Doritos’ | Modular 4

Over the weekend I saw both the 30 and 15 second versions of this TV spot for Doritos. While they both sell the call to action, (the iPhone, Android, and Facebook game) they don’t sell the story as well as this 2 minute version that will be running in movie theaters before the coming attraction segments.

This TV Commercial was created by BBDO UK for the Doritos brand, and is really a set up for an advergame that is played on smartphones or in the social network space owned by Facebook. The TV commercial centers around the story of Esteban Ortega, a professional Dorito flicker, his rise and fall, and inevitable comeback. The production quality and look is really well done, and the story is pretty engaging. As for the free game, well it is pretty addictive itself. Trust me, I am not a huge gamer and I spent a couple of hours playing it yesterday evening. The game is a pretty simple idea but it is well executed and it let’s users see how they compare to their Facebook friends which is a nice social networking hook that directly promotes the brand. If you are interested, you can get the Facebook game here. The iPhone and Android apps are available through their respective stores.

Last night I DVR’d the Super Bowl, not so I could re-watch the game, but so I could re-watch the TV ads that ran during it. While there is no actual science to this, these are my top picks. The way I came to these results was pretty simple.

Was the ad memorable?
Did I remember the actual product being sold or promoted?
Did the ad reinforce or establish the brand message?

Based on these three factors, here are what I considered to be the 5 best TV spots that ran during the game, (and yes VW’s “The Force” didn’t make the cut because they butchered the 60 second version in the 30 second cut down.)

These Ads are in no particular order, for the most part I think they were all pretty effective. A couple of points though. The Doritos ad featuring the pug was produced for 500 dollars by a website designer, so it scores extra points on the budget and consumer buzz front. The Chrysler ad featuring Eminem scored extra points for me because it conveyed the same visual and editorial brand voice that Wieden & Kennedy has established for Chrysler’s sub-brand Jeep.

I forgot to add this to my list this morning. I was pairing things down to five so it didn’t make the top cut but I was going to include with an honorable mention, because I am a MINI owner, and I thought it was a pretty damn funny ad. Thanks to my buddy Paul for reminding me to include it.