sucks, but they’re in the 1 min verison… that almost no one will see.
Keep up the good work on the site.
Hey Beardy,
Thank you for taking the time and posting a review my submission “The Lover’s Quarrel. I greatly appreciate your feed back. Looking forward to seeing your list in a few weeks. I hope ‘The Lover’s Quarrel’ makes it on there!
Here is our entry. It’s very original and very British.
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And here is our second entry a film noir piece. The scan lines and the stretching of the video was a surprise to us but we couldn’t upload it again to correct. Other than that it’s quite nice.
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Let me know what you think!
Hey Beardy and fellow viewers!
This is our entry into the Doritos contest. It’s our first attempt at a contest, so your feedback is appreciated….enjoy!
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Beardy,
Thanks for the great comments! I really appreciate it (“The Bully”). I’m just having fun with it, shot it with a couple work lights and a Panasonic TM700 camcorder. I’ll work on it and keep at it. Thanks for the comments!
-Brian
Here are our entries. Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.
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Simone,
Judges at Doritos watch every entry and then they pick 5 finalists. Each finalist wins $25,000 and a trip to the super bowl. Then the public votes during january and at least one winner will air during the super bowl.
At this point I’m just going to assume that anyone who posts a link here would like a review. So if you DON’T want one, just e-mail me your link: .
Here ya go Beardy, for your eyes only.
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MiltonP,
Doritos Caper: Well, this ad didn’t make a ton of sense. The bit with the guinea pig was kind of funny. But this entry isn’t on par with the ads that Doritos picks every year for the finals. It was a good effort but next year you should head to Doritos youtube channel and watch all the past winners before creating an entry. It’s important to understand what it takes to win before you write your script.
Cabin Films,
Free Sample: Ha…I recognize those poptenters. Ok, this ad probably made me laugh more than any other entry I’ve seen. But I was laughing at how wrong the ending was! You took a real gamble with that punchline. Personally I thought it was a bold and hilarious capper to an already good video. I have a feeling Doritos won’t have the nerve to pick this one…..but maybe, MAYBE they might just feel like being a little outrageous this year. Cons: It does seem like the editing could have been tightend up but I’m sure you already know that. Also, I think it would have been good to see more shots of the guy actually munching on the chips.
Catch 22: This is another strong submission. I liked that you guys didn’t half-ass it when it came to making your Doritos world. I also like that the jokes were kind of subtle. You could have very easily thrown in some easy, low-brow humor. But that might be a problem. This one is probably too subdued for Doritos to air during the super bowl. It’s funny but by now we all know that Doritos like really over the top stuff. One other note: Like 50% of the ads I’m seeing start off with guys sitting on couches. Your stars could have had their opening conversation anywhere. So I would have maybe tried to put them someplace different.
Mark,
Never Waste a Dorito: This concept and set up had a lot of potential but I didn’t like the direction it went. I really bothered me that the guy tried to set his Doritos down on a railing. It just made no sense. I know the Doritos had to fall so the other guy could jump after them but it doesn’t matter. It just seemed so unnatural and even kind of lazy. There had to be a better way to get those Doritos to fall. Another note: I think the middle of the ad was kind of slow. It could have been tightened That could have left time for a shot of the battered guy on the ground eating the Doritos he saved.
Dorito Rub: I’m sorry but I don’t really get why the guy rubbed Doritos on himself. If the other guy got girls because he had Doritos, why didn’t the shirtless guy just offer some chips to the girls. His bag was giant so he had way more chips to share. And the violence from the other guy really came out of nowhere. The performances in both of your entries were really good though. Nice location too.
Jeffers,
I liked this one for being super weird. But this concept has already been done. A few years ago some company ran super weird ads with monkeys in them and they talked about how they just wasted 2 million dollars.
Mark/Rocky,
I’ll cover all your ads with one review. You made some good efforts but the writing and production values are not on par with the ads that win this contest. And the gay jokes are totally inappropriate for the Super Bowl. Next year you should watch all the ads that made the finals before you start working, All the past winners are on Doritos youtube channel.
Chad,
When you said that you were chad from poptent and part of the Pepsi Max is Magnus team I got excited to see your ad. And you didn’t disappoint. That was ridiculous. And that tongue was an amazing prop. Oh and I really liked the reveal at the end. It puts the whole thing in a different context. If I were a Doritos judge this one would probably at least make my short list. It’s so different than the rest of the entries out there. I think the big “con” for this video is that it looks like the singer is humping the tongue. That might be a little too risqué for the super bowl. Nice job though. This goes on my Best Of list for sure.
More reviews to come….
Alright. But that was a few years ago–America can barely remember what it did last Thursday. And now it’s wasting $2.6 mil, not a measly $2,000,000. Apples and oranges, Beardy; gravy and feces, my friend; peanut butter and chicken pox.
Thanks for the like!
God bless America,
-Jeffers Dingdong
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Tim Johnson,
Surprisingly Big Taste: Ummm, I love it. It was so simple but the punchline at the end was executed perfectly. This isn’t the type of ad Doritos ever picks for the finals but if this aired during the super bowl, viewers would get quiet and start paying attention to the TV. The scenario here plays on every parent’s fear that their child is going to wander away and get hurt. And the looks on the faces of the actors was a great way to build the suspense even higher. For 30 seconds you kept me wondering what horrible thing was going to happen to this child. It’s a great ad but like I said, it would be a very unusual pick for Doritos. But you took a gamble and creatively at least, it paid off. This is one of the very few ads I’ve seen that has a serious chance of making the Top 5.
As for my ad, I’m keeping it under wraps for now. Last year some jerks weren’t happy with what I had to say about their entries so they tried to get revenge by bombing my submission with angry comments.
Zach,
Shrink Ray: heh heh…not bad. I don’t really have critique. I just like it. Some of the best giant Doritos I’ve seen and great performances. I think a crazier ending would have put this over the top.
Paternal Instinct: Another nice one. Again, not much to say. I just like it.
Rescue Mission. This one is cool too. It’s just not really funny. Good concept though and I like the props and locations.
Lost Dog: another good set up and premise. But this one also won’t make anyone laugh out loud. Shrink Ray is for sure the best of the bunch.
Side Note: Did you create an account named “Sundance” so you could praise all your own videos? I noticed Sundance thought all 4 of your entries were brilliant. Don’t do that…that’s not cool.
Tim Casey,
Doritos Safety Testing: This entry was like a chocolate cake made of nothing but frosting. It was all nutshots and no story! For a nut shot to be effective, it has to come as a surprise and be related to the story. When you just kick a dude in the balls over and over it’s just slapstick for slapstick’s sake. I like the general premise though. If you had saved the nut shot the final test it would have be a more interesting ad.
Keith,
How you doin?: If this was your first attempt at entering a video contest you did a pretty good job. The video looked good and was cast well and had a solid story. I don’t think it’s quite outrageous enough for Doritos to pick it but I could see this winning a smaller video contest. So you’re off to a really god start. My only note is that in the future, you might want to think bigger and do something kind of quirky and crazy (for Doritos at least.)
Chris Gamble,
Video Rascal: I like the premise of this ad (stopping a Doritos shoot in the middle and the green screen appearing) but there wasn’t a pay off. The little girl ran and hid but why? I was expecting to see her doing something crazy with the chips when they found her.
I Hate this House: This one was so odd that it made me smile. I liked the shots and the kid was really good. I was just hoping for some kind of big joke at the end. But in a weird way, nothing happening was kind of funny too…if you know what I mean.
Lancento,
Crunch Ray. This one’s not bad. I like the props and the actors and the effects. It’s not really laugh out loud funny though. The energy was also kind of low-key and Doritos usually pick ads that have a lot of excitement. But you did a nice job. My one suggestion would be that in the future, you should try and shooting more colorful rooms. The background in thus ad is just plain white which doesn’t look to good on TV. Colorful walls really make an ad look professional.
Hi Beardy!
Came across your website a few months ago – love the advice and insight … wanted to let you know we have an entry that you in particular might take a special liking to … please check it out at /#/gallery?video=17410 … HIPSTER KIDS.
Best,
Michael
Ceck out this video entry
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Michael,
Hipster Kids: You’re clearly a pro (or an aspiring pro) so I won’t sugarcoat my critique. Obviously this ad is technically perfect. It looks like a TV commercial. You did a professional job on all levels. But unfortunately, you decided to make an ad about two things that people DESPISE: Hispters and little kids acting like adults. Yes, I get that the point was to make fun of hipsters but hipsters are so reviled (even by other hipsters who are in denial) that even their catchphrases and outfits are annoying in the context of this ad. The things the babies do and say are such hipster clichés that the ad feels like a cliché because by now, making fun of hipsters has become cliché’. (hope that made sense) I was even able to predict some of the lines before I saw them! Except I thought the kid would say “I was into ranch chips before they were cool.” If this was the first video to make fun of the things hipsters say, it’d be good. But since this is the millionth video on the Internet making fun of hipsters it has no bite.
Now for the kids….oh my God did they creep me out. Are you familiar with the Uncanny valley theory? It states that when a robot (or a CGI character) looks too realistic, people instinctively hate them because they seem weirdly unhuman. So while people loved the cartoon humans in The Incredibles, everyone was creeped out by the realistic humans in The Polar Express. Anyway, I have heard this theory being applied to child actor performances. When little kids act exactly like adults, it gives people the willies. And the kids in your ad gave me the willies.
But that’s just me. Here’s the bigger, universal issue: This wasn’t a commercial about Doritos. It was about hipster kids who just happen to be eating Doritos. You got so focused on the gimmick that you forgot to sell the product. The Doritos were just there. The chips didn’t turn hipsters into babies and they didn’t provide any motivation for the characters. The Doritos were just an excuse to show babies acting like hipsters. Even the final joke bothered me. The little girl only asked for Doritos for her puppy so we could see a shot of a puppy dressed like a hipster. If this ad were to air during the super bowl, I would be that 5 minutes after it aired, most people wouldn’t remember what this spot was trying to sell. Sorry to be so harsh. I just had strong, negative gut reaction to this one. Obviously you have the technical skills to win this contest. I will probably even add this entry to my “best of” list just because every year Doritos picks at least one beautiful looking (but not funny) ad for the finals.
Sheri,
Grandma I brought you flowers: Unfortunately there’s not much I can say about this ad. It’s just not the type of entry that has a shot of winning. The production values are very low and the story doesn’t make much sense. If I didn’t read the description I wouldn’t have understood what was going on. The editing and shot selection were good and the grandma was funny. You might want to try and sharpen your skills and shoot another grandma-themed entry next year.
PLEASE READ: Unless I’ve miscounted, I’ve reviewed 98 entries so far! Today will be the last day for reviews so please leave a link if you’d like a mini-critique.
Hi Beardy, would love some professional advice on my entry. This is my first year entering the contest and I’m a newbie to video production.
Thanks and good luck to you.
The Autographed Football
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Beardy,
Thanks for the likes! I legitimately don’t know who that “Sundance” character is. Certainly not anyone from the team. However, you never know… it might be someones grandma in the group who got overly excited upon seeing all 4 of the spots. I do agree it is not cool to do that though. If you notice the majority of the comments anyone leaves on that site are self promoting, which is a shame.
Again, thank you! Really hoping we will be making your best of list this year!
Zach
Beardy,
Thanks for the feed back my man! I do agree it looks like he is humping the tongue. We like to think he is “loving” the tongue as opposed to “humping” it. LOL! Poor tongue.
I know if we could go back and do some things differently we would. But we aren’t George Lucas so we don’t have that power. Maybe in twenty years I’ll go back and ad a CG character dancing on the tongue.
It really was one of those things where we were like, “Hey, we have time to shoot and edit today so since this thing is due in 3 more days lets get on it.” We shot, edited, did the vfx and uploaded it in 15 hours. Not a record, but that’s all we had time for before I left the next day to drive home for Thanksgiving.
We definitely wanted to get as far away from the “Doritos gives me super powers”/”Look at what that dog is doing”/”Zombies are after my Doritos”. etc., etc., etc. so we felt having a guy riding a giant tongue was the next best thing.
Actually, that credit goes to Mike Matthews. He came to work with these sketches one day of a guy on a tongue. I fell in love with the idea and the rest is history but I still wonder what inspired him while he sat at home that night.
We of course, like most creatives, were inspired by the works or others when it came to the character. I would now like to share our inspiration with you.
Thanks for taking the time to review our spot! I know you have quite a few to go through. Looking forward to seeing your final list!
- Chad
Thanks for the review. Good points. Will keep that in mind for next years entry.
PS. Great job going through all of this, that’s some mad commitment you have to your audience.
hey Beardy,
Here’s my submission for this year.
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Let me know whatcha think.
Brain,
The Autographed football: If you’re new to video production you’re off to a pretty good start. Though I don’t think that this is the type of humor that Doritos seems to like, you made a pretty solid spot. I’m sorry for using such a horribly pretentious term but yu have a flair for Mise-en-scène. (Wikipedia’s definition: When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scène refers to everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement—composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting) The shot of the baby flanked by those two giant dogs really got my attention. And the colors of everything were just great. And I really liked the dual shots of the dogs looking at the kid. As for the story, it was kind of cute. But it didn’t have much to do with Doritos. But the reveal of the mom on the floor was a great gag. I would suggest that you stick with video production and if you enter the Crash again next year maybe try something a little bigger and crazier.
Z55,
Eat A Dorito: Well, this one managed to amuse me. It was nice and simple and weird which is what the contest judges like. It might be a little TOO weird for them though. It definitely wouldn’t be a typical Super Bowl commercial. This feels more like a “viral” commercial. One con: The fake Spanish accent is funny but it kind of reminded me of “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” That guy kind of owns that accent these days!
THAT’S IT FOLKS! Review time is over doe 2011! In a crazy coincidence, I reviewed exactly 100 spots this year. So I think that’s a god place to stop. If you’d still like to be considered for the “best of” list, feel free to leave your link below. I’ll probably publish the list the week of December 12th.
Beardy,
Thanks for your time and your review. I was pretty nervous but pleasantly surprised. I had so much fun producing it, I’m Jonesing to do another! Already working my idea for next year.
Watching all the entries and judging 100 of them is quite an undertaking, great job! I definitely would not want to be a judge for this contest, they have their hands full.
You have a great site, I am definitely a fan, keep up the great work!
Brian
Beardy
I’m interested in your insights on “Brainstorming.”
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Thanks.
RK
Beardy,
Hello! I just found out from a friend that you are reviewing “Crash the Superbowl” ads. I see in the above post that you’re done with that right now, but I’d really love you to take a look at mine and give me your thoughts. Can you spare another 30 seconds? If so, the link is:
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Thanks!
All the best,
Jonathan
Hey Beardy, I’d like some reviews if your offering! I’m still kinda new to this, I’m trying to get better. I think I made a couple decent attempts.. Let me know what you think
Doritos in Bed
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Big Bro
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Balling for Doritos
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aw dang I just read you stopped reviewing.. I should have commented a week ago when I first saw this, my bad
but can you still watch those links to be considered for the “best of” list? sorry for the triple post action