Some fans look forward to the Super Bowl to watch their favorite football team play. Some tune in for the halftime show. Others are in it for the hot wings, chips, dips and sliders.
But for aspiring film producers, it’s the chance to make a commercial that could be aired during one of the most anticipated sporting events in the U.S.
Grand Canyon University 2022 alumnus Christian Peterson and Biola graduates Dylan Bradshaw and Nate Norell are at the brink of this life-changing opportunity.
Their original production of a Doritos commercial, named “Abduction,” is a finalist in the $1 million Crash the Super Bowl contest, vying against two other competitors for a chance to be aired during the Feb. 7 game. The winner also gets $1 million and Super Bowl tickets.
“Nate Norell and I met during ‘Beast Games,’ Mr. Beast’s Amazon Prime show,” said Peterson. “We were coming off this game show where we lost $5 million, so we had to make it up somehow. We had to try somewhere else and, immediately, we jumped on this competitive train with the Doritos commercial.”
From the initial Zoom call where Peterson, Norell and Bradshaw tossed ideas, to writing a script on the spot and filming the production the following week, within two weeks, their project was ready for submission.
Norell and Bradshaw took on co-director roles, while Peterson had his hand in every creative and technical production aspect to make a 30-second commercial that features actor Michael Strassner posing as an alien conspiracy theorist who encounters a UFO trying to take his Doritos. They go head-to-head, fighting over a tasty bag of Doritos that only can be found on Earth. In the end, Strassner befriends the alien as they indulge in the delicious snack.
“Being able to put this together with friends has been an unreal experience,” Bradshaw said. “It’s a testament of what is possible with passion and dedication. From start to finish, this has been a blur of time and emotions.”
While Doritos, made by PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay, invests in the opportunity to have its product featured at the game, the company grants the commercial content and production process to the community. It created a contest where any aspiring producer can submit an original idea for a chance to have their commercial aired during the Super Bowl.
Doritos received over 10,000 submissions and chose “Abduction” as one of the top three commercials, but it's in the public's hands to decide which one is truly the best.
“Doritos is now my favorite snack, and if we win, I will buy all the Doritos,” Peterson said.
You can watch and vote for “Abduction” here. Voting will close at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
In the meantime, Norell and Bradshaw will be livestreaming entertaining videos to show their dedication and gain as much traction as possible. Bradshaw will be saying the word “Doritos” 100,000 times while Norell glues 3,000 chips on his bedroom wall for every share their video receives.
You can find their Instagram livestreams here: @natenorell @dylanjbradshaw.
“We are incredibly excited for this life-changing opportunity,” Norell said. “Putting it now into the hands of voters makes us nervous but genuinely grateful for every vote we receive. We will be able to properly thank everyone if we win after sleeping for a week.”
GCU staff writer Izabela Fogarasi can be reached at [email protected]
