Utah State University Student in Potential Super Bowl-Bound Commercial

The cost of producing a Super Bowl commercial can reach more than $1 million.  A local team that includes an MBA student from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business might have just made one for under $60.

The crew spent $59 on a commercial that was entered into the “Crash the Super Bowl” advertising contest sponsored by Doritos and Pepsi Max. The 30-second ad is one of the most-viewed submissions on crashthesuperbowl.com, the Web site for the contest. The commercial promotes Doritos corn chips and features Utah State University MBA student Cory Keate and his uncle, Dave Kotter, and was produced by Ron Adair of Adair Creative Group, a Logan marketing firm.

In its first week on the website, the commercial received nearly 22,000 views.  It is now in sixth place among all entries and is the fourth-most viewed Doritos commercial  in the contest. The more views it gets, the better the chance that the judges of the competition will select it as a possible candidate to air during the Super Bowl.

If the commercial is selected as one of the five finalists, the crew will get $25,000.  Voters will then determine the top three, and Doritos will air each of them during the Super Bowl. It could win $1 million if the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter determines it to be the best commercial of the day.

“A $60 commercial could potentially earn us $1 million,” said Keate.  “How’s that for a return on investment?”

Keate, who began the MBA program in August, said the commercial turned out better than he expected.  He credited Adair’s video making and editing skills and Kotter’s solid acting performance for the success of the commercial.  Kotter, he said, had never acted before.

“This is a group of ragtag friends that spent less than $60 and we’re going to be pitted against the titans of advertising,” said Keate.

Keate said the success of the commercial is an example of the Huntsman School of Business’s motto to “Dare mighty things.”

“The professors in the Huntsman School of Business tell me that we shape our future and that our amount of determination is really going to make a difference,” said Keate.  “They have dared us to do mighty things.”

The commercial, titled, “The Woodchipper (Alternate version),” can be found at this link: http://bit.ly/woodchipper.

Contact: Steve Eaton, (435) 797-8640, steve.eaton@usu.edu