Kids & Family
Maryland Native Wins Best Doritos Commercial in $1 Million Super Bowl Contest
Raj Suri of Ellicott City produced the 30-second commercial 'Time Machine.'
An Ellicott City native who dabbles in filmย produced the $1 millionย prize-winning Doritos commercialย which aired during Sunday night's Super Bowl. The experience was "surreal," he told Patch on Monday.
Raj Suri, 39, shot the commercialย "Time Machine" in Arizona, where he nowย lives and works as a systems analyst at Intel.
"Time Machine"ย was the third entry for Suri and directorย Ryan Andersenโwhom heย describedย as a "director/friend/lover of value meals"โin the annualย Crash the Super Bowlย contest sponsored by Doritos.
The inspiration for "Time Machine" came from Andersen's son, whoย wanted his own time machine afterย watchingย Back to the Future,ย Suri said in anย interview with his alma mater, Virginia Tech. They made the time machine out of a cardboard box.
A small crewย shot the 30-second Doritos spot at Andersen's parents' house, with the family dog and cardboard boxย making cameos, Suri told WBAL.
The commercial aired during the first quarter of the Super Bowl.ย It was one of two finalists in the Doritos contest to get air time; one was the $1 million contest winner, while the other was a Doritos staff pick, and it wasn't immediately announced which won.
On Monday morning,ย Good Morning Americaย revealed thatย "Time Machine" was the winner of theย $1 million check from Doritos.
"It was surreal to know that you created something that was seen by 100 million people," Suri told Patch Monday afternoon. "Even more mind boggling [is]ย to know that it was generally regarded as one of the best commercials of the Super Bowl."
"Time Machine" ranked fourth onย USA Today's Ad Meter, which polled Super Bowl viewers to gauge their favorite commercials.
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, theย Maryland Governor's Office on Minority Affairsย and Centennial High Schoolย were among those tweeting their congratulations.
Suri, who grew up in Howard County andย graduated from Centennial, received a computer science degree from Virginia Tech in 1997, thenย moved to Arizona for a job at Intel, according to Virginia Tech.ย Heย told Patchย most of his family lives in Howard County.
After receiving the giant check,ย Andersen said his sonโwho starred in the commercialโmay get to go for a trip toย Toys 'R' Us, while he planned to buy "a comfortable bed," according toย a podcastย on 93.3 KDKB Arizona.
"I will probablyย live my life just as I did before this all happened," Andersen said on the radio. "I have no intentions on blowing money.ย I've got other fish to fry in life."ย
Suri said he planned to putย his portion of the winnings toward future projects.
"...we can use some of this money to fund a bigger project to help launch the careers of the people on our teamโI think that would be fantastic," Suri told Patch. He said the winnings would be divided up among those who created the commercial, and he hoped to make a piece with a budget of more than a few hundred dollars.
As part of the prize package,ย Andersen from "Time Machine" and Amber Gill ofย "Cowboy Kid" (the Doritosย staff pick) will get to work on the set of the upcoming Marvel movieย The Avengers:ย Theย Age of Ultron.
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