Over the past week, students may have noticed people wearing Doritos costumes outside the North Trousdale entrance to campus. Zach Shenouda and Ryan Robinson, seniors majoring in film and television production, have worked hard campaigning for the chance to win the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl competition. Their absurdist short advertisement “The Barbershop” is a finalist in the competition, in which audience members can vote for their favorite commercial until Jan. 28.

“Barbershop” follows a young man who is hungry for Doritos while getting a haircut. When he sees his barber’s fingers covered in bright orange chip dust, he goes for it and takes a lick. He gets kicked out of the barbershop with only half of his hair buzzed, but with the bag of Doritos that he desperately needed.

Co-creators Shenouda and Robinson’s friendship dates back to high school, where they started filming and producing shorts before they came to USC. Their shared enthusiasm for filmmaking led them to become closer friends, and eventually work together at the college level.

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“[Robinson] and I are entertainers at heart. We just want to make people laugh. That’s our end goal,” Shenouda said.

The most important factor for the pair in making the ad for Doritos was balancing artistic independence and brand recognition. Shenouda and Robinson took the Doritos tagline “For the Bold” to a new level while directing “Barbershop.” Both directors understood that they needed to shock people watching, so they outlined the script in a hilarious way, allowing them to have more than one joke.

“When the competition dropped, we started brainstorming. We came up with a location that everyone knows about, like getting your haircut at a barber shop or salon,” Shenouda said. “Then, our brains [went] to ‘Okay, what’s the worst thing that can happen getting your haircut?’”

Even though the ad consisted of Robinson and Shenouda’s visions, “Barbershop” was a group effort, and its producers were catalysts in bringing the directors’ ideas to life. For producers Joanna Song, a senior majoring in film and television production, and Via McBride, a senior majoring in communication, authenticity was a big factor when it came to finding the shooting location and casting actors.

“We went around town and we looked at 100 different barber shops,” Song said. “We wanted to find one that matched the energy and the atmosphere of what we were going for as well. When we were establishing the world event, we wanted this bustling barbershop, and we wanted the actors to really embody the character.”

Writing, producing and editing the ad was one task, but when “Barbershop” was chosen as a finalist, the team had to quickly come up with strategies to market the short to students across campus, as well as to anyone passing by. People from the team wore Doritos bag costumes to incentivize people to vote for them, creating a memorable experience for pedestrians.

“We needed to use foot traffic, so we decided to put up tables at the Village crosswalk. We bought seven Dorito bag costumes and we’ve been having people go to the 9-0 [and] Rock & Reilly’s,” McBride said. “It’s been crazy to see the response. Everywhere we go, people recognize us. They’re like, ‘Oh, you’re the Doritos guy.’”

The audience response has been highly rewarding for everyone involved in the project. People have come up to the directors explaining how the ad gave them a feeling of nostalgia.
“Today we were walking around and showed people the ad and someone said to me, ‘Oh, this feels like a late ’90s to early 2000s commercial,’” Robinson said. “I’m like, ‘That’s what we’re going for.’”

While most people have responded positively, many have been surprised by the fact that “The Barbershop” is a student effort. Because Doritos Crash the Super Bowl allows anyone to submit to their contest, production companies and ad agencies can also participate, so it is rare to see students be finalists, as they face more challenges in terms of budget and manpower.

“We’ve been wanting to get that validation of being taken seriously,” Shenouda said. “Everyone’s able to submit to this [competition], so we were competing against production companies and ad agencies. We felt excited and ready.”

Robinson and Shenouda’s professionalism and determination have carried them through the race. Now, they just need to cross the finish line.

“It’s a nice feeling being able to be a young group of filmmakers, being able to prove themselves in an industry [in which] there’s a lot of people with a lot more resources and a lot more money,” Robinson said. “We’ve been doing this longer, and it’s cool being able to come in and disrupt it.”