Contest With $1 Million Prize for Consumers' Commercials Goes After Pregame Buzz and Anheuser-Busch's Top RankingWhen it comes to pumping out Super Bowl ads that score well with viewers, Anheuser-Busch is widely acknowledged to be the master. This year, PepsiCo has a new tactic to steal some of the brewer's limelight with new youth marketing techniques.
The snack-and-beverage company is offering $1 million to anyone who can create a Super Bowl commercial for its Doritos tortilla chip brand that trumps all other ads in viewer rankings during the gridiron matchup. It's part of an effort to raise the stakes on a contest the company ran two years ago.
PepsiCo is offering $1 million to anyone who can produce a Doritos ad good enough to top a viewer poll at the Super Bowl.
PepsiCo would, of course, love to win top honors, as measured by USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter, one of the more popular Super Bowl ad polls. But the company also has another motive with its contest. By dangling a $1 million prize, it hopes to dominate the months of pregame buzz, which many public-relations and ad executives say is far more valuable than winning the myriad Super Bowl ad polls.
This has become a critical way to help offset the high costs of youth marketing during the Super Bowl. Ad time for this season's game is selling for about $3 million for 30 seconds, up about 10% from last season.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance, for example, generated 3,584 news stories about its Super Bowl ad in 2007, which starred Kevin Federline, Britney Spears's ex-husband, working in a fast-food chain. The company estimates its push generated $23.3 million in free publicity. (Public-relations firms calculate these figures by assigning dollar values to every single media mention, whether it's a story in the Chicago Tribune or a piece on a local NBC affiliate.)
To top the polls, PepsiCo's consumer-generated ad would have to outperform the King of Beers, which has won the top spot for the past 10 years in a row, thanks in part to a highly detailed pregame ritual. Its formula involves multiple ad shoots and pregame focus groups around the country to measure viewers' minute-by-minute reactions to its spots.
"We're always impressed with the array of creative the Super Bowl brings, and we'll watch the game like we always do toasting with some of our fine beers and enjoying the show," says Bob Lachky, chief creative officer at Anheuser-Busch.
Doritos' marketers are trying to revive the excitement they created at the Super Bowl two seasons ago with a contest inviting consumers to submit their own 30-second ads for the famous triangular chip. It marked the first time marketers used consumer-generated ads at the big game, putting PepsiCo on the cutting edge of a new trend that shook up Madison Avenue by proving some ordinary folks, too, can create ads that can measure up to what highly paid creative executives produce.
The contest generated $36 million in free publicity for Doritos before and after the game, a Doritos executive told a conference in March 2007. Two spots, chosen from five finalists in an online consumer poll, aired during the game.
One ad, showing a love-struck driver crashing, crunching his face and bag of Doritos into a steering wheel at the sight of a pretty Doritos fan, scored 7.95 out of a possible 10 points in the poll and came in fourth behind three Anheuser ads.
The other, showing a supermarket cashier flirting with a Doritos-loving customer as she rang up bags of chips, scored 6.18.
Doritos didn't have as much luck with its contest for last season's Super Bowl. PepsiCo asked people to submit original music for a chance to have their tune aired during the game. But its winning video ended up lowest-ranked on the USA Today poll, scoring a 4.5.
The bigger winner: Budweiser with a spot featuring a Dalmatian training a Clydesdale to make the beer wagon team. The spot scored 8.73.
Doritos made a save by also showing another finalist ad from the previous year's hit contest; it scored 7.95, coming in fourth in the poll.
Now, Doritos' marketers face the challenge of finding an ad that will stand out at a time when consumer-generated advertising is no longer a hot trend.
"The newness that made it special in 2007 is gone -- now it's just another ad," says Dave Balter, chief executive of BzzAgent, a word-of-mouth media company based in Boston. "They are trying to manufacture buzz."
Ann Mukherjee, vice president of marketing for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay snack unit, says the company decided to offer the $1 million prize as an appropriate way to raise the stakes.
"Who knows?" she said when asked if she believes a consumer can beat out Anheuser-Busch. Doritos fans have shown themselves to be "amazing, talented individuals. The important thing is we're giving them the opportunity."
Even if none of five finalists topples Bud, each will still receive $25,000 and a trip to the Super Bowl.
The ad that wins the most votes in an online poll will be aired during the game. Voting will occur in January.
By: Betsy McKay and Suzanne Vranica
Wall Street Journal; September 24, 2008
