Joe Taranto was nervous. He had been expecting a call from the Doritos legal department, not a prank call from “Transformers” director Michael Bay.
Bay, who pretended to be a lawyer from Doritos on the phone, broke the news to Taranto: Taranto’s video “Fetch” earned him a spot as a finalist in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest.
“I didn’t sleep for a day or two,” Taranto said. “It was an amazing surprise. We already won. We’re happy.”
UF telecommunication graduates Joe Taranto, 31, and his 36-year-old brother, Vinnie Taranto, competed against thousands of entrants for one of the five final spots in the seventh annual contest. The competition invited consumers to make and send Doritos ads for a chance to be aired to a worldwide audience during the Super Bowl XLVII broadcast Feb. 3.
“He called me and told me, and we just laughed,” Vinnie Taranto said. “We were prepared, but we weren’t prepared for Michael Bay to prank us.”
Viewers can cast their vote on the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl-branded app on the Doritos Facebook Page, as well as the Facebook mobile app.
Voting opened Jan. 4 and will stay open until Jan. 29.
Joe Taranto, whose name is on the official contest entry, won $25,000 for being a finalist and a five-day trip to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl live from a private suite in the stadium. The suite will have a TV that will air the two winning commercials during the game. The Taranto brothers will watch with the four other contest finalists, Doritos executives and Michael Bay.
“I’ve been to many Gator bowl games in the Swamp, but I’ve never been to the Super Bowl,” Vinnie Taranto said.
Of all the Super Bowl commercials played this year, the one that scores the highest on the USA Today Ad Meter rankings will get a $1 million bonus and the opportunity to work with Bay on the next “Transformers” movie.
“This could be a huge career opportunity for me,” Joe Taranto said.
Vinnie Taranto, who works at his family’s property management business in Melbourne Beach, identifies himself as the analytical and organized one of the pair with a sense for business. He said his brother, a film graduate student at Loyola Marymount University, is the creative mastermind.
While attending UF, the Taranto brothers established a relationship with telecommunication professor James Babanikos. After they graduated in 2006 and 2002, the brothers kept in touch with their favorite professor.
“They’re just so humble and hardworking and fun,” Babanikos said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
With only five days until the window for entries closed Nov. 15, Joe Taranto bounced ideas for the commercial off his brother. Soon a common theme was agreed upon: “Be careful what you wish for.”
“It’s like a twist,” Vinnie Taranto said.
The brothers’ 30-second video stars a grandma’s dog, a four-year-old Yorkie and Chihuahua mix named Petal, who is left in her grandson’s care with specific instructions not to play fetch.
If the Taranto brothers win one of the cash prize spots, they said they would divide the winnings between 17 people involved in the making of “Fetch,” as well as donate a portion to the Humane Society, where Petal was rescued.
Babanikos said he will be watching the Super Bowl for the commercials, particularly to see if his star students won.
“I would smile to the person next to me and say, ‘You know who did that?’” Babanikos said.
For now, the Taranto brothers said they’re looking forward to their trip to New Orleans and the chance to meet Michael Bay.
“We’re just trying to think of a good prank to get him back,” Joe Taranto said.
“I might just jump into Michael Bay’s lap,” Vinnie Taranto said.
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
Melbourne Beach natives and UF graduates Vinnie, left, and Joe Taranto’s commercial, “Fetch,” is one of the top five videos in the seventh annual Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest.
