Marketers turn to amateurs for Super Bowl ads

Allison Linn Senior writer • Profile • E-mail

For much of last fall, Jared Cicon estimated that he spent about 60 hours a week thinking about, dreaming of and yes, eating Doritos.

In the end, he shot — and often starred in — 10 commercials for the snack, nine of which he eventually asked the potato chip maker to consider for airing at this year's Super Bowl.

Cicon isn’t an ad agency executive or a commercial director — he’s a wedding photographer who hopes his submissions to an advertising contest will help him break into the filmmaking business.

“I wanted to become a better filmmaker anyways,” the 42-year-old said recently. “The Doritos contest was a real excuse to put my nose to the grindstone.”

The Super Bowl may be the ultimate celebration of the couch potato, but this year some companies are asking fans to get off the cushions and do some work.

A handful of advertisers, including the National Football League and Doritos, have invited consumers to submit their own ideas for commercials to air during the Feb. 4 game. For the winners, the contests carry the promise of actual air time on what is considered the biggest — and most costly — television advertising event of the year.

Frito-Lay Jared Cicon says he gained nine pounds sampling the product in his ads.

The idea of allowing regular people a say in an ad that could cost millions to air isn’t completely unexpected, given the massive popularity of YouTube and other post-your-own video Web sites. It also reflects a growing trend toward giving people more power over when, where and how they use media, via everything from podcasts to TiVo.

“We see consumer behavior shifting. People want more control,” said Brian Haven, a senior analyst with Forrester Research who studies advertising.

Still, several analysts have been surprised that major brand names have chosen to take such a gamble on the Super Bowl, one of the costliest and most-watched events on television. They say it shows how eager — or perhaps desperate — companies are to get their brands noticed and to make consumers feel like they are engaged in the product.

THE WINNERS ARE ... Click the links below to check out the contest. Alka-Seltzer NFL Doritos Chevrolet

“It signifies a major shift,” said Neil Alperstein, professor of advertising and pop culture at Loyola College in Baltimore.

The gamble may pay off, but such contests also carry a huge risk because there is no guarantee they will result in a commercial that’s any good. It’s especially dicey on Super Bowl Sunday, when advertisers can expect millions of people to tune in and judge the ads mercilessly against professionally produced peers. Companies that relied on amateur creative talent are unlikely to get much leeway.

“I don’t think saying it was produced by somebody in Nebraska or at home in a basement gives them an out,” said Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Advertisers know the pressure they face. When Lisa Baird first brought up the idea of having regular football fans come up with an ad promoting the NFL, she said her colleagues were wary.

“People were nervous,” said Baird, NFL’s senior vice president of marketing and consumer products. “I’m nervous."

More than 1,700 people eventually pitched their ideas for an NFL ad, including everyone from wannabe advertising executives to ordinary football fans. The live audition process turned out to be a marketing tool in its own right, drawing local and national press in addition to the fans.

Still, Baird insisted the ad pitch contest isn’t just a gimmick.

“It’s clearly more than a fad and more than a way to get PR,” she said. “Here’s a very viable way to create authentic, sincere stories about your brand.”

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