|
|
|
A company that was built from Doritos may have sounded like an April Fool's Day prank: The A&E Network shooting a reality TV series in tiny Batesville, Ind. But, the whole thing is not a joke; it is as real as it can get.
Recently an announcement from A&E was made about an eight-part reality show Tuesday detailing the lives of the five Herbert brothers who won $1 million because of their Doritos commercial that was hailed as the best ad during the 2009 Super Bowl.
Dave, Matt, Josh, Pete and Joe Herbert had been asked about a year ago about the reality show and finally they agreed to do the show, last October. In the last five years, the entrepreneurial brothers have switched their attention from Doritos to soft drink commercials, creating board games and writing a feature film script.
Joe claimed that the reality TV show wasn't part of the plan. "It wasn't us trying to get a (reality) show. We were approached. They (producers) were looking for a funny family business in the Midwest," said Joe, who once described his family as "nobodies from nowhere" in an Enquirer interview.
For now, the show is called The Herbert Brothers, the series from Zig Zag Productions is set to hit the TV screen this summer, as stated by David McKillop, A&E general manager and executive vice president.
Based on the description of A&E:
"Down in Batesville, Indiana, there's a family that runs the Number One ad agency in town. Sure, the population is only 6,508, and they're self-proclaimed 'nobodies from nowhere.' But the Herbert brothers made advertising history when their homemade commercial won the 'Doritos Crash the Super Bowl' contest and ranked No.1 on the USA Today ad meter. ...
"The Herbert Brothers took their $1 million winnings, established an advertising agency and continued developing commercials for major companies like Pepsi, Go Daddy and Shasta, to name a few. The five brothers still live and work in their idyllic hometown and enlist help from the locals – their friends act, mom caters, dad builds sets and neighbors help script."
The brothers' 2009 Free Doritos! commercial was filed with their friends and neighbors acting as office workers with a crystal ball that was predicting they would get free Doritos. Their dream only came through when one of them used the crystal ball to smash the glass front of a vending machine.
The commercial was filmed with $2,000 budgets in one day at the Batesville YMCA with volunteers from Cincinnati and Southeast Indiana. Other commercials have $2 million budget to be able to create a commercial worthy enough to the 2009 Super Bowl, as indicated by Adweek Media.
| |
