The stakes are much higher now for the tech-savvy Herbert brothers.

Two years ago, the creative locals entered an original 30-second Doritos commercial in a nationwide "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. As a top five finalist but not the overall winner, Joe Herbert, 33, Batesville, and Dave Herbert, 31, Morris, won $10,000 and a trip to Miami for a Super Bowl viewing party (alas, not at the field).

Can you believe they made it to the top five again with “Free Doritos,” beating out nearly 2,000 entries? That distinction earned the pair $25,000 and two seats at the game.

How did Joe Herbert feel when “Free Doritos” became a finalist? “I’ll be honest. It was more relief and excitement than anything else …. We came so close” to being the 2007 winner. “We really put a lot of effort and hard work into trying to get back there again.”

The winning ad will not be revealed to the world -- or the five finalists -- until it airs on national television Feb. 1 during the first quarter of the Super Bowl broadcast.

The Herberts will be biting their nails and watching in a Tampa Bay, Fla., private luxury suite with the other finalists: "New Flavor Pitch" by Oren Brimer, New York, N.Y; Power of the Crunch" by Eric Heimbold, Venice, Calif.; "The Chase" by Chris Roberts, Burbank, Calif.; and "Too Delicious" by Michael Goubeaux, Los Angeles.

When the married men with children aren’t filming crunchy commercials, the witty duo are building their Transit Films business and Jeezle Pete's!, a board game company. Their first game, Triviathon, will be unveiled at the New York City toy fair next month.

This third Doritos challenge has been tweaked. Contestants are not only competing to have their self-made commercials take control of the chip brand's Super Bowl XLIII ad air time, they also are shooting to make history by beating the ad pros and garnering the top spot in USA TODAY's annual Ad Meter.

If the winning Doritos commercial trumps the professionally produced commercials, the company will reward them with a $1 million bonus to help take their budding talents far beyond the Super Bowl spotlight, notes Alisa Feinstein, a Frito-Lay North America spokesperson.

"Time after time Doritos fans have shown us they have the passion and creativity to compete with seasoned professionals in any industry, and they are literally about to give Madison Avenue a run for it's money," predicted Ann Mukherjee, Doritos marketing group vice president. "With the five incredible ads we have vying for the Super Bowl stage, we are confident America's going to pick a winner."

“Based on our experience in 2007, we know that every vote counts. The difference between first and last place will be close with only a small handful of people deciding the winner,” points out Joe Herbert.

Online voters have a change to win big, too. A pair of Super Bowl tickets will be given away every day of the voting period between Jan. 5-25. Persons can vote for their favorite finalists once a day at www.snackstrongproductions.com.

To rev up local voters, the brothers, both East Central High School grads, and good friends Grant Griffith and Josh Bower created the Web site www.doritosvote.com “promote our commercial, and to provide a virtual community for our network of voters, so when you have a free minute,take time to look around at the site and all the information we provide on it,” including cast and crew profiles.

Details about the vote-and-win game, including official rules and how to vote, also are available at www.snackstrongproductions.com.

The brothers hope area residents will back them. “Go forth and multiply! Refer your family and friends to the site, and keep voting!”

Debbie Blank can be contacted at (812) 934-4343, Ext. 113; or debbie.blank@cnhimedia.com.