Pets Prove Popular Again in 2012 Super Bowl Commercials

According to USA Today’s Annual Ad Meter (a metric created in 1989 which tracks the second-by-second responses by a panel of ad viewers and is widely regarded as the most influential rating in Super Bowl ads), Doritos’ “Pug Attack” and Bud Light’s “Dog Sitter” were named the two best commercials of last year’s Super Bowl, having deadlocked with a score of 8.35 each. On a national scale, these animal driven commercials have received the highest recognition.

Moreover, the pet-oriented “Pug Attack” was the winner of Doritos’ 2011 “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, a Do-It-Yourself commercial contest which empowers fans to create their own ads. As a result of their win, ad creators JR Burningham and Tess Ortbals won tickets to the Super Bowl and a guaranteed contract to create more commercials for the PepsiCo brand. Since the ad was rated the top spot, the couple won an additional $1 million.

Of the five finalists picked this in this year’s Crash the Super Bowl Contest, several of the commercials feature animals or animal-related themes. Specifically, one features a baby, another has a bird-theme and three others focus on dogs.

Two wining finalists–one selected by consumer voting and the other selected by the Doritos brand team–will be able to work on a Doritos project at a later date. And if the consumer ad reaches the No. 1 spot on either on the USA Today’s Annual Ad Meter or the The USA TODAY Super Bowl Ad Meter, the contestant will win the $1 million.