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Tyler Dixon has already won $25,000. And he'll be taking an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl this weekend.
But he's not entirely sure he'll have much fun because he'll be waiting to see if his Doritos commercial will air during the game.
Dixon's spot is one of five finalists from among 5,600 entries in Doritos' annual Crash the Super Bowl amateur-commercial competition. The three ads that received the most online votes will air. But their creators won't know which three until they're actually telecast.
"It's really cool, but kind of really mean of them at the same time," said Dixon,a 35-year-old BYU grad who lives in Lehi. "It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go to that new Cowboys Stadium and watch the Super Bowl. But am I really going to be able to enjoy it when I'm just nervous that my ad may or may not air on the biggest stage in the world?"
You can see Dixon's ad at crashthesuperbowl.com — his spot is on the top row, showing two men in white shirts and ties. (Voting ended Sunday, Jan. 30.)
Dixon came up with the idea for his ad by thinking about what he likes best about the snack chips.
"Something that just jumped out to me is, after you're done eating them, almost the best part is licking the flavor off of your fingers afterward," he said. "And then I thought, 'How can I make it completely ridiculous?' "
His commercial features a guy who not only licks off his fingers, but somebody else's, too. And then the Doritos lover sees a co-worker wipe his fingers on his pants and, well, Dixon had to find away to come up with "breakaway slacks."
Doritos is allowing Dixon to take one guest to the Super Bowl. Eddie King, who was creative director and editor on the commercial, won a coin toss with Tyler Marshall, who did most of the filming. They then pooled their money and are paying for Marshall to go along.
For the Super Bowl, Fox is charging $3 million for a 30-second commercial, which can cost millions to produce. Dixon produced his for $82.50.
"Everything was basically donated," he said. "All the actors were just our friends. They all worked for free. We borrowed the cameras and the equipment."
And they filmed in an office park near his home "on a Saturday when nobody was there."
So where did the $82.50 go?
"For Doritos, obviously. We had some Pepsi Max there. And a couple of pizzas and some sandwiches for the cast and crew," Dixonsaid. "And then two pairs of pants" from Deseret Industries.
One was the "normal pair." The other pair, "I hand-unstitched every seam and then I taped them back up."
The five finalists have each won $25,000. They don't win more if their ad airs, but if their ad is No. 1 on the USA Today Ad Meter (released the Monday after the Super Bowl), they'll win an additional $1 million.
"I'm not even thinking that far ahead," Dixon said. "I'm just hoping that it airs. To be able to see something that you've created for $82 on the biggest stage in the world competing against ads that cost millions of dollars to put together — for me, that would be reward enough."
View the Doritos ads online
O You can see Dixon's ad at crashthesuperbowl.com — his spot is on the top row, showing two men in white shirts and ties. (Voting ended Sunday, Jan. 30.)