November 3, 2010

PLANO, Texas, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- With an advertising contract and a $5 million payout on the line for sweeping the top three spots in USA TODAY'S annual Super Bowl Ad Meter, the Doritos and Pepsi MAX brands today announced a last call for entries in this year's "Crash the Super Bowl" contest – one of the world's premiere stages for consumer-generated media. Fans have only two remaining weeks to get in on the action and submit homemade ads that share their love for Doritos tortilla chips or Pepsi MAX, before submissions officially close on November 15, 2010. The brands will air an unprecedented six consumer-created ads during the Super Bowl XLV broadcast – three for Doritos and three for Pepsi MAX –  leaving it up to fans to decide whether they submit Doritos ads, Pepsi MAX ads or ads for each.

Since the program launched on September 15, 2010, Doritos and Pepsi MAX have received numerous creative entries from their fans. With just two weeks left before submissions officially close, consumers are encouraged to their upload :30 commercials to www.crashthesuperbowl.com, to be considered for one of the coveted spots that can change the lives of Doritos and Pepsi MAX fans. To help entrants amp up their creative masterpieces, the site houses a toolbox where Doritos and Pepsi MAX logos, product shots, pre-licensed music and animations are available for download and use. In addition, footage from the contest launch event held on September 15 in Los Angeles, which featured an exclusive behind-the-scenes discussion about creating ads that will score well on the Ad Meter, is also available on the contest website.

Since "Crash the Super Bowl" began in 2007, consumer-created Doritos ads have consistently ranked within the top-five spots of the USA Today Ad Meter, and last year the talent of Doritos fans made it the most-talked-about brand coming out of the game. This year marks the first time Pepsi MAX has partnered with Doritos for the groundbreaking contest.

Ten finalists' ads will be announced in January 2011 – five Doritos ads and five Pepsi MAX ads. Then it will be up to fans to vote for their favorite ads online and determine the two winning Doritos spots and two winning Pepsi MAX spots. In addition, Doritos and Pepsi MAX executives will each select a winning spot for each brand, for a total of six consumer-created spots to air during the Super Bowl XLV broadcast on February 6, 2011 on FOX. Each of the ten finalists will win $25,000 and a trip to Dallas to attend Super Bowl XLV in a private luxury suite at the game, where they will tune in to learn for the first time which ads won when they air for a worldwide audience.  Details about the contest 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.

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.  Pepsi MAX is one of PepsiCo's billion-dollar global brands and is part of Pepsi Americas Beverages.  To learn more about Pepsi MAX, visit the Pepsi Max tab on Pepsi's Facebook page at: www.pepsimax.com.  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 each generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

SOURCE PepsiCo; Frito-Lay