We had an opportunity to record a podcast with Dale Backus and Wes Phillips, the creators of the “Live the Flavor” ad that won last year’s Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. Their ad was selected by USA Today last week as the best ad of 2007.
Click on the player below to start the podcast:
Dale and Wes spoke with Cymfony CMO Jim Nail about creating the breakthrough ad and and how they leveraged online word of mouth to get people excited about voting for them. The visibility they gained from this contest jump started their video production shop and opened doors for them at Sony Pictures and led to additional work with Doritos.
When asked about this year's "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, the team had mixed feelings. They both like this year’s Doritos consumer-created music contest, but they feel a music video ad will end up benefiting the performer more than the brand. Last year, it was the other way around. The ad contest was all about featuring images of the product and key brand attributes. Here are some of the comments from Dale and Wes:
“Our ad was definitely very iconic, and that attracted a lot of people to use screenshots from our ad in print and other media, because it was so easy. With the cheesy frame, we had the Doritos bag and it said Doritos clearly so you can really tell exactly what is going on.”
“Translating that brand ownership of the ad was easy in what we did versus the music video. I’m curious as what will be in that video. Will it be a lot of Doritos brand-related things, or will it be really about the song.”
“(In our ad) every shot had a Doritos bag in it ... to get that lasting appeal and memory that it was a Doritos ad. This music video may not have the lasting brand appeal.”
This is an insightful discussion with some very savvy (and now award winning) ad guys. I hope you take a few minutes to give it a listen and add your comments here. If you don’t have the time to listen now, simply search “Cymfony” in iTunes and add the podcast to your iPod.
You can find Dale and Wes and their company 5PointProductions at www.5pointproductions.com
Know what I don't understand about Super Bowl advertisers? Why so few take advantage of the chance to drive consumers to the Web AND gain permission to send interesting HTML email advertising again and again. A genuinely integrated TV/Web/email campaign could be far more profitable than most traditional approaches. After the initial opt in, email is the closest thing you'll find to a free ride from a media standpoint. What gives?
Posted by: Robert Rosenthal | January 16, 2008 at 09:12 PM