BANNED:
animal rights organization
PETA's Super Bowl ad promoting the
message " Vegetarians have better sex."
NBC is selling
Super Bowl spots for $3 million per 30-second commercial in 2009.
That's more than 10 percent higher than the average $2.7 million
that Fox asked for in 2008.
But will
major U.S. companies - hoping to hit it big this Super Bowl Sunday
- pay the new, exhorbitant amount for such short air time? And
in a financial recession?
You bet they
will. Last
year's game drew almost 98 million viewers, the biggest TV audience
for any U.S. sporting event.
By January
2009, NBC had already sold most of its inventory to Pepsi and
CocaCola, Anheuser-Bush, and a number of big car companies, (ailing
GM is out this year) along with the mega movie previews that have
become the mainstays of any televised Super Bowl match.
Pepsi
"I'm Good" 2009 Super Bowl Commercial
Speaking of
Anheuser-Bush, watch for the return of the popular Clydsdale horses
to make an appearance this year as Bud hawks its new Bud Light
Lime and Bud American Ale products. Meanwhile, GoDaddy fans won't
be disappointed this year as GoDaddy girl Danica
Patrick returns in one, and possibly two, 30-second spots.
Also on the
comeback trail in 2009 is Monster.com, going up against ol' standby
CareerBuilders who will not be (sadly!) bringing their famous
office monkeys out of retirement for this year's campaign.
The game also
lured some new marketers to the February 1 game, including Pedigree
- the dog-food brand that should provide some warm and fuzzy moments
during the all-important commercial lineup.
Denny's also
joins the fray for the first time in 2009 with what looks like
a pretty funny
takeoff on The Sopranos.
HE'S BACK: E-Trade baby outakes
you
WON'T be seeing during Super Bowl 43.
Beside beer
and chips, the strongest advertisers remain the big Hollywood
studios, so look forward to sneak peaks at 2009 blockbusters.
They include the "Monsters vs. Aliens"; the new Star
Trek, and Sony Pictures with one spot for the DaVinci Code
sequel, "Angels and Demons." Fox
also promises a 30-second spot for the X-Men franchise "Wolverine"
starring Hugh
Jackman.
Of course,
maybe the biggest buzz leading up to the game surrounds the ads
that have been rejected most notably from animal rights
organization PETA showing scantilly-clad babes promoting "Studies
Show That Vegetarians Have Better Sex" (see video). In a
similar vein, E-Trade is also banking on similar buzz with
"outakes" of their legendary baby commercials, or what
we like to call "Junior Goes Potty Mouth."