Doritos Challenges Fans to Crash the Super Bowl and Vie for a Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Work with The Lonely Island

September 27, 2011

PLANO, Texas, Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Doritos brand today kicked off the groundbreaking Crash the Super Bowl program with the most life-changing contest grand prize to date: a guaranteed opportunity to work on a future Doritos project with one of the hottest entertainment teams in the industry today – the award-winning trio of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone that make up The Lonely Island. As in previous years, consumers are invited to create homemade ads for Doritos, one of the marquee brands from PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division. It is then up to America to vote for the lucky fan finalist who will have the opportunity to see their ad air during The Big Game, as well as win the grand prize career opportunity. In one of the contest's most unique twists to date – The Lonely Island will also create a Doritos ad that will air during the Super Bowl XLVI broadcast, going head-to-head with the winning consumer-created spot. If the consumer-generated Doritos ad scores No. 1 on the USA TODAY Ad Meter, its creator will win a $1 million bonus; if The Lonely Island Doritos ad scores No. 1 on the USA TODAY Ad Meter, Doritos will donate $1 million to their charity of choice. The Super Bowl XLVI broadcast is set for Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012, on NBC.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110927/LA75649)

"Much like those who enter Crash the Super Bowl, we started out with a camera and a dream to work in entertainment," said The Lonely Island members Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone. "We're excited to now have the chance to help open the door for someone else. But don't get us wrong, we fully intend to win the million-dollar prize for charity."

Founded in 2001 and made up of Samberg, Schaffer and Taccone, The Lonely Island has become one of the most sought-after creative teams in the entertainment business with success in television, film, music and on the web. The Emmy-winning trio is best known for directing, writing and starring in hilarious, off-the-wall digital shorts, including Grammy-nominated "I'm On A Boat," "Lazy Sunday," and a series of popular SNL digital shorts with Justin Timberlake.

"For the past five years, our fans have competed at the highest level when it comes to Super Bowl advertising, dominating the Ad Meter every year and taking home millions of dollars in prize money to help them pursue their dreams," said Tony Matta, vice president of marketing, Frito-Lay North America. "Now it's time to take the game to the next level and reward our winning fan in a truly unprecedented way – by offering them a career-changing opportunity to work on a future Doritos project with the help of one of the most talented teams out there. It's an experience we hope will help catapult our winner to the big time and change his or her life in an incredible way."

Last year's Crash the Super Bowl winners JR Burningham and his fiancee/business partner Tess Ortbals helped officially kick off this year's contest live from New York City. The dramatic moment was broadcast on gigantic screens that reach 22 stories high above Times Square. Burningham and Ortbals' ad, "Pug Attack" became one of the most popular ads coming out of Super Bowl XLV, ranking first on USA TODAY's Ad Meter and winning its creators $1 million in prize money. This year, Burningham and Ortbals will join the Crash the Super Bowl team as special advisors to consumers, making themselves available via the Doritos Twitter handle (www.twitter.com/DoritosUSA) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DoritosUSA) on select occasions to answer fan questions and provide advice and tips during the submissions phase.

"Frito-Lay continues to introduce exciting opportunities for NFL fans to connect with the Super Bowl in creative ways," said Mark Waller, the NFL's chief marketing officer. "The Doritos 'Crash the Super Bowl' platform has delivered over the years some of the most talked about Super Bowl commercials and we look forward to seeing what fans produce this year."

Participants can enter this year's Crash the Super Bowl contest by uploading :30 commercials that share their love for Doritos tortilla chips to www.crashthesuperbowl.com from Oct. 3, 2011, to Nov. 21, 2011. To help competitors amp up their creative masterpieces, the site also houses a toolbox where Doritos logos, product shots, music and animations are available for download and use.

Five finalist ads will be announced in January 2012. Then it will be up to fans to vote for their favorite consumer-created ad online and determine the winning Doritos spot. Each of the five finalists will win $25,000 and a trip to Indianapolis to attend Super Bowl XLVI in a private luxury suite at the game, where they will tune in to learn for the first time which consumer ad will compete for the top spot in the USA TODAY Ad Meter before a worldwide audience. Bonus prizing will be awarded, based on how each ad ranks on the USA TODAY Ad Meter:

$1 million will be awarded for an ad that scores the No. 1 spot on the USA TODAY Ad Meter
$600,000 will be awarded for an ad that scores the No. 2 two spot on the USA TODAY Ad Meter
$400,000 will be awarded for an ad that scores the No. 3 spot on the USA TODAY Ad Meter

If awarded to a consumer winner, this potential cash prize can help fund future projects and make dreams come true. If The Lonely Island is awarded a bonus prize, it will be donated to a charity of their choice. Beginning today, details about the challenge are available at www.crashthesuperbowl.com.

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. USA Today Ad Meter does not sponsor and is not affiliated with the contest.

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. 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 generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Our main businesses -- Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola -- also make hundreds of other enjoyable and wholesome foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world. With net revenues of approximately $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment, including by conserving energy and water usage, and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support, and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

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