Super Bowl Ads

Like many people, I wonder what we'll see today during the big game. I've been studying and covering Super Bowl ads for the past five years.

Remember last year's ads?
No? That's okay. Most do not.

Here's a little refresher:
* The donkey who wanted to become a Budweiser Clydesdale
* Pepsi launched its free iTunes downloads promo
* Frito Lay's sassy grandparents battling over the last of a bag of chips
* Controversial public issue ads (moveon.org, PETA, etc.)

From what I've seen, here's what to look for:
1- Something big from McIlhenny's Tabasco
2- A big pop from Bubblicious (talk about old school)
3- Something out of this world from Volvo
4- A big push from AmeriQuest (online home lender)
5- Frito Lay will drop the hammer (as in M.C. Hammer)
6- More of Jared from Subway (to me, this is getting a little stale)
7- More humor from Anheuser Busch
8- Good, entertaining material and more celebrities from PepsiCo

Missing are Apple, Nike, Coca-Cola, Reebok, Burger King and Staples at least so far. Hopefully, the Viagra, Cialis and Levitra commercials will be missing, too.

Finally... why all those movie promo ads? It seems that movies that are promoted during the Super Bowl do 40% better at the box office. That certainly explains the ever-growing number of movie promos.

This year's game (Superbowl XXXIX) takes place in Jacksonville, FL, and will be broadcast on Fox. The audience should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 million sets of eyeballs--just in the United States. This year, a 0:30 spot costs $2.4 million (new record high).

I will be curious to see which of the Super Bowl ads America will be talking about around the watercooler tomorrow morning?