A pair of brothers from Batesville not only claimed the top prize in Doritos' Super Bowl commercial contest by getting it aired during the big game, they also apparently won the top spot on USA Today's ad meter measuring the impact of the commercials during the game. If you missed it, here it is.
What does this increasing phenomenon of David beating Goliath tell us? Well, first and foremost, any time a man gets popped in the pills by a flying object, it is memorable. (America's Funniest Videos did not thrive on Bob Saget's charm alone.) more >>>
Secondly, concept is king. You can have all the money in the world, but if the campaign isn't rooted in a simple concept, it will fail. On the flip side, sometimes spots are simple to a fault, lacking any unique personality or character development. The Doritos spot definitely scored points for personality.
Also, this is the kind of commercial that would die in committee. Someone high enough up would say, "Why would the other guy throw the snow globe? What could he possibly have hit that would get him the promotion?" Or someone in a focus group would throw out an "I don't get it" while the creative team behind the glass choked on their M&Ms.
Was it the best commercial of the Super Bowl? No. Monster and CareerBuilder can duke it out for that in our humble opinion. But the Batesville boys do reinforce the value of relating to the audience in a lowest-common-denominator kind of way, making a pretty good commercial with one failsafe, albeit cliched and overdone, punchline.
UPDATE: Upon repeated viewing, this commercial is decidedly mediocre. Between the music and the overacting by Judge Reinhold's stunt double, it becomes quickly unwatchable. But hey, they've got their million dollar prize, and I've got my sour grapes.
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