SUPER BOWL UPSET

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February 3rd, 2009

The biggest upset at the Super Bowl? No, it wasn’t the Arizona Cardinals beating the spread. To me, it was that the top-rated commercial during the broadcast was created not by some hotshot creative team at some gargantuan Omnicom agency. But rather by a couple of brothers from Batesville, Indiana.

Joe Herbert and his brother Dave are living the ultimate ad guy dream. The spot they submitted to Doritos for their “Crash the Super Bowl” contest not only won $25,000 for being one of five finalists picked by Doritos to air during the Super Bowl. It also scored the brothers Herbert a cool million dollars for coming out on top in USA Today’s annual Super Bowl “Ad Meter.” (USA Today’s 2009 Ad Meter: Best Super Bowl Commercials) The self-produced spot beat out 10-year incumbent Budweiser for top honors.

The spot purportedly was produced for less than $2,000 and was shot at a local YMCA.

How refreshing! It renews my faith in this business when two guys with a simple, well-produced idea can whup star creative teams from global agencies with all their focus groups, big name Hollywood directors, mega-million dollar effects budgets and PR hype machines.

Of course, Doritos scored big, too. The attention the client garnered by sponsoring the contest along with the post Super Bowl ad reviews gave the client a great return on its investment.

Thank you, Joe and Dave, for reminding us that in marketing, great ideas rule. And such things as big names, big budgets and big egos really mean very little.

Just don’t come to our office expecting free Doritos.

Posted by Mickey