Doritos Super Bowl ad chosen by a Facebook vote

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Posted 18 January 2012 16:45pm by David Moth with 1 comment

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Doritos' Super Bowl ads will be created by the public again this year, with the overall winner chosen by a Facebook vote.

The Pepsico brand has used user generated ads during the Super Bowl several times since 2007, and the 'Crash The Super Bowl' commercials have proven to be extremely popular.

Doritos ads came joint first and fourth in the 2011 USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter.

Yomego research and insight manager Kirsty Bell said the ads appeal to viewers as people tend to have a natural interest in others and their lives.

When we think about some of the most popular videos on YouTube, for example, they are often drawn from real life –the Fenton video, and Charlie Bit Me have both reached an audience of millions, despite their poor production quality – but they are charming, and humorous.

Still, it is somewhat of a gamble when you consider that a 30 second advert during the 2011 Super Bowl cost $3.5m.

Fans can vote for their favourite ad on Facebook, a dedicated microsite or through Xbox consoles.

So far around 250,000 people have voted, and as you have to register an email address and date of birth to vote this means plenty of data for Pepsico.

Bell said that the tie in with social networks is a powerful tool for promoting the campaign and pushing up voting numbers.

The brand already has over 2.2m fans on Facebook, so it will be easier to launch the campaign and continue the momentum by levering this audience, rather than having a standing start. The NFL angle is also a strong suit to play, and the connection and relevancy of Doritos to sports fans is clear.

To encourage more people to vote, Doritos will randomly select one person to win $10,000 for every 100,000 votes cast.

The ad that garners the most votes will be shown during the Super Bowl and stands to win $1m if it rates as the top advert on the USA Today Ad Meter.

The creator will also get to work with comedy group The Lonely Island who have gained a big following on YouTube. 

So the Crash The Super Bowl campaign would appear to have it all: relevancy, strong incentives, a strong social element and a celebrity tie-in.

And it's a formula that has proven to get results, so it is easy to see why Doritos is rolling it out again in 2012.

David Moth is a Reporter at Econsultancy. You can follow him on Twitter.