It may have been the finest bit of comedy in any Super Bowl commercial last Sunday, and it came in the form of a legal disclaimer.
In the spot, an ornery grandma uses a baby’s Jolly Jumper as a slingshot, snatching a bag of Doritos from a spoiled child on top of a backyard play set. Chip maker Frito-Lay added a helpful bit of fine print as the infant was hurtled through the air: “Do Not Attempt.”
Luckily for amateur filmmaker Kevin Willson, he did attempt. He took part in the sixth Crash the Super Bowl contest, in which Frito Lay invited U.S. customers to submit their own ads for a chance to make it to television during the big game. And now Mr. Willson is $1-million (U.S.) richer. This year, Doritos paid out more prize money than ever, as both of the user-generated ads it placed in the broadcast dominated ratings of viewers’ best-loved commercials.
It’s a sign of the brand’s growing commitment to a strategy that is gaining momentum in the advertising industry: Get consumers to make the ads. And it’s not just paying off for the would-be creative directors lucky enough to win contests such as the one from Doritos. It’s also helping marketers to make an impact: The baby ad was No. 1 on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter this year (the measure Frito-Lay uses to determine whether it pays the $1-million prize). Of the top 10 in that list, three were not made on Madison Avenue.
Both Doritos winners made the top 10. The third was an ad for Dannon Oikos Greek yoghurt, produced in partnership with L.A. agency Poptent, which crowd-sources ideas from its community of creators, including aspiring filmmakers. The final ad, starring John Stamos, came out of 34 different submitted concepts, filmed with a Stamos stand-in.
“Years ago, big brands had policies that we couldn’t take any unsolicited ideas from the public,” says David Jones, vice-president of social strategy at Proximity, a Toronto agency. Large companies feared the legal ramifications of marketing campaigns that were hatched outside of the classical agency relationship, in case disputes over the genesis of an idea ever came up. “That’s been turned on its ear, and [user-generated content] has been embraced.”
There is reason to be fearful that consumer-generated ad campaigns could take on a life of their own. In 2006, Chevrolet built a website with a TV spot featuring the Tahoe sport utility vehicle, and allowed visitors to put their own text in the ads. The write-your-own campaign backfired, as some visitors inserted text criticizing the vehicles as gas guzzlers that contribute to global warming. But in the social media world, companies are recognizing more and more that while they need to keep some control over such efforts, connecting with their consumers is no longer optional. That realization is spurred on by campaigns like the Doritos Super Bowl contest that have seen mass success.
The trend has come to Canada as well: Last spring, Proximity worked with the Doritos marketing team here on a campaign called “The End,” which invited Canadian customers to write the end of an ad, choosing one of two flavours to be taken off the shelves. The winner received a $25,000 prize and 1 per cent of all future sales of the surviving chip flavour in Canada.
“Consumers have left [behind] the notion of being an ‘armchair’ brand worshipper,” says Haneen Khalil, marketing manager for Doritos in Canada.
Frito Lay Canada continued to communicate with the winner all last year, asking her for feedback on products and campaigns before they went to market. Doritos is currently planning a new campaign in Canada, coming soon, building on the concept of user-generated content, Ms. Khalil says.
