UCO student films potential Super Bowl commercial

From filming church videos to creating documentaries to filming short films, Kaleb Gonzalez is now taking on the role of director in a potential Super Bowl commercial. 

According to Gonzalez, one day he was scrolling through Instagram when he saw one of his favorite creators post an ad about a Doritos contest where one winner could win the opportunity to have their commercial play during the Super Bowl.

“I was like, you know what? I’ve never really entered a film contest before so why not?” Gonzalez said. “I just thought it would be a fun project to do and you just never know what happens.”

Once Gonzalez decided to enter the contest, he talked to one of the UCO professional media professors, Milos Ajdinovic, about his idea.

“I pitched the idea to Milos and was running it through him,” Gonzalez said. “He told me that we can make it work and there are people here at UCO that would love to help.”

Gonzalez’s idea for the commercial involved doing a talent show, but in order to make a realistic talent show, he knew he’d need a venue, extras, cast and a crew. 

“Milos really helped me get connected with some people here at UCO that I knew of,” Gonzalez said. “Milos put us in an email together, telling them what it was about and they were all on board.”

The crew consisted of various UCO Mass Communication majors, including Victor Lopez-Santizo, Maddie Simon, Nick Borghini, Zoe Gfeller and Alex Dawson.

While Gonzalez had his crew, he was still having difficulties securing a location and extras for the shoot. 

“I kept thinking how could I pull off getting a crowd of people, getting an auditorium in a short amount of time with zero budget basically,” Gonzalez said. “That’s when I thought of my small town in Altus.” 

Because of Gonzalez’s connection in Altus, he was able to contact the President of Western Oklahoma State College, Chad Wigington, to secure the school’s auditorium. The auditorium fits an estimated 300-400 people, according to Gonzalez. 

To get more extras for the commercial, Gonzalez posted a video on his social media platforms to invite members of the community to attend the shoot. 

“My strategy really was to create a landing page and then I posted on Facebook and Instagram,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve garnered about 13k views on Facebook and 14.2k on Instagram of just that one video.” 

The crew had one production meeting, three days prior to the shoot on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Altus, Oklahoma. 

“Honestly, this was my first time being a lead director for a project like this and then also not knowing how many extras were actually going to come,” Gonzalez said. “I was really nervous and didn’t sleep the night before.” 

According to Gonzalez, he did not know what to expect when it came to the crowd. 

“I didn’t know if I should expect the whole venue to be filled or my family just showed up,” Gonzalez said. 

A medium-sized crowd showed up, according to Gonzalez. He and his crew had several plans depending on the amount of people who showed up to the shoot. 

“We kind of met in the middle and had a good story line for the commercial,” Gonzalez said. 

According to Gonzalez, the shoot was supposed to end at 6 p.m. but several shots were still needed. Gonzalez made an announcement letting people know they could leave, but according to him, no one did. 

“I felt like I had a lot of support honestly and I’m really grateful for all the people,” Gonzalez said. “Those last shots were a little more complex than I thought, but my family and friends all jumped in and played a role in one shape or another.”

According to Gonzalez, following the shoot in Altus, he and his crew have one more shoot day for the commercial before he begins editing. 

According to Gonzalez, he is super grateful for all the things he learned and all of the support and love he felt from his hometown and UCO.

“Even if I lose, I am super grateful for this experience,” Gonzalez said. “Really, I think the thing I will be the most grateful for is meeting people like Nick, Maddie, Zoe, Alex and Victor.”  

The due date to submit the project is Nov. 21. After the deadline, Doritos would watch all the commercials and choose three finalists. From there, people would publicly vote for one of the three finalists. The public voting period runs from Jan. 23 to Jan. 30, 2025, according to Gonzalez. 

The winner would get a grand prize of $1 million, an all expense paid trip, two Super Bowl tickets and their commercial aired during the Super Bowl. The grand prize winner is expected to be announced on or around Feb. 3, 2025.

The 2025 Super Bowl is set to be on Feb. 9, 2025 at Ceasar’s Superdome in New Orleans.