Thomas Noakes is the mastermind behind the viral 'Finger Cleaner' spot (below) that has made it into the semi-finals of the global Crash the Super Bowl competition.

With finalists to be announced next year B&T caught up with Noakes to discover the inspiration for the funny ad, what he would do with the prize money and his favourite Crash the Super Bowl ads.

Q. How did you come up with the idea for 'Finger Cleaner'?

A: Is this a loaded question? I’m innocent, I swear! Of course there has been a lot of speculation around this. I actually came up with the idea after perusing an authentic 1^st edition W.B Yeates book of poetry. The poem was called something something, finger cleaner, something whimsical. Really. 

Q. What is your favourite Doritos experience?

A: I’m not trying to plug my own shoot here, but dusting Sam Glissan's (Billy) finger with Dorito flavouring dust and having him poke his finger through the hole in the wall, was perhaps the hardest I’ve laughed in a long while. There is just such a primal humour to poking a finger through a wall. 

Q. What would winning the competition mean to you?

A: Just the thought of that actually happening blows my mind. Honestly I’m just really grateful that Billy and his finger cleaner have had this much attention already! It feels crazy to even consider, but if we won this competition we'd give away some of the winnings to the cast and crew and ideally invest a large chunk into a feature film, or another long form project. 

I imagine it would also afford us more opportunities to do fantastic work, hopefully around the globe! I think it’s important to stress that money is just one factor of the prize, the real prize is the recognition and opportunity to keep creating fun commercials. Winning the Crash the Super Bowl competition brings a stamp of validation and opens doors up for career and this is something I find really attractive.

Q. How would you celebrate the win?

A: It only feels right to purchase a small pirate ship. Populate the majestic vessel with the cutthroat cast and crew and sail the high seas seeking more treasure to plunder. Either that or invest in an island theme park where the DNA of a dinosaur is extracted from a mosquito persevered in amber, splice this DNA with that of a frog and eventually breed and clone real life dinosaurs for exhibition.

Q. What is your all-time favourite Crash the Super Bowl ad?

A:  AHHHH there’s so many. I’m reading between the lines here and I can sense that your really asking me what my top two are. Right?

Well number one on the list is “Doritos – Birds of Prey.” The physical comedy in this is just spot on. Bravo.

It’s a tight second, but “Doritos – Make your own” is really very clever and the punch line is awesome.