• The Wall Street Journal , Wednesday, September 24, 2008 10:30 AM

One surefire way to dominate the clutter is by upping the ante, so PepsiCo is offering $1 million to anyone who can create a Super Bowl commercial for Doritos tortilla chips that wins the top spot in USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter. It hopes to co-opt the months of pre-game buzz, which many public-relations and ad executives say is far more valuable than winning myriad Super Bowl ad polls.

PepsiCo's consumer-generated ad would have to outperform Budweiser, which has won the top spot for the past 10 years in a row, thanks in part to a highly detailed pre-game ritual. Its formula involves multiple ad shoots and pre-game focus groups around the country to measure viewers' minute-by-minute reactions to its spots.

Even if none of five finalists beats Bud (or a dark, non-Clydesdale horse), each will still receive $25,000 and a trip to the Super Bowl. The ad that wins the most votes in an online poll will be aired during the game. Voting will occur in January.

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