Doritos Will Crash the Super Bowl Again in 2025

During its 10-year run from 2006-2016, Doritos’ ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ campaign gave fans the chance to create some of the most memorable Super Bowl ads of all time. The ads topped the USA TODAY Ad Meter four times, and some of the creators went on to receive commercial work and Hollywood representation.

During that decade, fans submitted over 30,000 unique ads, and until November 11th this year, fans have the chance to once again send in their ads to ‘Crash’ the Big Game next year. The fan-voted winner will become Doritos’ official Super Bowl LIX spot, and win $1 million plus a trip to the Big Game.

To support the return of the competition after its eight-year hiatus, Doritos is releasing two digital ads featuring previous winners ‘Goat 4 Sale’ and ‘House Rules’, as well as original characters, including Ben Callner, who also directed the new commercials, and actor and director Dion Lack. Billboard ads and social content will also feature previous fan criticisms, hoping to inspire and challenge the new ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ entrants.

To find out why the campaign is making a return and how the new Super Bowl marketing landscape affects this iteration, LBB’s Ben Conway spoke with Tina Mahal, SVP of marketing at PepsiCo Foods North America.

LBB> It will be nine years since Doritos last 'Crashed the Super Bowl' – why is now the right time to bring the campaign back? 

Tina> This will be Doritos’ 25th year airing an ad during the Super Bowl, so it is the perfect time to reintroduce ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ – one of our most iconic campaigns of all time. When we first launched the campaign in 2006, this contest was the first of its kind – no other brand had put its biggest advertising moment of the year in the hands of fans.

During its 10-year run, the campaign generated some of the most memorable Doritos ads of all time. With the relaunch of ‘Crash the Super Bowl’, we’re reaffirming its commitment to co-creation and bold innovation. We’re excited to see what epic ideas our fans come up with this year!

LBB> What's the strategy behind this campaign, versus creating a traditional ad with an agency for the Big Game?

Tina> The strategy is – and always was – putting the power in the hands of our fans, because we believe the best ideas come from unexpected places. While a lot has changed in the nearly 20 years since we introduced it, the heart of ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ has remained the same and part of what makes the campaign so iconic. 

We’re also taking the opportunity to dust off some of the internet comments Doritos ads have received over the years and issuing a challenge. Since we know the millions who watch the Super Bowl all think they can make better ads than advertisers, Doritos is giving them the chance to prove it and see if they can do better than we could for the chance to win $1 million.

LBB> During the campaign's original 10-year run, the ads broke into the top five on USA TODAY's Ad Meter every year, coming first four times. Why does the fan-created content connect with Super Bowl viewers so well?

Tina> ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ didn’t just make a splash because we were turning our platform over to our fans for the chance to win life-changing prizes – it made a splash because of the chart-topping ads those fans were creating. These commercials resonated with viewers because of the bold creativity of our fans. From a Doritos-loving goat to a homemade time machine to three dogs in a trench coat and beyond, these incredible ideas may not have seen the light of day if developed through traditional advertising methods. But, within the ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ contest, creators were able to bring their wildest ideas to life.

Above: Doritos - 'House Rules'

LBB> How has marketing, specifically at the Super Bowl, evolved since 2016? How will your approach to the campaign be different to the first run, considering the teaser culture, and larger social media aspect around the Big Game spots today?

Tina> So much has changed since we last launched ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ nearly 10 years ago. Anyone can be a ‘creator’ now, and we have access to so much more creative and ad-making tools than we previously did. Unlike the first run of ‘Crash the Super Bowl’, there is a more social-first nature amongst today’s creators and audiences, so we anticipate this to come through in some of the submissions. We hope some will be shot entirely on an iPhone, maybe even a few vertical submissions. 

There will also be a gallery on the DoritosCrash.com website so that fans can see what’s going on even before semi finalists and finalists are announced.

LBB> The digital campaign promoting this year's contest uses previous winners – 'Goat 4 Sale' and 'House Rules'. Why were these selected, and what made them so successful/beloved? 

Tina> When we decided to leverage creative inspired by previous winners, these two spots, ‘Goat 4 Sale’ and ‘House Rules’, immediately came to mind for us because of their iconicity and memorability. Even though those two ads are beloved, internet critics still thought they could do better and let us know so in their comments. 

We were able to bring back two of our original winners to direct and star in the new iterations – Ben Callner of ‘Goat 4 Sale’ directed both spots and Dion Lack of ‘House Rules’ reprised his role and re-lived the slap. Since their ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ wins, Ben and Dion have gone on to do amazing things with their careers, so we knew leaning into the criticism with their help would be the perfect way to issue our challenge.

LBB> The campaign will also feature previous fan criticisms of the ads on billboards and socials. How are you going about collecting these comments?

Tina> After 24 years of Super Bowl advertisements, there were plenty of fan criticisms to choose from, so we had our work cut out for us in terms of social listening and combing through the archives. To bring back one of our most well-known campaigns, we wanted to do it in a bold way by calling out the critics and challenging them to make a better ad than Doritos can.

 

LBB> Who will be on the panel of judges for the contest this year? And how can people get involved?

Tina> Later this year, the submissions will be reviewed by a qualified panel of judges made up of experts from across advertising, creative and Doritos brand teams. When the three finalists are announced in January of next year, fans will be able to vote for their favourite – the one they want to see air during the Big Game on February 9th, 2025 – on DoritosCrash.com.