A trio of USC students are one of three finalists to have their commercial aired during the upcoming Super Bowl 59 alongside a $1 million grand prize.
Co-directors and SoCal natives Zach Shenouda and Ryan Robinson met as sophomores in high school and connected through their mutual love of film. Both are now seniors at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Via McBride, one of the project’s producers, met the duo during her freshman year at USC. The commercial is only her second time formally working with Shenouda and Robinson.
Their ad, “The Barbershop” is now just one of just three finalists among thousands of entrants to Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl” competition.
Debuted in 2006, the competition ran for a decade before being shelved in 2016. The company restored the contest this year as an opportunity to give young creatives the chance to showcase their talent on television’s biggest stage.
“When it popped up, we were like, Okay, we have to do it,” Shenouda said. “We came up with a universal concept – getting a haircut. And then we thought, what is the worst thing that could happen when you’re getting your haircut? And then thinking about Super Bowl commercials, we were like, oh, man, all of them have, like, a final joke, a final button, or, a twist.”
“The Barbershop”: Behind the scenes
The trio drew inspiration from previous famed Doritos ads including 2013’s winning commercial “COWBOY KID,” and 2016’s “Doritos Ultrasound.”
“The biggest thing that we took inspiration from was the tagline of “Be Bold,” Robinson said. “[We tried] to find that moment where our character can be bold, while also being a little weird, but still staying commercially friendly.”
The commercial was produced on just a two-and-a-half-week notice after Shenouda and Robinson learned of the competition weeks after its release.
“We spent hours each day calling barber shops around LA,” McBride said. “Some of our crew was like our friend’s guidance counselor from high school or our friend’s dad… it was whoever we could get but it couldn’t have gotten better.”
Since being announced as a finalist, the crew has engaged in a guerilla marketing campaign around USC, showing up to class, parties, popular campus bars, and tabling near the USC Village wearing Doritos merchandise.
“We knew our strength was going to be on the ground and using USC,” said Robinson.
If chosen as the winner, the filmmakers intend to pay back their crew and reinvest the rest into their first feature film.
Voting ends on Jan. 28. Voters can recast their vote daily to continue supporting their favorite ad.
The Super Bowl is the most annually watched broadcast in the United States. 2024’s Super Bowl 58 held an average viewership of 123.7 million, making it the most-watched televised event since the moon landing in 1969.