PepsiCo's Doritos and Pepsi MAX Brands Dominate USA TODAY Ad Meter With Consumer-Created Super Bowl Commercials, Awarding $1.4 Million In Prizes

PLANO, Texas and PURCHASE, N.Y., Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo's Doritos and Pepsi MAX brands last night made Super Bowl advertising history when four consumer-created ads scored within the top-ten rankings of the USA TODAY Ad Meter. Consumer-created Doritos commercial, "Pug Attack," achieved the No. 1 Ad Meter ranking, winning its creator JR Burningham $1 million and a guaranteed contract to create an additional television ad for Doritos and Pepsi MAX in 2011. This marks only the second time in history that a consumer-created ad has topped the USA TODAY Ad Meter. In addition, consumer-created Doritos ad, "House Sitting" landed the third-highest Ad Meter score, winning its creator, Tynesha Williams, $400,000. The fourth-highest Ad Meter score went to consumer-created Pepsi MAX ad, "Love Hurts," created by Brad Bosley.

A total of six consumer-created Doritos and Pepsi MAX ads aired during the Super Bowl broadcast. In addition to "Pug Attack," "House Sitting" and "Love Hurts," Doritos and Pepsi MAX also aired "The Best Part" (Doritos), "First Date" (Pepsi MAX), and "Torpedo Cooler" (Pepsi MAX) during the big game. All six winning ads were among 10 finalists selected by Doritos and Pepsi MAX from the more than 5,600 submissions received as part of this year's Crash the Super Bowl contest. Consumer votes determined four of the six spots that aired – two for Doritos and two for Pepsi MAX. In addition, Doritos and Pepsi MAX executives each selected a winning spot for their respective brands.

"We knew our fans would bring exceptional talent to this year's contest, and we're thrilled to award $1.4 million to help JR and Tynesha set off to pursue their dreams," said Rudy Wilson, vice president, marketing, Frito-Lay. "We know this is just the beginning of so much more to come in their careers."

Aspiring filmmaker JR Burningham and his fiancee/business partner Tess Ortbals created "Pug Attack" with little time and money. The ad features a Doritos tortilla chip-obsessed pug whose master completely underestimates the dog's ability to get a taste of its favorite snack.  Tynesha Williams' "House Sitting" features a desperate house-sitter seeking to undo his damage before his friend returns home. When he discovers the intense healing powers of Doritos tortilla chips, the house-sitter magically brings to life more than he bargained for.  

This year marked the fifth anniversary of Crash the Super Bowl and the first time Pepsi MAX partnered with Doritos for the contest. The program attracted a record-setting number of fan submissions and generated an unprecedented level of consumer votes.

"We congratulate all of our talented fans and especially our finalists who got the opportunity to see their work on the biggest advertising stage in the world," said Angelique Krembs, vice president, Pepsi Marketing. "The past year has been so exciting for Pepsi MAX as we re-launched the brand and saw sales double. And now, we can't wait to build on this success as we work with JR to create an additional ad for Doritos and Pepsi MAX later this year."

This year, all 10 Crash the Super Bowl finalists received $25,000 and a trip to attend the Super Bowl. Grand prizes were based on how each winning ad ranked on the USA TODAY Ad Meter:

• $1 million awarded for an ad that scores number one on the Ad Meter
• $600,000 awarded for an ad that scores number two on the Ad Meter
• $400,000 awarded for an ad that scores number three on the Ad Meter

If the consumer-created Doritos or Pepsi MAX ads swept all top-three rankings of the USA TODAY Ad Meter, an additional $1 million bonus would be awarded to each top-three winner for a total prize giveaway of $5 million.

The USA TODAY Super Bowl Ad Meter tracks the second-by-second responses of a panel of viewers to ads during the national broadcast of the Super Bowl and ranks them favorite to least favorite.  Created in 1989, USA TODAY's Ad Meter has been regarded as the most influential Super Bowl ad rating in the advertising industry.

Doritos tortilla chips is one of the billion-dollar brands that make up Frito-Lay North America, the $13 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY.  Pepsi MAX is one of PepsiCo's billion-dollar global brands and is part of Pepsi Americas Beverages.  To learn more about Pepsi MAX, visit the Pepsi MAX tab on Pepsi's Facebook page at: www.pepsimax.com or on Twitter at: twitter.com/pepsimax.  To learn more about Doritos, visit its website at www.doritos.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DoritosUSA.

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

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SOURCE PepsiCo