Scott Zabielski is a Reserve Deputy for L.A. County and a finalist in the “Crash the Superbowl” Doritos contest. Check out his commerical, titled “Middle Seat” here and cast your vote — voting closes Wednesday, January 28.
By Robert Channick
Chicago Tribune
Marketers spend millions of dollars and many months gearing up for their annual Super Bowl commercials.
Chicago native Scott Zabielski could crash the Feb. 1 game with an ad produced for $2,000 and in fewer than two weeks’ work.
Zabielski, a reserve deputy whose day job is producer of “Tosh.0" on Comedy Central, is one of 10 finalists vying for $1 million and a berth among Super Bowl ads with his self-made spot for Doritos.
“I’m used to doing things really low budget and really quickly, so it didn’t faze me too much,” said Zabielski, 35. “I knew what I needed to get done.”
The 30-second “Middle Seat” depicts an airline passenger who is trying to keep the adjacent seat open until he uses Doritos to attract what he thinks will be the right flying companion. Zabielski wrote, produced and directed the spot, which he hopes will be his launching pad into commercial and film work.
Doritos, part of Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay, has been running its Super Bowl ad contest since the 2006-07 season.
This year, Doritos received about 4,900 video entries from 29 countries. The finalists, announced Jan. 5, were picked by a panel of judges that included Doritos executives, advertising professionals and actress/producer Elizabeth Banks, who is making her directorial debut on “Pitch Perfect 2,” an upcoming movie from contest partner Universal Pictures.
Banks called Zabielski to tell him that he was among the 10 finalists.
Voting in this year’s contest began last week and runs through Jan. 28 at crashthesuperbowl.doritos.com/finalists. Finalists receive $25,000 and a trip to Glendale, Ariz., to watch the game in the Doritos suite. Two 30-second commercials will air during the Super Bowl. One will be the winner of the online contest and the other will be Doritos’ choice as the most marketable commercial. The online champion will be announced after the Super Bowl and will be awarded $1 million, while the other commercial’s creator will take home $50,000.
NBC is charging a reported $4.5 million per 30-second spot in the Super Bowl XLIX.
Zabielski was raised in suburban Long Grove and Naperville. He went to USC to study film and stayed in Los Angeles after college to pursue his career.
In 2009, he landed a job as executive producer and director of a pilot called “Tosh.0,” a weekly review of the funny and offbeat videos that populate the Web, hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh. The show includes staged sketches and is a huge hit for Comedy Central. It also is a great gig for Zabielski, despite occasionally being the butt of filmed pranks perpetrated on the staff by Tosh.
Zabielski says Hollywood has already pigeonholed him as a comedy sketch guy and wacky video curator, thwarting aspirations.
He said he learned of the Doritos contest just weeks before the November submission deadline. Working quickly, he came up with his idea, wrote the spot and arranged filming. Casting was done on the phone or by email, based on recommendations and previous work. Everyone essentially worked for free, including David Hoffman, a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles, and Michelle LaRue, a former Chicagoan and USC cheerleader, who played the lead roles.
“I spent $2,000 and cashed in a lot of favors,” Zabielski said. “A lot of people worked for free as a favor because they were friends.”
The Super Bowl has generated $2.19 billion of network advertising sales over the past 10 years, with the average cost of a spot increasing by 75 percent, according to a report from Kantar Media. Turning creative responsibilities over to amateurs may seem like a risky strategy, but the Doritos contest has generated what the company wants: tremendous buzz and effective commercials.
Last year, freelance wedding photographer Ryan Thomas Anderson, of Scottsdale, Ariz., won the grand prize with his “Time Machine” spot, which starred his 6-year-old son duping a man out of Doritos with a giant cardboard box that promised to transport him to the future. The spot placed fourth on the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter, while the other Doritos contest commercial, “Cowboy Kid,” came in second.
“The Doritos approach generates a lot of creativity and has really helped keep the brand fresh and interesting,” said Tim Calkins, a Kellogg marketing professor who heads up the Super Bowl review. “In many cases, Doritos has ended up with better spots than classic agency-produced ones.”
In Zabielski’s spot, a man is sitting in the aisle seat of an airplane, and ... well, probably better if you just watch it at crashthesuperbowl.doritos.com/finalists.
“If I can get a career doing commercials out of this then that will be the real prize,” Zabielski said. “Not to say that I don’t want a million dollars. I think anyone who says that is probably lying. But if I don’t win, it’s not like I’m empty-handed. I certainly could build on this for the future.”
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