A teen’s desire to belong to a group is a simple fact of growing up. However, the psychological decision-making process that the collective teen mind undergoes to select all the trappings of its stereotype is bafflingly complex. The shoes, the hats, the sunglasses, the cars and, yes, the snack chip, must, in a single swipe, define and fly in the face of a teen’s chosen image. The product must always be in a state of redefinition, with only one constant: being "cool" (or awesome, rad, dope, etc.). Yesterday is the enemy of the teen; today is neutral; tomorrow is his raison d’être. Teenagers may be fickle, but if you can establish yourself among the cool, a teen may not be able to live without your product. This makes an advertiser’s job highly challenging. The approach is everything—since the product, for the most part, stays the same.
But teens can smell a phony a mile off. Advertising executives have made fools of themselves by writing copy that pathetically attempts to relate to the young. Other times a well-written spot cannot make it to air before the teen lexicon dates it with the spawn of a new word indicating approval. Get subtle with these kids and your message can be lost in a sea of exploding ads clamoring for teens’ short attention spans. Be obvious and they recoil in protest—driven by an instinct to be different and a refusal to be mediocre. They are a tricky lot, these teenagers, and holding their attention can be like hugging a greased watermelon.
Creatives at BBDO New York approached the teen sensibility head on in a humorous ad titled "Cheerleader" for Doritos’ new Extreme line of tortilla chips. Bicoastal/international hungry man produced the spot. Helmed by Marcos Siega and DP’d by Ramsey Nickell, it is one of two currently in the campaign, with five more in various stages of planning. Each spot follows the same general format.
"Cheerleader" begins at a high school sporting event. The camera is trained on a highly energetic member of the pep squad working to lift the spirits of the home crowd. He is bounding with energy and does a standing back flip to help bring the crowd to its feet. He then backs into position for a choreographed cheer and hoists a female cheerleader into a standing position on his shoulders.
But just at this moment there is a sharp edit and we are brought to a peaceful field, all the noise from the sporting event magically gone. We are greeted by a slender, sophisticated man sporting an ascot and dapper dinner jacket and slacks. Inexplicably behind him is an oak desk and leather chair. He says in strangely unidentifiable though decidedly European accent, "Yes, my friend, you are bold, but are you also … daring?"
Another abrupt edit and we are brought back to the cheerleading scene and straight into a close-up on the young man’s face. We see him check left and right before slyly looking skywards for a peek up his cheerleading partner’s skirt. We now know that he is, indeed, bold and daring.
The commercial is capped by an unexpectedly funny moment back in the field with the oak desk. Here, our European spokesman awards the bag of chips to the young cheerleader amidst polite applause. We see now that he has graduated to the next level of snack eating, having proven himself worthy of the new Extreme Doritos.
SILLY ENOUGH TO WORK
During brainstorming sessions at BBDO, the idea for the spots virally leapt off the page. Creative directors Harold Einstein and Gerry Graf had written up their strategy for some internal documents and used the words "bold" and "daring." "We thought it sounded kind of silly," Graf admitted. "We thought that it was so over the top that we could use that. Then we asked ourselves, ‘What does bold and daring mean?’ "
From there, the ideas poured out of the creative team. "Writing the various scenarios was the tricky part," continued Graf. "It is easy to write a lot of them, but only a couple are actually good. They can get a little cheesy sometimes. We tried to make the point that everything about this campaign should not make complete sense. [For example] the spokesman is not really English or Spanish … you don’t know where he is from. Then we thought about where we were going to put him, and Marcos threw out the idea of putting him out in a field, because we are all big fans of Monty Python. We thought he should have a desk, too. Why? No reason."
Graf and Einstein believed wholeheartedly in the campaign, but felt they would have some trouble getting the client to sign on. They knew that just pitching it to the Doritos team wouldn’t be enough; they would have to walk in there with something concrete. "Knowing that the structure of these spots is a little different than your usual storytelling spot, we thought that we should have something already shot," Graf explained. "So we went out and shot three commercials on spec and presented the campaign that way to Doritos. They really liked it."
"It was a lot of fun," Siega recalled, "and I don’t think I will ever have an experience like this again in the ad world—because when we shot them the first time, there was no client. We had so much freedom, and Harold and Gerry came in with a very specific creative. What was great was that they allowed me to be a part of the creative process. So I came up with the idea of having the spokesman at a desk in a field. I went into the meeting thinking, ‘They are never going to go for this.’ When they did, I knew that these were the guys I should be working with."
The spec spots were rough since they were created only for the purpose of pitching to the Doritos team; however, "rough" soon became the chosen style. "Even in the editing room," Graf confessed while describing working with editor Ian MacKenzie of MacKenzie Cutler, New York, "we deliberately did some sloppy edits and obvious jump cuts—especially with Clive [Kennedy, the European spokesman]. We shot them on 16mm when we shot him on spec, but when we went back and shot more, we stayed with the 16mm because it gave it that slightly ‘off’ quality."
According to Graf, the same was true during production. "It had to have an unpolished, run-and-gun feel because we are being very blatant with the challenge of whether or not you are a Doritos eater. We shot two spots a day. The reason we were able to do it was because Harold, Marcos and myself were all on the same page. We were all thinking the same thing—the type of shots and the takes we wanted—it just worked and was very fun."
Senior producer Elise Greiche agrees and felt this communal understanding led to a working environment not often seen in commercial production. "What was amazing was that because it was done on spec everybody wanted it that much more. It was not about getting paid; it was about making a great commercial."
Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that the spot itself is bold and daring in how it approaches its teen audience. "It is a challenge for eighteen-year-olds, but it is ridiculous," explained Graf. "The spokesman is ridiculous. Who is he to judge what is bold and daring? Every campaign we worked on was pretty ridiculous. It is just my style and my partner Harold’s style. The campaign is staking out some turf to talk about the product, but also to say what the product stands for."
Making fun of the notion of cliques is bold in itself. What’s daring is that, in actuality, the spot is not asking teens to join a club for risk-takers; it is calling to teens with a sense of irony. This isn’t just the chip with a bold new taste; it is the chip with a sense of humor. Ultimately, if you are smart enough to get the joke, then this is the chip for you. BBDO is hoping that teens will eat it up.
