See you next fall?

Now that the Super Bowl is over and the final ad meter results are in, the 2011/2012 installment of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest is officially over.  So you know what that means right?  It’s time to start thinking about next year’s contest!  No seriously…I’m not joking.  This year, Doritos gets to boast that they won both of USA Today’s ad meter polls.  Man’s Best Friend won the real ad meter and Sling Baby won the online vote.  So both the Sling Baby team and the Man’s Best Friend team will be receiving million dollar bonuses.  Yeah, ok sure….Sling Baby only won the online poll because the producers of that spot got a small army of people to give bad scores to all the other ads in the competition.  But that little fact kind of makes their “win” sound a lot less impressive.  So I’m going to guess Fritolay is just going to pretend that stuff didn’t happen and focus on the double victory.  And I think that double ad meter victory pretty much guarantees that the Crash will be back this fall.

So for VCN’s final CTSB post of the season, I thought I should revisit a topic that I hope will get a lot of discussion this summer at Fritolay HQ.  About three weeks ago I got to do something that thousands of disappointed video contest filmmakers across the country would probably love to do; I got to talk to some of the judges of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest and ask them about how they select their top five finalists every year.  Though I had a million random questions I wanted to ask, our conference call was set up to address just one specific issue: Do former Crash the Super Bowl finalists have an unfair advantage in Doritos’ annual commercial contest?

I’ll go over conversation below but first, here’s why we discussed that particular topic:  It turns out that even though Doritos received 6,100 entries last fall, three of the five 2012 finalists had co-written, directed or produced commercials that had made the finals in a previous installment of the contest.  One winning ad was actually shot by two 2011 finalists that met at the SuperBowl last year and decided to join forces this time around.  Another 2012 finalist, Kevin T. Willson has now seen his work make the finals three years in a row.  But what was really amazing is that three winning entries, Dog Park, Bird of Prey and Sling Baby were created by a group of friends that attend the same church in Hollywood.  So even though the odds of making the finals were 1 in 1,220, three people who all knew each other and who all had co-created ads that had won this contest in the past managed to win again this year.

And 2012 was by no means a fluke.  A surprising number of people have made the finals more than once.  In fact, there has been at least one repeat finalist EVERY YEAR for the past four years.  Now to be fair, some of the past repeat finalists, without question, made the best entries EVER submitted to the contest.  (Specifically I’m thinking of “Free Doritos” and “Underdog.”)  But in the last two years, things have been getting kind of ridiculous.  For instance, there is no question that one 2012 finalist spot, Dog Park wouldn’t even exist if the director and the producer hadn’t met at the Super Bowl last year.  That team won again this year because they made a good entry….but they were able to make that entry BECAUSE they won the contest last year.  So now more than ever it feels  like the Crash the Super Bowl contest was become an insider’s game where the same group of people all get to take turns being finalists.

After the 2012 results were announced in January I blogged about the repeat winners and explained why I thought former finalists might have an edge over the rest of the people who enter the Crash.  Here’s a quick rundown of the reasons I listed:

1. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE JUDGES: When you win the Crash the Super Bowl contest you get to spend several days at the Super Bowl hanging out and partying with the people who actually run the contest.  The contest judges get to know the finalists personally and it’s just natural that everyone would get friendly with each other.  In my article I theorized that some finalists and some judges may even stay in touch after the game. (Turns out I was correct)  I don’t think anyone has ever won this contest because they were pals with one of the judges.  But being friends with the people who pick the winners certainly can’t hurt.

2. INSIDE INFORMATION:  I suspect that finalists may benefit from talking to the reps from fritolay about the contest during the Super Bowl trip or later in the year if they keep in touch.  For instance, I have a feeling that former finalists probably find out (either via hints or direct info) that the CTSB contest will return before that news is made public.  If my hunch is correct, past winners basically get a head start over everyone else who enters the contest.

3. MONEY: When you make the Doritos finals you win $25,000.  Many finalists turn around and spend a huge chunk of that money on a new entry the following year.  For example, the 2012 finalist ad Sling Baby cost about $2,700 to produce and it was made by a director who had already made the finals twice before.  So it was easily one of the most expensive commercials submitted to the contest last fall.  It’s just not possible (or wise) for Doritos to pick commercials that look crappy so I think people should absolutely be free to spend thousands of dollars on their submissions if they want.  However, few people spend that kind of money because it’s just too much of a gamble.  But I think former finalists are willing to spend big bucks on their submissions (and I consider anything over $500 to be “big bucks”) because they’re gambling with “the house’s” money.

4.  SPECIAL ACCESS TO RESOURCES AND TALENT:  Lots of producers have access to money and talent but CTSB winners can get access to those things because of their previous win.  This contest can open doors for the people who win it.  What actor, crew person or investor wouldn’t want to team up with some who has already made the finals and had their Doritos commercial air on TV?  You can’t blame a contestant for taking advantage of opportunities that come to them because they have won the Crash before.  But it’s just one more thing that makes the process easier for them. On top of that, as we learned this year, finalists are actually allowed to team up with other former finalists and pool their resources and talent. Now that someone has actually pulled this off, I think we’re going to see more cases this fall where former finalists collaborate and form their own little Super Teams.

The article I posted on January 4th was entitled A Crash the Super Bowl Bummer: Three of the five 2012 finalists were made by past winners and you can read the whole thing by clicking that link.  The story quickly became VCN’s most popular post ever and it looks like it was read about 10,000 times (for this site that’s an insane figure.)  After it was up for a while, I thought it would only be fair to get Fritolay’s side of the story.  So one of their PR reps was good enough to set up a conference call so I could talk directly to two of the people in charge of the Crash the Super Bowl contest; Brian Kuechenmeister who is the head of Public relations for all of Frito-Lay and Jeff Klein who is a senior marketing director for Doritos.

If I were a better writer I would weave their answers into an in depth article about fairness in the Crash the Super Bowl contest.  But this is a blog, not Newsweek so I’m just going to hit you with some bullet points.  Here’s what I learned from talking to Kuechenmeister and Klein of FritoLay:

1.  The two reps were adamant about one point in particular.  They said that personal relationships with the judges will not help a finalist make the finals again.  They said the official judging criteria listed in the rules are the ONLY thing that matter.  Here’s how the rules say entries are score:

1. Originality and Creativity – 40%
2. Adherence to Creative Assignment – 30%
3. Overall Appeal – 30%

2.  Some of the people who judge the contest do get to know the finalists during the trip to the Super Bowl.  Some judges and some finalists do become friendly and they do stay in touch after the game.  One specific example that I was given was that former finalists sometimes update the Doritos team about new projects they are working on.  However, the reps also said that they also stay in touch with filmmakers they’ve met who have never won the contest.

3.  Former finalists do not get to jump the line.  By that I mean that former finalists do not get to send their new entries directly to the judges.  I was told that former finalists have to go through the same judging process as everyone else.

4.  This one surprised me:  The judges know the name of the person who submitted each entry before the final decisions are made.  I was told that as long as a former finalist enters under their own name, the judges will know which entry is theirs.  This means that the judges know that former finalists have a shot at winning again when they start making their final picks.  It also means that there is no surprise moment when the judges realize they just picked the same person’s video for the second or third year in a row.  I asked if being a former finalist helped or hurt a person’s chances of winning again.  The reps said that issue isn’t a factor during the judging.

5.  The rules state that employees or contractors of Fritolay are not eligible to enter the contest if they worked or were contracted by Fritolay in the last 12 months.  Even though Doritos purchases all of the winning commercials and airs them for years, finalists are exempt from this rule since the judges consider them to be “contest winners.”  So if you are a finalist this year you can be a finalist again next year.

6.  EVERYONE who has ever won the Crash the Super Bowl contest is eligible to win again.  Even the Herbert Brothers who won the million dollar grand prize can enter again if they want.  A former finalist is only ineligible if they were hired by Fritolay to promote the contest that year.

7.  I asked if the reps thought that repeat finalists had a financial advantage because they could reinvest their prize money into future entries.  They said some people choose to spend a more money on their submissions than other people and that’s up to individual contestants.

That’s a hell of a lot of info and I REALLY appreciate that the reps were so open about the whole process.  But I think this contest looks very different to people who are on the “inside.” So I’d like to address a few points from the perspective of any outsider:

First, on the topic of money:  If you can get your hands on the right equipment and if you’re willing to spend a few thousand dollars on your submission you’re going to be a serious contender in this contest.  And as I’ve said, I think that is totally fair.  The winning ads are going to air on millions of HD TVs on Super Bowl sunday!  You can’t run an ugly-looking commercial if you want to have a shot of scoring well on the ad meter.  During my conversation with the reps from Fritolay, I realized that Doritos NEEDS filmmakers that are willing to make expensive, professional-looking entries.  And every year some of the slickest submissions are made by former finalists.  I think this is one reason finalists are allowed to enter again the year after they win.  It’s like an insurance policy that guarantees that Doritos will always get at least a few tv-quality entries from past winners.  If finalists were required to take a year off after winning then Doritos would miss out on those “safe bet” entries.

Now, on the topic of personal relationships with the judges:  The thing that bothers me most here is the fact that the judges allow themselves to to become friends with the finalists.  And I don’t mean “friendly.”  Judges and finalists apparently become actual friends.  If you spend a few days with a group of people on a SuperBowl trip you’re just going to naturally bond with them.  But as I said, Kuechenmeister and Klein insisted that the judges aren’t picking people for the finals because they all partied together last year.  And I believe them 100%.  The Crash is a multi-million dollar ad campaign.  It would be ludicrous to pick Doritos’ Super Bowl commercial just because the guy who directed it is an awesome dude.

However….the judges in this contest are human beings.  Human beings have feelings and human beings have brains that work on a lot of levels.  Imagine that you’re a judge in this contest and you’ve got to decide between two commercials.  One was made by Potential finalist A and the other was made by Potential Finalist B.  Potential finalist A is a total stranger.  Potential Finalist B was a finalist in the contest last year.  You know that finalist’s name, you’ve met him, you’ve met his girlfriend.  You went to parties and concerts and bars with both of them.  You watched the Super Bowl from a private skybox together.  You got to see the excitement in this guy’s eyes as he waited to see if his commercial was going air during the game.  And maybe you got to see the defeat in his eyes when he learned his ad didn’t air or that he didn’t win one of the bonus prizes.  Then after the game you stayed in touch.  Maybe you even became friends on facebook.  If you did, you would get to hear about every up and down in that person’s life.  You would know if they were struggling or if they got a great job thanks to the contest.  If they didn’t win one of the big prizes you would know if it was their dream to make the finals again and win the million dollars.  Maybe you would even offer them encouragement.  Maybe part of you looked forward to seeing what Potential Finalist B was going to do this time around.

So…in this scenario, who would you rather be?  Potential finalist A or Potential finalist B?  Even if the judges TRY to remain totally objective, isn’t it unfair to the other 6,000 contestants that the judges even HAVE TO try to be objective?  Wouldn’t it be more fair if they just WERE objective?

I feel like kind of a jerk for even saying this but just now, on a whim I signed into facebook and checked to see if Mr. Kuechenmeister had a profile.  He did and it’s set to “public.”  I looked at his list of friends and it looks like he is Facebook friends with almost every Crash the Super Bowl finalist from the last 3 years.  (He only has about 500 friends so he’s not a public figure or anything that people can just friend out of the blue.)  This is relevant for some very important reasons.  Brian  Kuechenmeister is the head of Public relations for Frito-Lay and he’s one of the top decision-makers in the Crash the Super Bowl contest.  I would be willing to bet that no video can even make the finals without his approval.  Only a tiny, tiny percentage of people who enter this contest every year will know the names of any of the judges.  But if you do know who the judges are, and if are able to stay in contact with them between contests you’re basically setting yourself up to be a front runner next time around.

For example, the reps told me that former finalists don’t send their new entries directly to any of the judges.  But when a filmmaker enters the Crash the Super Bowl contest, what’s the first thing he or she does when his or her entry appears in the video gallery?  They post the link to their submission on facebook, of course.  I checked and that’s what three-time Crash the Super Bowl finalist Kevin Willson did on November 20th last year.  Willson is facebook friends with both Kuechenmeister and Klein.  Which means that one day before the contest deadline, Fritolay’s head of Public relations and the Senior marketing director for Doritos would have seen this in their facebook feed:
 

 
Did Willson do anything wrong here?  Hell, no.  The guy should be able to post his entries on his facebook page like everyone else.  I just think that it’s inappropriate that some of the judges in this contest have chosen to follow the efforts of a handful of contestants.  As I’ve said, Doritos received 6,100 Crash the Super Bowl entries this year.  It would take one person about 50 hours to watch every, single submission.  I’d be amazed if the big wigs at Fritolay watched more than a few hundred entries.  They probably only watch the very best submissions.  Willson didn’t need to worry about his entry making it past round after round of judging.  If just one of the contest judges saw that link on Facebook they would have probably though something like “Well, Kevin’s a contender again this year.”  Of course, that would only happen if the entry was any good.  But lots of good entries get snubbed every year.  If two filmmakers each make excellent submissions and one has to survive multiple rounds of judging before it gets to the head of PR for Fritolay and another can get his entry in front of that person before the submission period is even over, is that really a fair process?

And I think I can offer one more piece of evidence that supports my theory that the people who run this contest just get a little to close to some to the winners.  All last month, Doritos had been airing this commercial to encourage viewers to vote in the Crash the Super Bowl contest:
 

 
The ad features clips of several entries that have won the contest over the years.  But it also includes shots of a few non-winning submissions.  I thought the commercial was a fantastic idea when I first saw it.  It was awesome of Doritos to showcase the weird and wonderful work of so many past contestants.  Sure, it would be incredible to make the finals but just having even a few seconds of your goofy Doritos entry air on TV would be pretty sweet.  Plus, it’s fun for viewers to see clips of strange Doritos commercials they’ve never seen before.

But there was one shot in the commercial that seemed familiar to me.  I recognized one of the clips but I couldn’t remember why.  It took me a while but it finally hit me.  I was even able to find the complete submission online:
 

 
That entry is entitled “ChainSaw” and it was shot for the 2010/2011 installment of the Crash the Super Bowl contest.  It didn’t make the finals.  But it was directed by Kevin T. Willson and produced by Heather Kasprzak.  Willson has directed ads that made the CTSB finals for the last three years.  And Kasprzak has produced ads that have made the finals for the last two years. Kasprzak actually produced Willson’s 2010-11 entry. Between them, Willson and Kasprzak have created FOUR COMMERCIALS that have made the Crash the Super Bowl finals.

So it’s obvious why “Chainsaw” appears in that promo.  It was convenient.  In the last two years, the Crash the Super Bowl contest has probably received 10,000 entries.  But the folks at Doritos knew the producers of “Chainsaw” personally.  They didn’t have to dig up their contact info.  They could just call them and ask for permission to use that clip.  And a post-production intern didn’t have to spend weeks searching for a non-winning entry that had something to do with “love.”  I’m sure the judges just remembered that Willson & Kasprzak had shot a high-quality entry that would fit their concept. Heck…maybe this ad even inspired their concept.  Oh and as a bonus, Doritos didn’t even have to pay to use the clip.  I actually asked and Willson and Kasprzak weren’t compensated for the use of their footage.  I’m guessing that’s because if they got paid they would be considered “contractors” and they would not be eligible to enter the contest again next year.

So to someone on the “outside” it looks like Doritos has a few “go-to” filmmakers that they just seem to like to work with every year.  Do I think that anyone at Fritolay is actively conspiring to pick the same winners in this contest over and over?  Absolutely not.  All of the 2012 finalists made entries that were good enough to win…but so did a lot of other people.  To win this contest you need to have talent and make an awesome, hilarious, professional looking submission.  And Doritos gets lots of awesome, hilarious, professional looking submissions every year.  But for some reason it just seems like “the system” favors contestants that have won the Crash before.  Former finalists have lots of cash to play with, they are able to work with the best actors and tech people they can find, they may know the contest is happening again before the news is made public and they just happen to be friends with the people who will be picking the winners.  So it’s not really surprising that the same people can win two or even three years in a row.  But….is it fair?

2012 Crash the Super Bowl winner, Man's Best Friend

It’s about 2:00AM on Monday morning and USA Today just released some ALL of the results of their annual Super Bowl ad meter poll.  And guess what??  The Crash the Super Bowl ad, MAN’S BEST FRIEND scored the number one spot!!!  That means the creator of that ad, Jon Friedman will win Doritos’ ONE MILLION DOLLAR ad meter bonus!  And since his spot was the highest ranking Doritos commercial, Friedman also wins the chance to shoot a project (presumably a Doritos commercial) with the guys from The Lonely Island.

Here’s the entire Top 5 list.  It looks like the other Crash the Super Bowl ad, Sling Baby just missed landing “in the money” and came in 4th.

• Doritos – Man’s Best Friend – 8.82
• Volkswagen – Dog Strikes Back – 8.73
• Skechers – Go Run – 8.57
• Doritos – Sling Baby – 8.48
• M&Ms – Ms. Brown – 8.47

You can see USA Today’s complete ranking here.  But let me save you some skimming:  “The Tease,” the Dannon Yogurt ad that was shot for a Poptent assignment, came in 13th and “Happy Grad” which was shot for a Chevy contest on Mofilm came in 24th.

So all the “Crowdsourced” ads of Super Bowl 46 did pretty well.  But mark my words, Man’s Best Friend’s million dollar win is going to be epic news this week.  That commercial was produced for just 20 dollars!  I interviewed the director a few weeks ago and he said the only expenses were a few bags of doritos and a cat collar. So man….score one for the little guys!

As I mentioned in my last post (the one I wrote before I knew USA Today would be releasing their results tonight) I explained that there are actually two ad meter polls happening this year.  The second poll is being run on facebook and “the public” gets to pick the winners on that one.  Doritos has pledged that if “Sling Baby” can score a spot in the top 3 on that poll they will also pay out a bonus prize to the director of that ad.  Voting ends on Tuesday and I have zero doubt Sling Baby will make the top 3.  Earlier tonight that ad was ranked #3 but now “the public” has pushed it into first.  The team that created Sling Baby are now literally pros when it comes to winning online votes.  So like I said, they’ll make the top 3 for sure.  To vote in the facebbook ad meter poll, head here:  http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/superbowl-admeter

After the results of the facebook ad meter are released on wednesday, the 2011/2012 installment of Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest will finally be over. To mark the end of this year’s contest, we’re going to be running one more story about the Crash next week. In the article we’ll try and answer the big question of 2012: Do former finalists have an unfair advantage in the Crash the Super Bowl contest? For the story I was actually able to interview some of the judges at fritolay who run the contest and who help choose the winners. I was seriously amazed at how open they were about how they pick their finalists every year so if you’re a hardcore CTSB fanatic, you’re definitely going to enjoy that post. Check back on 2/13 for the full story.
 

 
Congratulations to the Man’s Best Friend team and to all the video contest filmmakers who crashed the Super Bowl this year!
 

Well, Super Bowl XLVI is over and the winner is….Video Contest Nerds everywhere! On sunday night, four of the commercials that aired during the big game were originally shot for video contests or online spec assignments. Doritos aired (only) two Crash the Super Bowl ads, Chevy aired the commercial that won Mofilm’s “Route 66″ video contest and Dannon yogurt ran a commercial that was created for a Poptent assignment.  I’ll post all the winning ads below.  Let’s start with the Crash the Super Bowl winners:
 
CRASH THE SUPER BOWL WINNERS:
 
- Man’s Best Friend by Jon Friedman.  AD METER RANK:  #1
 

 
- Sling Baby by Kevin Willson.  AD METER RANK:  #4
 

 
Normally, USA Today would release the results of their annual “Super Bowl ad meter” poll a few hours after the game. But this year, the Crash the Super Bowl winners will have to wait until Wednesday to find out if they won any of Doritos’ bonus prize money. The reason for the delay is that this year, USA Today is running TWO ad meter polls. The first got its results from focus group polling. The people in those groups watched the Super Bowl commercials live and turned up little knobs to indicate when they saw something the liked. The second Ad Meter poll is open to the public and it’s still going on. From now until Tuesday, February 7 at 6:00 pm EST, Facebook users can visit http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/superbowl-admeter and vote for their favorite ad. If a Crash the Super Bowl commercial ranks in the top three on EITHER ad meter, Friotlay will pay out the traditional bonus prizes. First place is worth One Million Dollars, Second is worth $600,000 and Third place is worth $400,000. We will post the results of the “Facebook Ad Meter” as soon as they are announced on Wednesday morning.
 
And now, the other winning video contest entries of Super Bowl 46:
 
-Happy Grad for Chevy by Zach Borst:
 

 
Chevy aired a few commercials during the big game but I think Happy Grad was the best Chevy ad of the night. In my opinion it blew away the other Chevy commercials even though the other spots were big budget extravaganzas about skydiving cars and the Mayan apocalypse.
 
-The Tease for Oikos Yogurt by Remy Neymarc:
 

 
How the “The Tease” came to be is kind of an interesting story. Dannon ran a very special, private assignment on Poptent and asked members to create video “pitches” for a Oikos Greek Yogurt commercial that could feature John Stamos. 24 filmmakers shot their commercials using stand-ins for Stamos. The folks at Dannon picked their favorite and the chosen director got to re-shoot his idea. You can read the full story here.

Based on the quality of the ads we saw tonight, I think we’ll be seeing A LOT of “Crowdsourced” commercials during next year’s Superbowl. I watched the game in a crowded bar and all of the video contest entries went over pretty well. To my surprise, the Dannon yogurt ad made a lot of people laugh out loud. Chevy’s “Happy Grad” got a mild but positive reaction. “Sling baby” got some chuckles from one group of older women. One of them screamed with laughter but the men in the bar didn’t really react to that spot. The champ of the night though had to be “Man’s Best Friend.” People went bonkers for that one and most of my friends seemed to think it was the best commercial of the game. But like I said, all these ads did pretty well so all the winning filmmakers deserve a hearty “congratulations.” There’s still time for you to help make this year’s crop of Super Bowl video contest entries look good so head here to vote for them in USA Today’s Facebook ad meter poll.
 

The hot, wild girls of "Hot Wild Girls"

When the Crash the Super Bowl finalists were announced on January 4th, I was pleasantly surprised to see that an ad entitled “Hot Wild Girls” had made the Top 5.  Though the commercial was clever, topical and funny, it seemed like kind of an “outside the box” pick for doritos.  It didn’t feature anyone getting brutalized and it wasn’t an over-produced, super-slick interpretation of “user generated content.”  Instead it actually feels like real,  authentic, UGC.  It looks like it was shot by a few buddies in their living room because it was!  And while it does feature dogs, at least they weren’t trying to trick a cruel human into dropping his Doritos on the ground. (I was positive we’d see another “dog gets his revenge” ad this year since there were so many copycats in the gallery)

So I was really glad to see this spot make the finals.  And I was even more pleased when I found out “Hot Wild Girls” was made by a friend of VCN!  The ad was written by a reader named Eric Delgado of San Antonio, TX.  This is kind of insane but for the second time in about 8 months, Eric has a serious shot at winning a million dollars in a video contest.  Over the summer, he and his friends made the finals in Gain’s “Smell Like a Million Bucks” competition.  Ultimately his team didn’t win that contest but it seems like that brush with victory inspired them to “go big” when it came time to enter the biggest video contest of them all; Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest.  And now, here’s out Q&A with Eric:

VCN:  Tell me about the “Hot Wild Girls” team.  Who are you guys?

ERIC:  Nate Watkin, Brad Scott and Eric Delgado. We are ex-MMA fighters from Denver, CO and San Antonio, TX with a combined record of 1-27 (Brad got the W because the other dude tapped out upon entering the cage claiming that Brad was “too pretty to hit.”)  Actually, Nate (my cousin) and Brad are the co-founders of their production company, Definite Productions, based in Denver.  They’ve been working together for about four years producing commercials and videos.  Last year, after Nate saw my Doritos entry for last year’s CTSB, we decided that we should work together on a future project since we all had a passion for comedic commercials.

The "Hot Wild Girls" team

VCN:  Have you guys entered many video contests in the past?

ERIC:  As a team, it’s our second contest.. We entered the Gain “Smell Like a Million Bucks” contest this past summer and we were actually a Top 25 finalist for the million dollar prize.  Sadly, we didn’t win.  That’s why we are pretty stoked about this Doritos opportunity.  We realize that we’ve overcome some pretty ridiculous odds and we are extremely grateful to be in this position.  Beardy’s Note:  Here’s his team’s Gain entry.  That’s Eric playing the role of the Repair Man:

 

 
VCN:  What made you want to enter the CTSB contest?

ERIC:  Honestly.. The opportunity to have our commercial/vision broadcasted to over 120 million people worldwide via the Super Bowl and the doors that’ll hopefully open as a result.. And of course the money.   The money part should actually immediately follow the “Honestly..” mentioned above.  What? Just sayin’.

VCN:  Where did the idea for your entry come from?

ERIC:  My cranium.. But knowing you Beardy, you probably want some details.  I knew we needed something that was “trendy”.  I also knew the power of animals in a commercial.  I wrote and wrote for a few hours until finally I came up with dialogue that fulfilled the “twist” which, coincidentally, added the final ingredient… Gorgeous girls.  I love those girls Beardy…I have no problem admitting that.

VCN:  How was the ad produced?  What kind of camera did you use?  Mind if I ask what your budget was?

ERIC:  Pre-production consisted of a week of casting talent, securing a location, and locating 3 Rottweiler’s (thank you Camp Bow Wow!) that could work together.  We had a $2,000.00 budget that was used to pay the talent and makeup artist.  A friend loaned us the RED One camera to shoot this ad.  Nate and Brad chose this camera for it’s amazing picture quality and control of the final image.  Since our intention was hopefully to have this ad broadcasted, we felt it was best fit to shoot at a higher resolution.  We shot on-location during a 5-hour period and had to work around the shifting daylight.  All footage was logged within an hour of completing the shoot, and then edited the next day with a final that night due to the deadline of the contest.

Whoa, nice camera!

VCN:  So who gets to go to the Super Bowl?

ERIC:  Nate and Brad.  However, if the Cowboys we’re still in the playoffs, this would be a little different.  Stupid Cowboys.

VCN:  What are you doing to promote Hot Wild Girls?

ERIC:  Media (News/newspaper/radio interviews).. Social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, buzzfeed.com, etc.).. Website (hotwildgirls.tv).. Guerrilla marketing (fliers, posters, word of mouth, etc.)

VCN:  What has been the reaction of your family and friends to all this?

ERIC:  They have been AMAZINGLY supportive!  They are extremely proud and happy for us.. And we couldn’t be happier to have them along for the ride. We love ya’ll!!!  All that time spent in the past voting for a friend’s “Cutest Baby”, “Best Restaurant”, or “Prettiest Puppy” is finally paying off.

VCN:  Here on VCN we’ve talked a lot about finalists who are able to win the CTSB more than once.  Are you already planning your entry for 2013?

ERIC:  Absolutely. However, I hope they just announce the winner(s) before December 21, 2012. If I’m going down, I’d at least like to know that our commercial WOULD have aired during Super Bowl XLVII.

VCN:  Any final thoughts you’d care to share?

ERIC:  Yes.. And this is for your frequent visitors (like us.. fellow “Joe Handycams”) Beardy. There will always be people out there that criticize your work.  They’ll try and blast your creation on websites, forums, or maybe even the “comments” section under that YouTube video that you were proud to post even after a contest you didn’t win.  Who cares.. Let them criticize while you continue to create.  We are by no means experts in this art.. It simply makes us happy.

VCN:  Well said!

 

 
I’ve been voting for “Hot Wild Girls” every day and I think you should be doing the same.  It’s a cool, funny ad I’m hoping that if it airs during the Super Bowl and scores well on the ad meter, maybe next year Doritos will be inspired to make “outside of the box” picks when it comes time to choose their 2013 Crash the Super Bowl finalists.  To vote for Hot Wild Girls, just click here!

That's like 2 days from now!

On Thursday morning Fritolay is finally going to announce the 5 consumer-made Doritos commercials that will have a shot at airing during Super Bowl 46. According to USA Today, this time around, Doritos received a record 6,100 Crash the Superbowl entries!  You don’t have to be Rain Man to figure out that that 6,100 entries and only 5 finalist slots means that each submission has pretty much a 1 in 1,220 shot of making the next round.  So it’s pretty much impossible to guess which ads will wind up winning.  But I love a good challenge so just for the heck of it, I thought I’d take a shot and list five entries that I predict will make the Crash the Super Bowl finals this year.  Of course, if I get even just one of these guesses right I’ll feel pretty darn proud of myself.  Like I said…the odds are kind of ridiculous here.  But I actually suspect that 2 or maybe even 3 of these commercials will make the final five.

It should be noted that this short list doesn’t represent my personal favorite Crash the Superbowl entries.  These are the submissions that I think the judges at FritoLay are most likely to pick based on their past choices.  I’ll present my 5 choices without commentary.  To watch an ad, just click on the image:

Bird of Prey

Kitty Heist

Imaginary Fiend

My Friend Archie

Sling Baby

Actually, I have one more prediction I’d like to make; since there were 6,100 entries and since I apparently only watched about 60% of the submissions, I’m guessing that one or two finalists will be entries I’ve never even seen before.  If you have any predictions of your own, feel free to post your opinions in the comment section.   And be sure to stop here on Thursday morning to find out just how wrong or just how right my picks were.

There's more than one way to crash the Super Bowl

Just before Christmas, Mofilm revealed the finalists in Chevy’s Route 66 Super Bowl commercial contest.  This mega-competition was open to filmmakers from all over the world and the winning ad will play during the 2012 SuperBowl.  The top filmmaker will also receive $25,000 Actually, there are a bunch of cash prizes at stake and there will be different winners from different regions of the globe.

So how are the winners determined?  A public vote…right?  Wrong!  Though the video gallery is full of ways you can “like” or share the finalists, views and votes will have no impact on which videos will win.  Judges have the final say in all stages of this contest which is the only way a contest like this should be run.  The only reason that companies bother with public votes is because it’s a free and easy form of publicity.  But Mofilm came up with a very clever way to get that cheap social media coverage without diluting the integrity of their contest.  They are running a side competition where the “Top Sharer” of the chosen commercials will win $10,000.  Basically whoever directs the most viewers to the contest site wins.  If you want to try and get in on that action, head here.

I’ve watched all 32 finalist commercials and they range from pretty bad to pretty awesome.  There are a few ads that seem like they only made it this far because they were the only decent entries that came out of a particular region.  But I’d say at least 80% of the finalist spots are very strong.  Here are two of my favorites.  Click the images to view:

Keys by Charles Hayes, USA:  From Mofilm:  Every key has a purpose…and every production has its challenges. Fim Fact: On day one our producer had her car broken into and all the props stolen. But, from the moment we came up with this we knew we had something touching, so through torrential rain, home made jibs and lots of favours, we pushed through and produced something we all love!

Keys

Cindy, I Love You by Jude Chun, Korea:  From Mofilm:  A man goes above and beyond, determined to finish one last item on a bucket list.

Cindy, I Love You

Keys is so professional that it could start airing on TV today and no one would ever suspect it was shot for a video contest.  Cindy, I Love You is pretty weird and the twist at the end is a little grim and heavy-handed but for some reason I just really like it.  Like I said, there are a bunch of good submissions and you should take a few minutes to scroll through Mofilm’s beautiful video gallery.  (Seriously, its classy and clean design puts Doritos obnoxious and loud Crash the Super Bowl gallery to shame.)  But if you only have time to watch one of these ads, watch this one:

Chevy Driving Academy by Kenneth Wales & Jason Lansing, USA:  From Mofilm:  A man is put to the test to see if he has what it takes to become a Chevy driver. Film Fact: The shoot was as intense as the Driving Academy – the actor almost threw up after multiple takes from flipping upside-down, it took 4 hours to hit the mark when shooting the Corvette and the Dealer was never meant to be bald…until they met Amazon!

Chevy Driving Academy

Pretty damn good, huh?  I’ll be amazed if that one doesn’t win the top prize.  To view all of the Chevy finalists, head here:  http://chevroletroute66.msn.com