Doritos Super Bowl ad crowdsourcing allows Fashionista Daddy to strut

Doritos Super Bowl campaign has everyone’s head turning. It even has some people strutting.

Over 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year and many come not for the football. No, many come simply to see the millions spent on some of the most entertaining ads on the planet. The Super Bowl is a three-hour plus parade of comedy, creativity, polish, and very, very focused marketing. And there’s a game to boot.

So in the midst of this enormous spend, it’s remarkable that some of the best commercials cost the advertiser nothing to produce. Doritos crowdsources their ads through their brilliant Crash the Super Bowl contest that last year produced a million-dollar prize winner when Kevin Willson topped the USA Today Ad Meter for Slingbaby. We covered Slingbaby before, during and after the game and were thrilled to see Kevin win. We’d like to think we can pick ‘em.

And before you think crowdsourcing is a way to get content, think again. Doritos crowdsources the promotion as well. More on that in a minute.

Picking ‘em

Our choice this year is Fashionista Daddy, directed by Mark Freiburger of Los Angeles. Before we go any further, watch this great video. When you’re done, we’ll tell you why we think it will win.

We think Fashionista Daddy will win because first and foremost, it is entertaining. But beyond that it has a team behind it that understand the advertising and marketing worlds.

Freiburger and Producer Nate Scoggins, also of Los Angeles, aren’t newcomers to video production and knew going in that they had to have something unique, much like Slingbaby last year. I caught up with Mark and asked him what he thought made his entry special. Here’s what he told me:

Fashionista Daddy has a unique father-daughter story that isn’t in any of the other ads this year.  We wanted to create a hilarious piece that would make the whole family laugh, instead of just trying to make a commercial geared toward one target demo. Fortunately, the father-daughter aspect of the commercial has gotten a great response since the top 5 finalists were revealed.  It seems like audiences have really taken to it.

Freiburger explained that in the industry, there is high value to a “four quadrant” idea: A concept that appeals equally to the young, the old, female and male viewers. Going in, they knew this was an important ingredient and enlisted the help of experienced writer Gabe Trevino to come up with the idea.

Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding

Freiburger is surprised that more companies aren’t following Doritos’ lead, considering that every year the fan-made ads dominate the USA Today Ad Meter. This is his first time entering the contest, his first shot at commercials, and his only previous crowdsourcing experience has been donating to friends’ projects on Kickstarter. Inspiring his effort, a friend raised $10K and made a film accepted into this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Several members of the team submitted entries in previous years and Producer Nate Scoggins likes their chances this year. Scoggins says:

We noticed that many of the submitted videos were zombie ideas or something that might be off putting. Gabe knew that from a branding perspective, Doritos would want entertainment that is acceptable to a large audience. We wanted to craft something with comedy and heart that featured their product in an entertaining way.

Scoggins is working with Freiburger and an entire team to invite people along on a journey that culminates at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans on February 3rd. It isn’t about begging for votes as that has diminishing returns. The secret is to get as many people as possible to vote twice per day at their Facebook site and on a mobile device. They need to draw people in and build momentum.

Building a team

They’ll be rolling out content over the next few weeks that includes a game, “…involving fashion and fathers in a very fun way” and they have other content surprises as well. They understand that the crowdsourcing doesn’t stop when the video is submitted. To win this contest, the Fashionista Daddy team needs to create an ongoing experience not unlike cheering for your favorite team.

You see, you’ve just become part of that crowdsourcing. By reading this article and taking the time to click through to their Facebook page, you have the opportunity to cheer for Fashionista Daddy along with the rest of us. You have a chance at a second pick for the game that maybe you have more control over than a football team. You have a chance to win even if your football team loses.

You have a chance to win even if you don’t like football.

Your crowdsourcing media kit:

Twitter handle: @fashionistadad

Facebook: http://facebook.com/fashionistadaddy

View and vote: http://bit.ly/VoteFashionistaDaddy