ESPN’s newly-formed social media integration unit are here to help engage fans through Twitter, Facebook and other platforms in unique ways.

Fans should follow @ESPNNFL, the Twitter feed that encompasses all of ESPN’s NFL studio coverage. This will be one-stop shopping for all things NFL in New Orleans this week.

There are two primary ways fans can interact with ESPN: by submitting SportsNation postcards and by voting in our live Twitter polls. Fans at home can take photos of their faces and tweet them using the hashtag #SBPostcard for a chance to get to New Orleans without leaving their couch. ESPN will select photos on our shows and on our social Jumbotron in front of our live audience and sending fans their own personalized postcard back to them on Twitter. This is the first time ESPN has tried to do something like this on site at a large event like the Super Bowl.

Fans can also tweet their answers to daily ESPN twitter poll questions using the hashtag #ESPNSBPicks.

Here is the ESPN Super Bowl XLVII Week programming schedule

January 26, 2010 12:01 AM Eastern Time
ABC, ESPN and ABC FAMILY Viewers Are Headed Down the Rabbit Hole: Exclusive First Looks of “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” to Hit Three Networks Starting Jan. 31; Cross-Network Stunt Culminates with Huge Super Bowl Spot Feb. 7

60-Second Custom Spots to Reveal Never-Before-Seen Footage of the 3D Motion-Picture Event of the Year; In Theaters Nationwide March 5, 2010

BURBANK, Calif.–Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is teaming up with sister networks ABC, ESPN and ABC FAMILY for a week-long, cross-network extravaganza that will send viewers straight down the rabbit hole with “ALICE IN WONDERLAND.” The stunt provides 60-second first-looks customized for each network, all of which will air between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, 2010. Featuring exclusive, never-before-seen footage from visionary director Tim Burton’s 3D theatrical motion-picture event, the first looks will culminate with a spectacular Super Bowl spot on Feb. 7, 2010. Entitled “Tick-Tock,” this action-packed spot features intense imagery and a few surprises from Burton’s Wonderland.

“We wanted to kick off our television campaign for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in a big way,” says David Singh, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. “With Tim Burton at the helm and a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and rising star Mia Wasikowska, the film already has a passionate following. Fans are eager to step into the incredible 3D Wonderland that Burton has created and get a glimpse at what he’s done with these brilliant characters, and we’re ready to give it to them.”

FIRST LOOK SCHEDULE

ABC

“Desperate Housewives,” Jan. 31, 9/8c
“The Bachelor,” Feb. 1, 8/7c
ESPN

2010 NFL Pro Bowl, Jan. 31, 7:20ET
NBA NUGGETS/LAKERS game, Feb. 5, 10:30ET
ABC FAMILY

“Greek,” Feb. 1, 10/9c
“The Parent Trap,” Feb. 6, 8/7c
Cross-network promo spots for the stunt begin on Jan. 26, 2010. The campaign will be supported, and the creative maximized on the studio’s online/social networking sites including Facebook (Facebook.com/Disney), Twitter (Twitter.com/disneypictures), You Tube (YouTube.com/DisneyMovieTrailers), Disney.com and more.

ABOUT THE MOVIE

From Walt Disney Pictures and visionary director Tim Burton comes an epic 3D fantasy adventure ALICE IN WONDERLAND, a magical and imaginative twist on some of the most beloved stories of all time. JOHNNY DEPP stars as the Mad Hatter and MIA WASIKOWSKA as 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror. The all-star cast also includes ANNE HATHAWAY, HELENA BONHAM CARTER and CRISPIN GLOVER. The screenplay is by Linda Woolverton.

Capturing the wonder of Lewis Carroll’s beloved “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and “Through the Looking-Glass” (1871) with stunning, avant-garde visuals and the most charismatic characters in literary history, ALICE IN WONDERLAND comes to the big screen in Disney Digital 3D™ and IMAX® 3D on March 5, 2010 (U.S. theaters).

Website:

Disney.com/wonderland
Mobile:
Disney.com/wonderland
Become a fan on Facebook
www.facebook.com/AliceInWonderland
Follow us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/ImportantDate

Contacts
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Burbank
Michelle Sewell, Senior Vice President, Global Communications
818-560-3173

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100125007098/en/ABC%2C-ESPN-ABC-FAMILY-Viewers-Headed-Rabbit

Tide to Make Its Super Bowl Debut

By STUART ELLIOTT

THEY say time and tide wait for no man, but Tide has waited a long time to be advertised on the Super Bowl. Soon, Tide, the biggest detergent brand in America — sold by the biggest advertiser in America — will appear for the first time on the biggest day for advertising in America.

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tide, has bought time during the Fox Broadcasting coverage of Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3 for a commercial for the Tide to Go instant stain remover. The 30-second spot, by Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe, is scheduled to appear in the game’s second quarter.

Procter joins two dozen or so marketers, both well known and would-be, that are paying Fox a record or near-record amount to run commercials in the game. The average cost of each 30 seconds of commercial time is estimated at $2.7 million, compared with $2.6 million for spots in Super Bowl XLI in February 2007.

Among the other advertisers are Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, FedEx, General Motors, PepsiCo, Toyota Motor and several movie studios.

Fox Broadcasting, part of the News Corporation, has sold all but one of the 63 30-second commercials that it plans to run in the game, a spokesman for Fox Sports, Lou D’Ermilio, said Thursday.

Demand for commercial time in Super Bowl XLII was strong even before the writers’ strike upended the prime-time schedules of the major networks and cast into doubt the fate of popular fare like “C.S.I.,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and the broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony. As early as the end of October, Fox had only about seven of the 30-second spots in the Super Bowl left to sell. Usually at that time of year, there are two or three times that many slots still unsold.

One reason for that appeal is robust demand for commercial time in all sports programming, Mr. D’Ermilio said, on Fox or not. High demand during the Major League Baseball season last year continued through the spate of college football bowl games that ended Monday with the Bowl Championship Series title game.

•

Another reason for the ardor for Super Bowl spots is the magnitude of recent changes in the media marketplace. The Super Bowl is one of the few so-called big events that remain available to marketers eager to reach tens of millions of consumers at the same time; more than 90 million Americans typically watch each game.

“It’s the last bastion of mass marketing, with incredible reach,” said Jim Nail, chief strategy and marketing officer at Cymfony, a research company that is part of the TNS Media Intelligence unit of Taylor Nelson Sofres.

“If you’ve got to sell a lot of beer or chips, or you have something big to announce, it’s a great venue,” he added, despite steep costs that otherwise may be “really hard to justify.”

Viewers also respond to Super Bowl spots much differently than to commercials in most other TV shows.

Ever since a spectacular Apple commercial called “1984” turned up during the 1984 Super Bowl, consumers have come to expect superior commercials, stuffed with celebrities, special effects, surprise endings, hit music, anthropomorphic animals and other enticements to pay attention.

As a result, rather than change the channel or leave the room for a beer when the selling starts, the audience sticks around, talks about the spots the next day and even goes to Web sites like AOL and YouTube to watch them again.

At every Super Bowl party, there is usually someone “who says, ‘Shhhhhhh! Here comes this cool commercial,’ ” Mr. Nail said.

It is that buzz factor Procter is hoping to capitalize on.

“The Super Bowl is the one time you watch a show and don’t want to miss the commercial breaks,” said Suzanne Watson, Tide brand manager for North America at Procter in Cincinnati.

“Given the wide appeal for Tide to Go and the broad audience for the Super Bowl,” she added, “it’s a perfect fit.”

Tide to Go, which was introduced in 2005, is particularly fitting for a Super Bowl berth, Ms. Watson said, because of its properties as a quick stain remover.

“There are thousands of parties that night,” making Super Bowl Sunday “the biggest stain-based occasion of the year,” she added. “With Tide to Go right there, you don’t have to get up to clean your shirt or pants.”

One reason this year’s Super Bowl has become more desirable for Procter than Super Bowl X or even XX is the growing number of women who tune in the game. In some years, more women have watched the Super Bowl than the Oscars, a show with such potent female appeal that it has been nicknamed on Madison Avenue “the Super Bowl for women.”

•

Another reason is that Procter has started seeking Tide buyers beyond the traditional market of women, adding pitches aimed at men and students of both sexes.

The Tide to Go commercial will be supported by a wide-ranging marketing campaign, Ms. Watson said, that will include the Internet, public relations and promotions.

Such nontraditional elements “can really connect with consumers outside the laundry room,” she added, “and in their daily lives.”

Ms. Watson declined to discuss details of the campaign or the commercial because, she said, it was too soon.

The Tide to Go commercial is only Procter’s third in the Super Bowl. The first, for Charmin bathroom tissue, ran in 2004. The second, in 2006, was for Gillette, which Procter had acquired months before.

The initial Procter foray into the Super Bowl — in a commercial created by another Publicis agency in New York, Publicis Worldwide — drew mostly negative reviews. It was one of only two spots that Bob Garfield, the ad critic for the trade publication Advertising Age, slighted with 1.5 stars; he gave lower scores to just two spots and higher scores to 31.

“We haven’t been focused on how this TV spot will measure relative to others,” Ms. Watson said. “We just want to do the best in communicating with our consumers.”

Translation from marketing-speak: The pressure is on.

via nytimes.com

By STUART ELLIOTT

No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this year’s commercials.

The Super Bowl Sideshow

Virginia Heffernan, The Times’s television critic, commented on the million-dollar ads, the weird diversions and Prince’s halftime spectacle.

Advertising: Amateurs’ Efforts Highlight Ad Bowl

More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.

For instance, in a commercial for Bud Light beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, one man beat the other at a game of rock, paper, scissors by throwing a rock at his opponent’s head.

In another Bud Light spot, face-slapping replaced fist-bumping as the cool way for people to show affection for one another. In a FedEx commercial, set on the moon, an astronaut was wiped out by a meteor. In a spot for Snickers candy, sold by Mars, two co-workers sought to prove their masculinity by tearing off patches of chest hair.

There was also a bank robbery (E*Trade Financial), fierce battles among office workers trapped in a jungle (CareerBuilder), menacing hitchhikers (Bud Light again) and a clash between a monster and a superhero reminiscent of a horror movie (Garmin).

It was as if Madison Avenue were channeling Doc in “West Side Story,” the gentle owner of the candy store in the neighborhood that the two street gangs, the Jets and Sharks, fight over. “Why do you kids live like there’s a war on?” Doc asks plaintively. (Well, Doc, this time, there is.)

During other wars, Madison Avenue has appealed to a yearning for peace. That was expressed in several Super Bowl spots evocative of “Hilltop,” the classic Coca-Cola commercial from 1971, when the Vietnam War divided a world that needed to be taught to sing in perfect harmony.

Coca-Cola borrowed pages from its own playbook with two whimsical spots for Coca-Cola Classic, “Happiness Factory” and “Video Game,” that were as sweet as they were upbeat. The commercials, by Wieden & Kennedy, provided a welcome counterpoint to the martial tone of the evening.

Those who wish the last four years of history had never happened could find solace in several commercials that used the device of ending an awful tale by revealing it was only a dream.

The best of the batch was a commercial for General Motors by Deutsch, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, in which a factory robot “obsessed about quality” imagined the dire outcome of making a mistake.

The same gag, turned inside out, accounted for one of the funniest spots, a Nationwide Financial commercial by TM Advertising, also owned by Interpublic. The spot began with the singer Kevin Federline as the prosperous star of an elaborate rap video clip. But viewers learned at the end it was only the dream of a forlorn fry cook at a fast-food joint.

Then, too, there was the unfortunate homonym at the heart of a commercial from Prudential Financial, titled “What Can a Rock Do?”

The problem with the spot, created internally at Prudential, was that whenever the announcer said, “a rock” — invoking the Prudential logo, the rock of Gibraltar — it sounded as if he were saying, yes, “Iraq.”

To be sure, sometimes “a rock” is just “a rock,” and someone who has watched the Super Bowl XIX years in a row only for the commercials may be inferring things that Madison Avenue never meant to imply.

Take for instance a spot by Grey Worldwide, part of the WPP Group, for Flomax, a drug sold by Boehringer Ingelheim to help men treat enlarged prostates.

“Here’s to men,” the announcer intoned, “to guys who want to spend more time having fun and less time in the men’s room.”

It was not difficult to imagine guests at noisy Super Bowl parties asking one another, “Did he just say, ‘guys who want to spend more time having fun in the men’s room?’ ”

Another off-putting moment was provided by a stereotyped character in a commercial by Endeavor for a hair dye, Revlon Colorist. He was described as the stylist for the singer Sheryl Crow, and he was clearly miffed about her using the product.

“Revlon? Color?” he asked, pouting and rolling his eyes. “I am the colorist.”

What follows is an assessment of some of the other high and low points among the commercials shown nationally during the game on CBS. The spots are among 36 provided to a reporter before the game, out of the total of about 56 that were scheduled to run.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH Each year, Anheuser-Busch manages to offset the typically coarse commercials for Bud Light with a charmer or two for its Budweiser brand. Last night, the brewer went two-for-two with a pair of spots about animals. One commercial tugged at the heartstrings with a bedraggled mutt whose wish to jump on the Bud band wagon — literally and figuratively — came true. The other, sillier spot presented a beachful of anthropomorphic crabs starting a Bud-centric version of a cargo cult. Agency: DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group.

CADBURY SCHWEPPES A wry, low-key commercial showed an ardent fan of Snapple Green Tea, sold by Cadbury Schweppes, traveling all the way to China to learn the secret of its appeal. The punch line, that the answer was closer than he imagined, was not unexpected. Still, it was delivered deftly. Agency: Cliff Freeman & Partners, part of MDC Partners.

DIAMOND FOODS Mr. Federline was not the only celebrity to poke fun at his public persona. A wacky spot for the Emerald line of nuts sold by Diamond Foods presented the crooner Robert Goulet as a nefarious evil-doer. Perhaps he was auditioning for a role in the next Austin Powers movie — or to replace William Shatner in the Priceline campaign. Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, owned by Omnicom.

GODADDY Another Super Bowl, another cheesy commercial for GoDaddy, the Web site registrar operated by the GoDaddy Group. This time, there was a wild party in the office of the GoDaddy marketing department. “Everybody wants to work in marketing,” a character says with a smirk. Hey, GoDaddy, go get Mommy — maybe she knows how to make a halfway decent Super Bowl spot. Agency: created internally.

PEPSICO Two spots for Sierra Mist, sold by the Pepsi-Cola division of PepsiCo, were not as funny as those from the game last year. A third commercial, for Sierra Mist Free, hit the jackpot with a punch line that, well, came up short, as in the abbreviated shorts worn by the comedian Jim Gaffigan. Agency: BBDO Worldwide, part of Omnicom.

SPRINT NEXTEL By now, even the most spoof-loving consumer is probably tired of commercials that mock commercials for prescription drugs. But a spot from Sprint Nextel managed to elicit laughs. The parody was dead-on, down to the hushed-voice announcer promising that Sprint Mobile Broadband would help those who “can’t take care of business the way others do” by curing their “connectile dysfunction.” Agency: Publicis & Hal Riney, part of the Publicis Groupe.

via nytimes.com

By Laura Petrecca and Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Anheuser-Busch (BUD)— the biggest Super Bowl advertiser by far — will go slightly less patriotic and be more worldly in its ads this year. It also will give its declining Budweiser brand more air time.

Unlike during some recent Super Bowls, there will be no A-B ads in emotional support of American soldiers or 9/11 victims. Rather, the ads will mostly have a more humorous and even international feel, says Bob Lachky, executive vice president of global industry development.

The Budweiser brand — which has been losing market share domestically for several years — is being re-billed as a “world” beer. As imported beer sales have climbed, Anheuser-Busch has been buying up import brands in recent years. And its Super Bowl ads seem to be doing less flag-waving and more global hugs.

Two Bud spots will end with a logo of the globe behind the familiar Budweiser symbol.

For A-B, it’s a new world — of competition.

“We have lots of equity in our traditional American heritage,” Lachky says. “But most people don’t know that Budweiser is one of the world’s most popular beers.” In fact, it’s second only to Bud Light as the world’s best-selling beer.

One ad for Bud appears to take place aboard the Space Station as an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut celebrate their soon-to-be-ending tour of space with a Bud that’s as weightless as they are.

While Budweiser may not be No. 1 in Russia, it is big in nations from the United Kingdom to China, Lachky says. With this nod to Bud’s worldliness, “We’re trying to get it back on the radar screen.”

For A-B, there could be no better place to do that than at the Super Bowl, says Jon Bond, co-chairman of ad agency Kirshenbaum Bond+Partners, which doesn’t have any advertisers on this year’s game. “The Super Bowl is the Super Bowl of drinking occasions. It makes perfect sense for Budweiser to go on there.”

In a nod to cultural inclusion, Latino comedian Carlos Mencia, from Comedy Central, stars in a Bud Light spot. In it, he teaches an English class how to speak with a Southern drawl when asking for a Bud Light.

Some A-B ads will give an emotional lift to the little guy, including one with the Clydesdales and a lost dog.

But celebrities will make a showing, too. In one ad, rapper Jay-Z and football legend Don Shula square off in a football-themed chess game. Dale Earnhardt Jr. stars in an ad in which he’s being chased in his race car by an angry gang of Mad Max-type hooligans.

A-B also will be expanding its Internet — and other new media — presence around the Super Bowl.

It will promote Bud.TV, its new online entertainment network that targets twentysomethings. The website kicks off the day after the Super Bowl.

For the first time, the brewer will text message A-B fans on their cellphones during the Super Bowl, asking them to vote for their favorite A-B Super Bowl ads on their cellphones.

Meanwhile, in other Super Bowl ad news:

• CBS still selling. So far, more than 25 advertisers have bought time, with some snapping up multiple spots. But Jo Ann Ross, CBS’ president of network sales, on Wednesday at a Reuters event wouldn’t disclose what percentage of the inventory is sold.

Some advertisers are worried that their ads may not be “Super Bowl worthy” because the event is so high-profile, Ross said. While sales are tracking on schedule to what CBS expected, there are still holdouts. “Like any other event, people wait until the last minute to get a discount,” she said, but added, “When clients wait, they won’t get the position they want.”

With two black head coaches heading to the big game — Indianapolis Colts’ Tony Dungy and the Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith — one marketer is adding to its ad time for a Black History Month spot, Ross says. She would not name the advertiser.

• Sprint is in. The wireless company is returning with a humorous ad, Mike Goff, vice president of national advertising said in an e-mail statement. The commercial will promote mobile broadband.

• CareerBuilder.com chimps fired. The job site cut the vine on troublemaking chimps that starred in its Super Bowl ads for two years. This year’s ads, set in a jungle, show exaggerated workplace situations, such as employees literally fighting for a promotion.

-Eleftheria Parpis

NEW YORK Somber music plays as a chimpanzee looking pretty in pink nonchalantly picks its nose. Sweetly looking into the camera, she repeatedly sticks her finger in her nose and then licks her finger.”It’s tough working with monkeys. And we’ve had enough,” reads the on-screen copy. “Watch the CareerBuilder ads evolve. Feb. 4 on the big game.” The ad ends with the chimp giving the camera a proud, toothy grin.

That 30-second commercial is one of two new spots from the Chicago-based company that began running two weeks before the Super Bowl to heighten anticipation for its new campaign, “It’s a jungle out there. “The Super Bowl preview campaign is running on network TV and the client’s Web site.

Super Bowl advertisers have long touted their game buys with leaks to the press and partial previews of their spots in an effort to stretch their ad dollars. Controversial spots historically garner media attention that can add millions of dollars’ worth of “free exposure.” This year, however, an increasing number of advertisers are employing all sorts of supplementary efforts pre- and post-game in order to maximize the value of their $2.6 million ad buy. The approaches are varied, but the intention is the same: generate buzz early and prolong the shelf life of the commercials long after the game

It seems that 90 million viewers just aren’t enough anymore to make the multimillion-dollar buy worth it. So, advertisers are resorting to every form of modern marketing, from user-generated ad contests, video-sharing sites, blogs, mobile advertising and Webisodes, to additional content on brand sites.

The hoopla began earlier than ever this year, when Doritos, the NFL and Chevrolet introduced their Super Bowl stories months in advance, kicking off contests that asked the general public to submit ideas for Super Bowl commercials, back in October.

More skeptical industry observers say Super Bowl XLI is shaping up to be the most “gimmicky” in memory, but others call it smart business. Peter Krivkovich, CEO of CareerBuilder’s agency Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago (whose shop’s work on the Super Bowl dates back to the famous Masterlock series that began in 1974 and lasted through the mid-1990s) says the key to a successful Super Bowl showing is to “merchandise the bejesus out of it.”

At press time, a majority of the advertisers signed up for the game had agreed to contribute their ads to a showcase on the CBS Sportsline Web site, according to a rep for the program. The showcase will be promoted on the home page as well as in short promos during the game’s telecast. The ads will be loaded onto the site at the end of each quarter and will be available for a week after the game.

“It’s no longer just about the additional press you get,” says Tom McGovern, director of sports media at Optimum Sports, a unit of Omnicom’s OMD. “Now the incremental is all these additional places where the commercial is going to be used.”

Halftime sponsor Pepsi last week was still considering how to use its 90 seconds of time. One option: to introduce a campaign tagged “Feel the Pepsi” for its flagship brand with ads from longtime agency BBDO.

To extend the excitement beyond the game, the company has also bought the front page of Yahoo for the day of the game and the day after. Yahoo also built a Web site for the brand, pepsisupercan.com, where people can get a code for a chance to win Super Bowl tickets for life and a diamond-and-jewel-adorned can valued at $100,000. It will also advertise on Yahoo Sports with video spots before and after the game.

All the Internet activity has further cemented the championship game as the preeminent media vehicle to reach a maximum audience. “It’s still the viewing and commercial showcase. Nothing really comes close to it from a viewing, commercial or marketing standpoint,” says Charlie Rutman, North American CEO of Havas’ MPG. “Every client has their own definition of price value, but for every advertiser that is reluctant to get into that spotlight for that price there’s a marketer dying for the opportunity. These digital showcases create more interest and word-of-mouth about the advertising efforts, rather than less.

For two weeks prior to the Super Bowl, visitors to BudLight.com can register to use their mobile phones to vote for their favorite commercials on game day. After Anheuser-Busch’s final spot airs, registrants will receive a text message with a code that will allow them to unlock a “secret” spot (not airing during the game) on their cell phone or via a microsite. They will also be able to send customized messages to friends inviting them to view the spot.

The brewery is also planning to launch its first Web entertainment channel, Bud TV, the day after the game, where all of the game spots will be featured. “Last year, when we put our commercials on various Web sites, we were quite overwhelmed with the views we had and downloads of the commercials,” says Tony Ponturo, vp, global media and sports marketing, A-B. “That also allowed us to realize our commercials were entertainment and content.”

GoDaddy’s CEO Bob Parsons has been stoking interest in its game spot by blogging about the trouble the company has had getting its ads through CBS clearance and posting at least one of the rejected spots on his site, bobparsons.com. In it, two office workers battle over buying each other’s domain and loved ones’ names using GoDaddy.com. The phrase, “Too late, I already did my mother,” is used as a double entendre.

The overall concept of the final ad will focus on a fictional department at the online company.

The NFL, Frito-Lays’ Doritos and General Motors’ Chevrolet were some of the earliest promoters of their Super Bowl investments. Last fall, they launched contests inviting the public to create spots, making this the first Super Bowl that will air consumer-generated ad ideas. All three are keeping the public updated on the progress of the contests via dedicated pages on their sites. The NFL posted the winning pitch from New England native Gino Bona.

Chevy is running behind-the-scenes footage chronicling the Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge and has posted the CG ads on its site for viewers to vote on. However, like the NFL, it is using professionals to finesse the contest winners’ concepts for the actual game spot. Only Doritos will be airing an ad entirely created by a consumer.

For the last few months, consumers have been able to watch a play-by-play of the online competition on the Doritos site, including voting on which of the over 1,000 entries they want to see aired. The five finalists are all being flown to the game and won’t know whose spot won until it airs. “There have been plenty of funny and memorable Super Bowl ads over the years, but very few have genuinely engaged consumers,” says Dan Belmont, CMO of The Marketing Arm, which is working with Goodby, Silverstein + Partners on the contest. “That’s why this year’s Doritos Super Bowl ad really breaks new ground, with thousands of consumers actively creating Doritos brand messaging.”

Despite advertisers attempts to create new approaches that will set them apart in viewers’ minds, celebrity and scandal still capture consumer attention best. Last week, Nationwide Mutual Insurance, which is prepping a Super Bowl commercial starring ex-Britney Spears husband Kevin Federline, posted outtakes from the production on YouTube. At press time, the video ha more than 100,000 views.

Steven Schreibman, Nationwide’s CMO, estimates the company has already received $5 million worth of PR and 180 million impressions from news about its ad, which is scheduled to first air on ABC’s Good Morning America on Jan. 29. He says he did not intend to disclose the content of them commercial, but word began to leak about K-Fed’s role.

According to Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Nationwide is topping the pre-game buzz, dominating Web chatter with 26 percent of all blog conversations last week. Doritos, Chevy, Bud, the NFL and an anonymous guy named J.P.—who is going to propose to his girlfriend during the game and apparently got an as-yet-unnamed advertiser to foot the bill—are also getting lots of buzz.

Pete Blackshaw, BuzzMetrics CMO, predicts the most successful advertisers will be those who extend their game-day exposure to video-sharing sites like YouTube, calling this “the torture test of marketing integration.”

Others predict it will also be the ultimate test of the CG ad trend. “This year might be the year that tells us if the users have the stuff,” says Steve Simpson, partner and cd at Goodby, which is overseeing the creative on the Emerald Nuts and HP efforts. “I’m open to it,” he adds, “but this is the year that we’ll see if it will live up to Time magazine’s hype.”

via adweek.com

NEW YORK It almost didn’t happen, but GoDaddy.com, the domain-name registrar that was scolded last year for running a racy commercial during the Super Bowl, got approval from ABC today to run a spot during this year’s big game.

“This showdown went down to the wire. We were about out of time and had produced our 14th and final attempt. I’m ecstatic about being in the Super Bowl again,” said Bob Parsons, founder and president of GoDaddy.com, in a statement.

GoDaddy said it went through multiple revisions of its ad and had negotiated with network censors before it finally won approval.

Last year, GoDaddy.com’s commercial, a parody on censorship in the wake of Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” the year before, was pulled before it aired a scheduled second time during the Super Bowl. The ensuing controversy resulted in more than $11 million of publicity for GoDaddy, according to broadcast monitoring service Multivision Inc.

Parsons has been mining the controversy for publicity ever since his first attempt to buy time this year was rebuffed by ABC. He has been chronicling the efforts on his blog, BobParsons.com, where various iterations of the ad can be viewed.

It was not known how much GoDaddy is paying to run the ad. Per sources, the average 30-second slot on the upcoming Super Bowl is selling for about $2.5 million.

—Brandweek staff report

via adweek.com

More spots rated G; no longer a ‘beer-drinking event’

By William Spain, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — When paying $2.5 million for 30 seconds of advertising time, you might think you could pretty much do anything with it.

No so when that half minute is airing during the Super Bowl, now in its 40th year.

Long known as an advertising showcase that can eclipse the on-field action, America’s Big Game remains a top venue of choice for marketers to roll out new campaigns or build on old ones. And the amount of time, money and talent they put behind those spots remains undiminished.

But as the event has evolved from a male-dominated sports program to a family affair — and following howls of outrage over alleged indecencies ranging from Janet Jackson’s exposed breast to a dot-com ad making fun of it — so has the scrutiny over what kind of commercial messages are appropriate.

Changing audience

“This has been a very top-of-mind subject for us,” said Mark Monteiro, executive creative director of DDB Los Angeles, an Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) company. He declined to discuss the content of the Super Bowl commercial his firm did this year for Ameriquest Mortgage Co., but said: “The Super Bowl audience has changed over the last few years from a guys’ beer-drinking event. Somewhere along the line, it truly turned into family entertainment, family viewing.”

Unlike virtually all other sports programming, in the Super Bowl, “it seems there really is 50% women and kids in the room,” which has had a significant impact on the content of the ads, Monteiro added.

And this year, he noted, the game will be on ABC rather than Fox, a part of News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWS) . ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) , “is considered the toughest censor of all the networks we deal with.”

Advertisers typically stay mum about details of their ads until they air, or a short time before that. A spot for Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) by JWT Detroit, a unit of WPP Group (LSE:UK:WPP) remains cloaked in secrecy but it will be “super G-rated,” said an executive familiar with the ad.

In a preview by Advertising Age, it appears that humor — clean humor — is likely to be the order of the day.  Among them: Burger King has its “King” going up against football players while Careerbuilder.com will bring back its company-running monkeys, the trade magazine reported.

While all broadcasters set basic minimum standards and practices for both programming and ads, how far they’re willing to bend the guidelines depends on audience makeup and other factors.

‘Highest standards’

ABC declined to go into specifics about how standards and practices may vary from say, Monday Night Football, to the Super Bowl. But in a written statement, an ABC spokeswoman said the network is aware the Super Bowl can draw the biggest television audience of the year, and “we routinely require the highest standards for all the material broadcast.”

That audience is indeed enormous: Last year, Fox drew the highest rating in its history as a network with an estimated 86.1 million viewers — down a bit from the 89.8 million pairs of eyeballs CBS (NYSE:CBS) pulled in 2004. By contrast, that is more than double what Fox drew for the NFC Championship on Sunday and better than triple the average for the highest-rated primetime program, “CSI.”

Among the advertisers looking to get in front of that crowd are Burger King, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) , Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) , Ameriquest, PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) and General Motors (OTHER:MTLQQ) . Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) is the largest single buyer, with a total of 10 spots throughout the game, and all of the marketers are seeking mass reach in varying degrees.

However, almost as compelling as the number of people who watch is how they watch it, according to one top media buyer.

“The viewing dynamic is unlike anything else in media,” said Tim Spengler, director of national broadcast at Initiative, a media buying and planning arm of Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG) . “The attention paid to the commercials is greater there than anywhere else in TV.”

Group viewing

Because the ads are watched in, and critiqued by, groups of viewers, they can generate a more intense audience response, he said.

“If you watch a sitcom at home alone, the chances of you laughing out loud at something are less than if you are watching it with five friends,” Spengler said.

That means Super Bowl ads also attract closer scrutiny from the broadcasters: “There is no greater spotlight. There is absolutely no ability to hide anything. Where they might look the other way, they won’t in this case.”

Neither will the media. The advertisements are endlessly written and talked about — even shown for free — in the days before and after the game, giving advertisers the biggest possible bangs for their very big bucks.

“The ads carry with them the potential to create an extended conversation around the copy,” said Peter Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Intelliseek, a research firm. That means a “word-of-mouth multiplier” which can add significantly to a campaign’s return on investment, he said.

An ad that bores or offends, or one that is just tailored too narrowly for such a broad audience, can eat away at that added value, he said.

Even the best spots can be overshadowed by circumstances beyond the advertiser’s control, Blankenship pointed out. The Janet Jackson incident of two years ago “siphoned off the water-cooler conversation.”

Deliberately pushing the envelope can be its own reward in terms of getting extra attention.

Las Vegas always makes a fuss that it can’t promote the city during the game because of the NFL’s ban on any gambling-related commercials. Last year, GoDaddy.com, an Internet service company, parodied the Jackson brouhaha in a risqué ad, and Fox pulled it after one of two scheduled showings during the game.

This year, it has submitted, and resubmitted, another ad that it says ABC keeps rejecting.

In a written statement, GoDaddy.com founder Bob Parsons said, “It would be disappointing if the Super Bowl, which has long been known as the world’s stage for the most innovative and cutting-edge advertisements, lost its relevance for adventurous companies…”

Joe Mandese, editor of MediaPost, which covers the advertising and industry, said submitting ads that get rejected has generated barrels of free ink for GoDaddy, which will reap the benefits of Super Bowl hype — even if its spot never makes it onto the air.

“Remember,” he said, “when they get into a pissing match with ABC about buying an ad, they are also getting guys like us to write about it.”

via marketwatch.com

NICK BUNKLEY
The Detroit News

It’s the Cadillac of football games — and Cadillac doesn’t want anyone to forget it.

General Motors’ luxury brand is sparing no expense on a barrage of sponsorships and ads in hopes that viewers will associate Super Bowl XL with its wreath-and-crest logo more than the blue ovals atop the stadium where it’s being played.

Cadillac bought one minute of second-quarter ad time to promote its new 2007 Escalade and will drive an Escalade onto the Ford Field turf as the Super Bowl MVP is honored during the Cadillac-sponsored post-game show.

It’s dispersing 675 Cadillacs around downtown Detroit for use by National Football League officials, team executives and other VIPs. On a building along Woodward near Grand Circus Park, it’s hanging a seven-story Escalade banner surrounded by “paparazzi” mannequins with glittering flash bulbs.

“Everywhere you look, you’ll see a Cadillac,” said Jim Taylor, the brand’s general manager.

That is, unless you see a Ford or a Toyota first. With the Super Bowl coming to the Motor City, automakers are pulling out all the stops to burnish their brands before a worldwide audience.

Ford Motor Co. isn’t spending as much as GM, but it’s planning a marketing blitz of its own to make the most of its namesake venue hosting an event watched by an estimated 1 billion people worldwide.

Ford will air a 30-second ad at some point during the Feb. 5 game, although it won’t reveal when it’s scheduled or which vehicle it highlights. But perhaps more importantly, Ford’s name will undoubtedly be mentioned dozens of times during ABC’s broadcast, and any aerial shots will show the huge blue-oval logos on the stadium’s roof.

“We made our biggest investment when we signed up for the naming rights for Ford Field,” said Ford spokesman Jim Cain. “People will be hard-pressed to match our presence.”

All of Detroit’s Big Three automakers will be vying for the attention of the 100,000 people expected to descend on downtown in the days leading up to the game.

During the Motown Winter Blast, Ford is taking over Campus Martius Park with a tent for family-friendly activities and offering rides on a fleet of Model Ts. Nearby, DaimlerChrysler AG is sponsoring the Taste of Detroit food festival and entertainment on the Chrysler Jeep Dodge R&B/Jazz Stage.

Of course, anyone who glances up at the city’s skyline will see Cadillac’s logo on a 24,748-square-foot wrap plastered on the windows of GM’s Renaissance Center headquarters.

Having the Super Bowl in Detroit gives Michigan’s struggling automakers a unique marketing opportunity at a critical juncture.

Just as Metro Detroiters are hoping the game will provide a much-needed boost to the city, the image that automakers project to visitors and viewers could be an invaluable aid in their turnaround efforts.

GM is counting on the Cadillac Escalade, which goes on sale several weeks after the game, to be a large part of that endeavor. The commercial it’s airing features an Escalade, a favorite among hip-hop artists and movie stars, rising on the runway during a glitzy fashion show from a pool of liquid chrome.

Cadillac’s ad agency, Leo Burnett Detroit, built a 100-foot-long runway and hired Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen, models Rachel Hunter and Vida Guerra and 125 Hollywood extras.

GM is paying an estimated $5 million to show the spot during the game, with ABC charging an estimated $2.5 million for every 30 seconds of ad time. GM also plans to air a 30-second commercial for Pontiac during the game and several spots for the revamped 2007 GMC Yukon but won’t divulge any details.

Only two companies, perennial Super Bowl advertisers Anheuser Busch and Pepsi, will spend more than GM on commercial time. Counting Cadillac’s sponsorship of the post-game show, MVP trophy and other aspects of the event, University of Detroit marketing professor Mike Bernacchi estimates GM is shelling out between $20 million and $25 million within a span of only a few hours.

Still, it might not be enough to overcome the advantage that the mere name of Ford Field gives GM’s biggest local competitor. Ford bought naming rights to the stadium through 2042 for $40 million.

“But GM is there in full force with shoulder pads and knee pads, ready to kick as much butt as they can on Ford’s home field,” Bernacchi said.

Ford did hold back somewhat from past years by not reprising its role as sponsor of the Super Bowl pregame show.

Chrysler Group, for the second consecutive year, isn’t airing any ads during the game. However, Bernacchi said he would be surprised if the Auburn Hills-based automaker doesn’t air several 30-second spots during the pregame show at a cost of around $1 million each.

Even though the game is in Detroit, foreign automakers aren’t letting the Big Three have center stage to themselves. Back for the second consecutive year is Toyota, which has created the first-ever bilingual Super Bowl commercial to promote the 2007 Camry.

In the 30-second spot, a Hispanic father is driving his young son in their new hybrid Toyota Camry. When the father explains how the hybrid car switches between gas and electric power, the son compares it to the way his father can switch between English and Spanish.

“Because I’m always thinking of your future,” the father says, explaining why he learned English — and why he bought a hybrid.

Ed Erhardt, president of sales for ABC/ESPN, said the game’s location in Detroit has generated more interest from automakers, both foreign and domestic, than in past years. He wouldn’t say which automakers have bought ad time this year other than the ones that have publicly announced plans.

“The automotive companies recognize the power of what the Super Bowl is,” Erhardt said. “There are very few places that you can get so many people in one place that tune in for just the ads.”

Automakers have created some of the more memorable ads in recent years. In 2004, Honda touted its Pilot sport utility vehicle as perfect for a man raised by wolves and Chevrolet showed numerous children having their mouths washed out by soap after expressing their amazement toward the SSR.

Last year, Ford introduced its redesigned Mustang by showing a driver frozen in his seat because he couldn’t resist taking it for a spin with the top down in below-zero temperatures.

Last year’s Super Bowl featured several spots for Cadillac, Ford trucks, the Volvo XC90, the Toyota Prius and Honda’s Ridgeline pickup.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. You can reach Nick Bunkley at (313) 222-2293 or nbunkley@detnews.com.

via detnews.com

It’s been 11 years since Burger King Corp. last advertised during the Super Bowl broadcast. But the fast-food chain said it will air a 60-second spot during this year’s game.

The Miami-based company said Miami-based ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky created the commercial that returns it to Super Bowl advertising. The spot is scheduled to air in the second pod of ads, immediately following kickoff.

Super Bowl XL is scheduled to take place in Detroit, Feb. 5. The broadcaster is ABC.

Burger King also has partnered with the National Football League all this season. But the chain pointed out the Super Bowl is often the nation’s highest-rated TV program. Last year, Burger King said more than 133 million viewers in the United States tuned into the game. This year, the chain put the game’s potential worldwide audience at 1 billion people in more than 225 countries and territories.

Burger King did not give a precise description of its Super Bowl ad, but did detail an accompanying contest. Among other ads Crispin Porter + Bogusky has created for Burger King, an online game known as Subservient Chicken was also interactive.

The contest is to start this morning, with Burger King restaurants across the country giving customers a chance to go to the Super Bowl in the “Text To Score” sweepstakes.

During the three-week sweepstakes, scheduled to end Jan. 30, Burger King said its guests will be able to text a 10-digit unique entry code found on NFL-themed Burger King Chicken Fries packaging. Prizes include 20 trips for two to this year’s Super Bowl.

As part of the contest, Burger King has added a 36-piece Chicken Fries Party Pack. The new product is to have four “Text to Score” sweepstakes entry codes, while the company’s established, six-piece and nine-piece Chicken Fries containers are to have one sweepstakes entry code each.

Other sweepstakes prizes include five trips for two to this year’s Pro Bowl game in Hawaii, Feb. 12; two 2006 Hummer H3 vehicles; 10 Samsung plasma 40-inch-wide LCD TVs, 400 Visa gift cards worth $40 each; 200 EA Sports Madden NFL 06 Xbox 360 video games; and 200 “Super Bowl Moments” DVDs from Warner Home Video.

Also starting this morning, Burger King said it will air a new series of NFL-themed television ads. The commercials are to featuring company spokesman the King going head-to-helmet with the pros.

via bizjournals.com

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44273

Controversy Generates Wide Play of Spot Elsewhere
QwikFIND ID: AAQ31M
By Hoag Levins

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Although it passed muster enough to be accepted and played during the first quarter of the Super Bowl, the GoDaddy.com “Broadcast Hearing” commercial had so upset Fox and or NFL officials by the fourth quarter that they canceled a second scheduled airing of the ad.

GoDaddy’s spot was vetted and approved for airing in the first quarter but has lost favor within Fox by the fourth when its second scheduled airing was killed. Watch the spot on the ‘TV Spots of the Week’ Video Page.

‘Out of step’ And now, neither Fox nor the National Football League is talking about the incident beyond Fox’s terse statement, saying that midway through the game network officials realized that the ad’s content was “out of step with the tenor” of the event.

GoDaddy is a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company that manages and sells Internet domain names. It was, until last week, virtually unknown to all but a relatively small group of Internet users who employ its technical services.

Pregame rejection But that changed when the first version of its Super Bowl commercial, created by the Ad Store of New York, was initially rejected by Fox, generating pregame buzz about content too sexual and controversial to be used in the Super Bowl. The company and its agency altered the ad enough that it was finally accepted by Fox for airplay in the first and fourth quarters.

Set in a mock congressional committee hearing, the spot starred a young women whose very large breasts were constrained within a very skimpy camisole that suffered a near “wardrobe malfunction.” The story line was a satirical jab at the government’s recent moves to more tightly regulate TV and radio content that falls within the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission.

Replaced with another ad It’s ironic, then, that an ad criticizing the concept of TV content censorship was itself censored and killed from further play by Fox and replaced by another ad.

On his GoDaddy.com blog, company owner Bob Parsons wrote, “We immediately contacted Fox to find out what happened. Here’s what we were told: After our first ad was aired, the NFL became upset and they, together with Fox, decided to pull the ad from running a second time. Because we purchased two spots, we were also entitled to a ‘Brought to you by GoDaddy.com’ 5 second marquis spot. They also chose to pull the marquis spot.”

However, Mr. Parsons was not mourning the development. In the often upside down world of public relations and advertising, the cancellation of the ad turned out to be a major publicity coup for GoDaddy. In interviews with press outlets, Mr. Parsons crowed that “millions of people across the country who didn’t know we existed are now aware of GoDaddy.com.”

Because of the pregame and in-game controversy swirling around the GoDaddy commercial, it has been played on TV news networks across the country as well as on a wide range of blogs and Web sites, including AdAge.com.

Industry observers point out that GoDaddy.com, a company that came out of nowhere, has succeeded, in its own way, in being to this year’s Super Bowl what Janet Jackson was to last year’s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/business/media/07adcol.html

By STUART ELLIOTT

Published: February 7, 2005

It may be hard to say, and harder to believe, but Madison Avenue could owe Janet Jackson a big thank-you.

The commercials that were broadcast on Fox last night during Super Bowl XXXIX were, in general, markedly better than typical spots from the last few Super Bowls – though there were some stinkers. And the reason for that improvement could well be Ms. Jackson’s breast-baring during the halftime show last year.

The reaction against the notorious “wardrobe malfunction” also generated attacks against crass, boorish commercials that ran before and after Ms. Jackson’s performance. Those spots relied on crude humor to pander to a large segment of the Super Bowl audience: younger men who live to laugh at bathroom jokes and misogynistic jibes.

Chastened by the complaints, advertisers and agencies promised to clean up their acts and proceed cautiously with commercials for 2005. That pledge was widely interpreted as foreshadowing a dull, play-it-safe Ad Bowl inside the Super Bowl.

But many of the 30 sponsors of the game rose to the occasion, proving they could deliver attention-getting ads without stooping to the fraternity-house antics of last year, featuring disreputable characters like a flatulent horse, a crotch-biting dog and a monkey pitching woo to a woman.

For instance, FedEx turned its Super Bowl marketing playbook back to 1998, when it won plaudits for a witty commercial by BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group, that mocked the conventions of Super Bowl commercials.

The 2005 version, also from BBDO New York, crammed into 30 seconds the 10 ingredients purportedly guaranteed to insure Super Sunday success. They included an obligatory celebrity (the actor Burt Reynolds), a bear (the required dancing, talking animal), two lissome cheerleaders (representing attractive females) and, when the bear became a film critic, one of those surprise endings so beloved by copywriters of Super Bowl spots.

The best moment: When Mr. Reynolds paused to deliver a pitch for FedEx, it was identified on screen as Item No. 8, “Product message (optional).”

Fox charged an estimated average of $2.4 million for each 30 seconds of commercial time, and some advertisers, alas, could not resist reflexively reaching for the lowest common denominator. For example, CareerBuilder.com, a job Web site owned by three newspaper companies, ran three commercials by Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago featuring a cast of – yawn – mischievous monkeys dressed as office workers.

Those viewers who still longed for the callow carryings-on of last year were rewarded with formulaic sight gags involving whoopee cushions, bananas and a literal interpretation of the phrase “kissing up to the boss.”

What follows is an assessment of some of the best and worst other commercials. The spots described below are among 35 provided to reporters before the game, out of the total of 50 commercials that were scheduled to run.

Anheuser-Busch A gauzy valentine to American troops, which ended with the Anheuser-Busch corporate logo superimposed on screen, was touching, but some viewers may have wondered whether “Busch” had been misspelled. And a commercial for designating a driver managed to deliver its message with a wink rather than a lecture. Agency: the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide, part of Omnicom.

Bubblicious A spot for Bubblicious gum, sold by the Cadbury Adams division of Cadbury Schweppes, was short (15 seconds) but sweet. The commercial, for the new LeBron’s Lightning Lemonade flavor endorsed by LeBron James, showed that having your bubble burst is not always a bad thing. Agency: JWT in New York, part of the WPP Group.

Budweiser The playful horses in a commercial for Budweiser beer, sold by Anheuser-Busch, were far better behaved than their gassy counterpart in a Bud Light spot last year. A stable of Clydesdales faced off in a snowball fight, and the cute “razzberry” in the finale was as naughty as they got. Agency: DDB Chicago.

Degree A commercial for a new line of Degree deodorants sold by Unilever took a risk by pretending to celebrate men who avoid risk, as embodied by a make-believe brand of “Inaction Heroes” dolls bearing names like Mama’s Boy. The spot succeeded where so many failed last year, by treading the fine line between boldness and tastelessness. Agency: Lowe & Partners in New York, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

Lay’s Come back, MC Hammer, all is forgiven. That seemed to be the message delivered by a commercial featuring the 1980′s rapper, for the Lay’s potato chip brand sold by the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo. As for the connection between salty snacks and silly singers, as Mr. Hammer might put it, “U Can’t Figure This Out.” Agency: Spike DDB in New York, owned by the director Spike Lee and DDB Worldwide.

McDonald’s The fast-food company McDonald’s surprised with a hilarious commercial, far more clever than its usual fare. The spot, presented in a deadpan “mockumentary” style reminiscent of “This Is Spinal Tap,” was centered on a French fry that allegedly resembled Abraham Lincoln, which improbably became the subject of a bidding war on the Yahoo Shopping Web site. Agency: DDB Chicago.

MasterCard Cynics laughed last fall when Advertising Week in New York City began with a parade of familiar advertising characters. But the idea now seems, well, priceless, thanks to a delightful dinner reunion of 10 brand icons like the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut and the Morton Salt girl, sponsored by Debit MasterCard from MasterCard International. One disturbing thought: What was in that casserole Charlie the Tuna ate so heartily? Agency: McCann Erickson in New York, part of the McCann Worldgroup division of Interpublic (which created a MasterCard character for the occasion).

Pepsi-Cola A prosaic idea to promote iTunes and Pepsi-Cola, sponsored by Apple Computer and PepsiCo, turned up not once but twice: Uncap a Pepsi bottle and hear music; recap the bottle and the music stops. What, viewers didn’t get it the first time? But it was worth the double play to hear Gwen Stefani and Eve sing “If I Were a Rich Girl,” based on the song from “Fiddler on the Roof.” What’s not to like? Agency: the Playa del Rey, Calif., office of TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of Omnicom.

Silestone Jocks almost always play stock characters in commercials, taking parts like thug, superstar or dim bulb, but a droll spot for the Silestone brand of quartz surfaces sold by Cosentino defied convention. “I am Diana Pearl,” former athletes like Mike Ditka and Dennis Rodman declared, “Spartacus”-style. Huh? The punch line: It’s a color of Silestone they like. Agency: Freed Advertising in Sugar Land, Tex.

Subway A slyly subversive commercial for a new line of Fresh Toasted Subs sold by the Subway chain, owned by Doctor’s Associates, managed a feat that eluded so many spots last year: pulling off a sight gag without being obnoxious or offensive. It seemed to show an amorous couple parked for a hot makeout session, but as a pair of inquiring police officers learned, appearances can deceive when guys get hungry. Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, part of Omnicom.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050204/tv_nm/food_beer_advertising_dc_3

By Mark Weinraub

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Television network Fox has decided against broadcasting three Miller Lite commercials it had approved for airing during the Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday, the network said on Friday.

The three commercials poke fun at rival Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc.’s new Budweiser Select beer, which is being heavily promoted during the football game itself. The Miller spots were approved by Fox’s standards and practices committee but later vetoed by its sales department, a source familiar with the situation said.

Fox said it would not run commercials portraying Anheuser-Busch, which bought the most Super Bowl advertising time this year, in a negative light, said Jon Nesvig, president of advertising sales at Fox.

“The decision was made to reject these specific ads based on the degree of spending Anheuser-Busch has achieved in support of Fox and the Super Bowl,” Nesvig said in a statement.

Anheuser-Busch, which is the largest in-game advertiser, is the only brewer scheduled to air commercials across the United States during the actual Super Bowl game, which is the biggest stage for advertisers. Fox sold 30-second spots for up to $2.4 million this year.

Although Miller’s commercials will not be part of the national broadcast on Sunday, the brewer said it has bought commercial time with some local affiliate stations during the game. The decision to use local affiliates came after its ads were pulled from the pregame show. “It appears to us that Anheuser-Busch is trying to bully us out of the pregame on Super Bowl Sunday,” Miller spokesman Pete Marino said. “But we remain confident that our message about new Bud will be well heard and well understood.”

A Fox spokesman declined to comment on if the network consulted with Anheuser-Busch about the decision.

A representatives from Anheuser-Busch was not immediately available to comment.

Anheuser-Busch and Miller, which is a unit of SABMiller Plc, have been vying for U.S. market share, a battle that has spilled onto the airwaves through commercials. Both brewers have poked fun at the other’s products in their advertising.

In January, ABC and its sister cable network ESPN rejected three Anheuser-Busch commercials spoofing Miller advertising campaigns. That move came after the major TV networks pulled three Miller Lite commercials, saying they were too disparaging of Bud Light.

In 2004, Miller filed a lawsuit against its bigger rival, claiming the company was making “false and misleading statements” in its advertising.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/business/media/03adco.html

By STUART ELLIOTT

Even before kickoff, the Super Bowl has its first advertising casualty.

In a highly unusual last-minute reversal, the Ford Motor Company withdrew a commercial from the game late yesterday in the face of complaints.

Ford canceled a spot for a new Lincoln truck, scheduled for the second quarter of Super Bowl XXXIX on Sunday, because of charges from an advocacy organization that it exploited the sex scandals embroiling the Catholic Church.

The withdrawal of the commercial, showing how a mischievous girl’s prank caused a clergyman to be tempted by a 2006 Lincoln Mark LT pickup, underlined how tender sensibilities are after the controversy over Super Bowl XXXVIII. Advertisers and agencies want to make sure they are not faced with the same loud outcry generated last February by Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the halftime show and by a string of spots with characters like a flatulent horse and a crotch-biting dog, which many viewers condemned as vulgar and tasteless.

Typically, Madison Avenue barrels boldly into the Super Bowl, unleashing a barrage of glitzy, expensive commercials that do just about anything to capture the attention of what is usually the biggest audience of the year for any television program. The goal is to take advantage of perhaps the only day each year when consumers embrace advertising rather than flee it.

But as advertisers and agencies gear up for Super Bowl XXXIX, their usual self-confident strut has resembled more of a gingerly tiptoe. Lincoln Mercury executives said earlier yesterday that they would not withdraw the commercial, calling it light-hearted entertainment and disputing critics’ interpretation of the spot. But hours later, Ford Motor made the decision to withdraw.

“In the end, we decided that while we don’t agree with their assessment, we’re understanding of their opinion,” said Sara Tatchio, a spokeswoman for Lincoln Mercury in Dearborn, Mich., referring to the critics. “We want to make sure the attention is on the truck, not on the controversy.”

Lincoln Mercury has not decided whether to run another commercial in place of the Mark LT spot, Ms. Tatchio said, or whether to proceed with plans to put up the commercial on a special Web site over the weekend. Ford Motor will run a commercial for another brand, Volvo, in the third quarter of the game.

The withdrawn commercial, by the Dearborn office of Young & Rubicam, part of the Young & Rubicam Brands division of the WPP Group, was intended to introduce the Mark LT, a successor to the failed Lincoln Blackwood pickup. In the spot, an actor dressed as a clergyman finds a key to a Mark LT in the collection plate after services, then covetously appraises it in the parking lot – only to learn from a congregant that it was a prank by his mischievous daughter, rather than a donation.

The spot ends with the clergyman posting “Lust” as the theme of his next sermon.

“Our members find it offensive,” David Clohessy, national director of the advocacy organization complaining about the commercial, said before the withdrawal became known. His organization is called Snap, for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Mr. Clohessy, who commented after watching a version of the commercial on a Web site about Super Bowl advertising, superbowl-ads.com, complained that the actor was dressed as a Catholic or Episcopalian priest and described the child, an actor about 6 years old, as looking “shy and compliant.”

After learning that Ford Motor had withdrawn the commercial, Mr. Clohessy said the decision would “spare a lot of people a lot of pain.”

“We certainly understand that people can interpret the ad in different ways and we never alleged maliciousness,” Mr. Clohessy said. “But anything that avoids rubbing salt into a deep wound is good.”

Ms. Tatchio said the actor in the spot was meant to be “a nondenominational clergyman,” not a priest. And John Fitzpatrick, the Lincoln Mercury general marketing manager, said the commercial had been tested with consumers, who described it with words like “fun” and “humanity.”

The spot was also approved by the standards and practices department of the Fox Broadcasting Company, the News Corporation unit that is selling about 30 minutes’ worth of commercial time – at a record average rate of $2.4 million for each 30 seconds – during the game.

Even before the decision to withdraw the Lincoln commercial, advertisers were voicing caution.

“The advertising in this year’s Super Bowl will be much safer than in the Super Bowl a year ago,” said Karen Gough, president for the Americas at the Ciba Vision unit of Novartis in Atlanta. Novartis will run a commercial to promote its new O2 Optics brand of contact lenses.