Super Bowl XLVI 2012 TV commercials build super buzz online

Super Bowl advertising has become as much of a spectacle as the game itself. Often it’s far more entertaining. A huge slice of the audience admits it’s watching mainly for the commercials, the only occasion all year in America where this is true.
Advertisers are willing to put down huge amounts of money to get their ads into the Super Bowl of advertising, mainly for the buzz and the bragging rights. In 2012, the going rate is $3.5 million for 30 seconds, and up to $4 million if you want a premium placement like the break before the kickoff.
This year, Super Bowl advertising has a viral twist. Instead of relying on an element of suspense and surprise for advertising, companies are talking up their ads in industry publications, and placing sneak previews or sometimes reveals of the entire commercial on YouTube and various social networks.
Doesn’t this steal an ad’s thunder and ruin the impact? Volkswagen American President and CEO Jonathan Browning says last year’s sneak peek on the Thursday before the Super Bowl of its Star Wars themed ad received 13 million views before the kickoff, helping to build anticipation and high expectations for the ad which was widely considered the best of the lot in 2011.
VW decided to repeat its success with another ad playing off the same theme, shooting a stand-along preview called “The Bark Side” that as of publication had received nearly 11 million views. Wednesday its brand new ad debuted in its entirety and is getting plenty of exposure.
Meanwhile, other media are covering this phenomenon, airing the previews and full ads for free within news coverage, generating free publicity. Advertising execs are in hog heaven; they’ve never had it so good.
So love the buzz or think it's a total buzzkill having your surprise ruined, this trend is here to stay. Upon a review of the lion’s share of the ads out there, here’s our rundown (or spoiler, depending on your point of view) of what you’ll be seeing in between touchdowns and field goals on Super Bowl Sunday.
Volkswagen


Thanks to its strong showing last year, VW has the most anticipated ad. First, it released its preview, “The Bark Side.” On February 1 it released “The Dog Strikes Back,”   featuring the golden retriever from last year’s Passat ad, along with a transition to a full-blown recreation of the Star Wars cantina scene.
Honda

Honda scored big with its teaser on YouTube featuring a salt and pepper haired Matthew Broderick as his alter ago Ferris Bueller, followed by the release of the extended two-and-a-half minute version of its ad. While Broderick as Ferris enjoys his day off in a Honda CR-V and not a hot sports car, viewers have loved seeing their pal Bueller brought back to life. It’s on its way to eight million views so far.
Acura

Acura’s ad features comedian Jerry Seinfeld and late-night talk host Jay Leno pitching the new NSX. Seinfeld and Leno are both known as manic car collectors and the ad plays off their obsession. An extended edition has been viewed over five million times to date.
Toyota
The theme of Toyota’s Super Bowl ad for the Camry is "It's Reinvented!" In the ad, a variety of products and situations are reinevented: couches, curtains, and even the DMV. Will the attempt at humor work? Maybe not, but at least there is some serious eye candy for the ladies here.
Audi

Audi’s ad will be popular with Twilight fans, going with a vampires theme. Big points for using a song from Echo and the Bunnymen as the ad’s soundtrack. It’s garnered 2.5 million views online.
Hyundai
In its fifth year of Super Bowl advertising, Hyundai will air five new ads on Super Bowl Sunday, all featuring Jeff Bridges as the narrator: two pre-game spots, one 60-second commercial in the highly rated pre-kickoff time slot and two during the game. All five have been released on Hyundai’s YouTube channel. The clear winner is the pre-kickoff ad with a “Rocky” theme featuring over 200 workers from Hyundai’s Alabama production plant. The behind the scene feature for this ad is well worth watching.

Chevrolet
Chevy decided to embrace the modern experience by crowdsourcing its ad with the Route 66 competition. The winning ad comes from 26-year-old Zack Borst, who received a $25,000 prize for his effort called “Chevy Happy Grad,” depicting a deliriously happy college graduate and the bright yellow Camaro about to change his life.
Century 21
Enough of cars. How about real estate? Century 21 is advertising on the Super Bowl for the first time with a series of three ads featuring three different celebrities that represent the company’s agents as “Smarter, Bolder, Faster” – Deion Sanders, Apolo Anton Ohno, and Donald Trump. Think you know which is which?
H&M

H&M clothing stores are advertising the debut of their new David Beckham Bodywear and the ads leave very little to the imagination, much to the delight of the women (and plenty of men) watching. The ad will air during the second quarter of the game, but it’s racking up YouTube views already. The big problem with the ad is that all I can remember is the tattoos, not the skivvies.

GoDaddy.com/Career Builder/E-Trade

It wouldn’t seem like the Super Bowl without the GoDaddy.com girls, the Career Builder chimps, or the E-Trade baby, and yep, they are all back. For every critic (like me) who thinks these themes are getting tired, the companies claim the characters are all back by Popular Demand. Guys, I had my fun with Beckham, so this one’s for you.
Hulu
Hulu is back for its second year of Super Bowl advertising with one pregame commercial and one during the game. The new ad has the same tone as its twisted alien plotline featuring Alec Baldwin. This year, Will Arnett takes over and the alien theme of melting human brains continues. The Twitter hashtag is #mushymuch
Pepsi
Pepsi will show two Super Bowl ads. One for Pepsi MAX uses Regis Philbin to announce a video competition. Sticking with the competition theme, X-Factor winner Melanie Amaro stars in the second Super Bowl ad, which also features Elton John, singing Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” The second ad is still under wraps, but Regis is front and center already.
Oikos Yogurt
John Stamos fights a losing battle over a carton of yogurt. There isn’t much more to it.
Cars.com
This commercial is a creepy Men In Black II looking ad, a real head-scratcher times two.
Also on tap are ads from Samsung, Sketchers, Coca-Cola, and Kia Optima.
Will there be anything left to talk about Monday morning after the game around the office water cooler? Sure there will. You can’t stop Americans from weighing in about Super Bowl commercials. Plenty of people don’t have the time to chase down all the ads online, or care. The experience seeing them shared as a nation still rules over viral video any day. But it would be nice if there were still a little room for a few surprises.

Super Bowl 2012: Forget the Commercials, the Super Bowl Is About Football

Every year, millions of people around the world gather around televisions to watch the biggest sports spectacle in the United States—the Super Bowl. It attracts diehards, fair-weathers, the disinterested and the curious alike, but it's not simply to watch the two best teams in the NFL compete for the championship.
No, it's also to watch the commercials.
Now, I get it, and I'm not trying to tell people what they can and cannot enjoy. If it's the one time per year that your Aunt Milly or whoever watches professional football because the commercials are an attraction, then so be it.
However, the allure of what happens between the commercials has fallen by the wayside. The Super Bowl, after all, is about football.
Of course, it is the most-watched television event of the year, and the networks would be moronic if they failed to exploit the unbelievable piles of money to be made off it.
Advertising agencies, car manufacturers and soda companies can attract themselves a slew of new customers and fans by broadcasting a memorable commercial during the game. It's a tradition that's been around since the 1970s and one that picked up serious steam in the 1990s.
However, the bottom line is that they are still commercials, the bane of every football fan's existence.
The fact that companies have spent millions of dollars and hours of research and production on their advertising for this one game doesn't make up for the fact that the Super Bowl has become a ridiculously drawn-out affair. Teams are forced to start and stop their play at the behest of the broadcaster, ultimately affecting the momentum of the game.
NFL fans spend a ton of money every year to purchase the Sunday Ticket package or the Red Zone channel. This is not just to see all the football they desire (which is a fantastic thing, might I add) but also to avoid the barrage of commercials that come at every timeout, every injury, after every punt, kickoff and score.
Those television timeouts double—or triple, it seems—during the Super Bowl, to the point where it's hard to remember which team had the ball when the game went to commercials.
Obviously, there is a solution to this problem. You could DVR the game. However, let's be serious, that's not an option. That's a joke, or it's something you begrudgingly do because you are unable to access a television when the game is live.
The Super Bowl commercials are inescapable, and it's the thing most people end up talking about the next day. While this is a nation chock-full of NFL fans, it might be shocking to realize that more people don't care about the goings-on in the Super Bowl than those who do.
However, I simply want football. I want to see two teams playing as hard as they can to earn a Lombardi Trophy and I want it with as few interruptions as possible.
This is the last football we will all see for quite a few months, and it's frustrating to think that we will in fact be seeing more ads than we will actual action.
So, please, watch the commercials, be entertained by them, even. However, for the love of football, please don't cheer louder or feel more moved by what happens in the breaks than what the New York Giants and New England Patriots manage to accomplish on the field.
We're here for football, are we not? Without the Super Bowl, there wouldn't be these commercials. And the Super Bowl is a football game, not a mere platform for advertisers to showcase their master works.
This is our last chance to enjoy what is one of the most amazing things in the world (no, I'm not being hyperbolic); commercials will be there on Monday, but football won't. Enjoy the game.

Super Bowl 2012 tickets still selling at a record rate

It’s officially Super Bowl weekend in Indianapolis. It’s also Christmas morning for ticket scalpers across the country.
Just 72 hours shy of kickoff for America’s premier sporting event, scalpers and bargain-hunters on-site in the Circle City and online across the world have continued swapping seats at record rates. The average admission price into Super Bowl Bowl XLVI, held Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, was holding steady at $3,395 as of late Thursday afternoon, according to data from SeatGeek.
If recent Super Bowls are any indication, the average ticket price should drop over the weekend of the big game. Typically, thousands of tickets (usually rumored to be those of NFL players and owners that are leaked to sites like StubHub and eBay) hit the secondary market, collectively dropping the average price down a few hundred dollars.
“Ticket prices are still record-setting by our standards, but we’re seeing prices gradually trend down both on the budge and premium ends,” Will Flaherty, Director of Communications for Seat Geek, said Thursday at the JW Marriott hotel in Indianapolis.
By comparison: last year in Dallas, tickets sold at an average price of $3,067, the highest ever recorded in the Super Bowl’s 45-year history.
Since the conclusion of both conference title games on Jan. 22, Super Bowl XLVI has seen a slight edge; average ticket prices predictably peaked the following Monday at $3,943. A week ago Thursday, they had dipped to $3,530.
Also important to note: Super Bowl XLV in Dallas seated over 103,000 fans; Lucas Oil Stadium will seat roughly 68,000 on Sunday, per the NFL. With fewer seats available and two teams hailing from massive urban markets, it’s no surprise ticket prices are up.
SeatGeek is reporting a 12 percent decline in tickets this week compared to 10 days prior. The “Get in Price” – deemed the lowest price a fan could pay for a ticket anywhere in the stadium – was running for $2,200 as of Thursday, and SeatGeek hadn’t tracked a seat for any cheaper at any point this week.
The overall average of $3,395 is down just $105 dollars from the average of $3,500 earlier in the week. There have been some modest declines in 600-level seats ($2,448 now compared to $2,794 over the 10 days prior).
Additionally, 100-level seats are down 13 percent from where they were earlier in the week. The average since Monday has been $4,497; previously they had been selling around $5,193.

Madonna on Super Bowl 2012 Halftime Show: 'I want people to be knocked off their seats'

Madonna gathers quite a crowd.
On Thursday, the music icon met with a room packed with media for the first time to address her forthcoming performance at the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
• SUPER COVERAGE: Read more stories about the teams, fans, concerts, parties, with photos and video.
“I have to say that over 25 years of performing, I’ve never worked so hard or been so scrupulous or detail-oriented,” she said from the JW Marriott Downtown. “I’m really excited to be here. I feel very welcomed. I’ve been inside the stadium, and the stadium is great. I just keep pinching myself.”
The singer wouldn’t divulge many details regarding her impending show, though she did say she’ll play three old songs and one new one. She was also asked if a wardrobe malfunction was on her conscious.
IndyStar.com reported earlier today Madonna prepped four songs during a five-hour rehearsal Wednesday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, according to sources involved in the production. Madonna worked on renditions of “Vogue,” “Music,” new single “Give Me All Your Luvin’ ” and “Like a Prayer.”
“Great attention to detail, and I can guarantee there won’t be anything like that.”
She added that she was hoping to dedicate Sunday’s performance to her father.
“He’s the personification of Midwestern values,” she said. “This might be the the thing he’s most excited about that I’ve ever done.”
The singer also admitted to a few nerves for Sunday’s big performance.
“I do feel the pressure,” she said. “I want people to be knocked off their seats. I hope the show is a feast for the eyes and a feast for the ears.”

Super Bowl 2012 predictions for Patriots-Giants

Here are 12 fearless predictions for Super Bowl XLVI.
1. Tom Brady will throw for more than 300 yards, including three touchdown passes. After one of them, one of the announcers will inform us that he is married to a supermodel because some of us might have forgotten that despite being reminded repeatedly during the pregame show.
2. Eli Manning will throw for more than 300 yards, including three touchdown passes. And after each touchdown, we will get to see Peyton Manning cheering in the owner’s suite because some of us might have forgotten that they are brothers or wondered whether Peyton was rooting for Eli.
3. Rob Gronkowski will only catch three passes, none for touchdowns . . . but Aaron Hernandez will catch eight passes for nearly 100 yards, including one for a touchdown. And somehow Rob Gronkowski’s ankle will still get more attention than Hernandez.
4. Victor Cruz will catch six passes, none for touchdowns, accumulating about 60 yards. . . but Hakeem Nicks will catch 10 passes, one for a touchdown, for a total of more than 100 yards. And somehow Rob Gronkowski’s ankle will still get more attention than Nicks.
5. Wes Welker will have 80-100 receiving yards, and an announcer will refer to him as “pesky.”
6. Brandon Jacobs will rush for 75-80 yards. And at least once an announcer will report that he weighs 275 pounds, which still seems like he didn’t put both feet on the scale, doesn’t it?
7. The Giants will sack Brady three times. Immediately after one of them, we will get a Subway commercial with Justin Tuck and that guy with the glasses who lost all that weight eating sandwiches, sending us the subliminal message that a six-inch meatball sub somehow contributed to the sack we just saw.
8. The Patriots will sack Eli Manning once. And when they do, we will get to see Peyton Manning wincing in the owner’s suite, confirming that he in fact is still rooting for his brother. This will be followed by the Papa John’s commercial starring Peyton, which is the only commercial he’s ever been in where he isn’t entertaining, which itself suggests that his career may be over.
9. The Giants will force two turnovers.
10. The Patriots will force two turnovers.
11. Neither team will miss a field goal.
12. Final score: Patriots 31, Giants 28.

Super Bowl Commercials 2012: Acura NSX Ad Features Jerry Seinfeld vs. Jay Leno

Don't worry Jerry, we're just as fed up with Jay Leno as you are.


Nobody likes being No. 2, and Seinfeld clearly couldn't sit back and let another customer purchase the first Acura NSX. It was a long road to victory, and his defeat was undoubtedly heartbreaking.
He started slowly, at first offering $20 to his counterpart, only to be turned down. From offering the last living munchkin (not really) and a dancing holographic monkey (which the customer somehow already has), to doing standup comedy for him on the omelet line and giving him access to his personal city zip line, Seinfeld is determined to own the first car sold.
Then it happens...
Leno flies in on his (not surprising) jet pack and takes the customer on what would be the ride of his life.
Like any other day, Leno once again steals the spotlight with a gaudy performance that irks fans everywhere.
We can't possibly ignore the truth behind this commercial. Seinfeld has lost his touch. He can no longer talk his way out of any situation and persuade those around him with a subtly humorous bravado that goes unnoticed.
It may have been enjoyable to watch him scratch and claw for a win, but we are left wondering what Seinfeld is going to do with owning the second vehicle sold.
His wealthy palms clearly can't be satisfied without No. 1.

Super Bowl 2012 Ticket Prices: Willing to Pay 15 Times Face Value?

For many football fans, the Super Bowl is a once in a lifetime experience, and trip is well worth the ticket price, no matter how high it is. This year's match-up between the New England Patriots and New York Giants is already a gold mine for the NFL and for the individuals who sell tickets online, with prices peaking at $15,000 for a single ticket.

"Prices for the Super Bowl are exorbitantly expensive this year because you have the perfect storm of big markets and strong, dedicated fan bases," a StubHub seller who asked to remain anonymous said. 

Official tickets sell out fast. Season ticket holders of the competing teams each get rights to 17.5  percent of the Super Bowl tickets, season ticket holders of the host team -- in this case the Indianapolis Colts -- claim another 5 percent and season ticket holders from the remaining 29 teams in the NFL split another 45 percent of the tickets. That leaves 25 percent of tickets to sell to the public, and much ofs that exchange is done through online marketplaces like eBay, Craigslist and StubHub.

Going through the StubHub marketplace with the seller, the IBTimes learned that the average ticket price for a sold ticket is $3,450, which is about triple the face value of $800 -- $1,200 per ticket. The current average for an unsold ticket is close to $5,000.

"The only drawback is the cold weather in Indianapolis. If only the game was in Miami or New Orleans, who knows how much tickets would go for," the seller added.

The most coveted and most expensive seats are unsurprisingly in sections 140 and 113, the forward most seats on the 50 yard line. Ten people bought tickets in 140 for $13,530, four bought seats for $13,335 and two lucky people paid only $9,550 for seats 12 rows behind the others sold in the section. Notably, all of the tickets were purchased on either the Monday or Tuesday after the NFC and AFC championship games.

"I think that there are a lot of people who just wanted the best seats and did not care about price," the seller said. "Those people snapped up the tickets as soon as they became available."

While the steep price may dissuade some, any would-be buyers should act fast because there are only six seats left in the section on StubHub and 10 on eBay. (eBay also has tickets in the neighboring section 141-- four tickets for $45,900.)

Directly across the field in section 113, the average ticket price was $1,000 lower but the highest single ticket sold was more expensive at $14,118. That ticket was bought on Thursday.

Other seats in on field sections are ranging from about $3,700 in the corner of the stadium to $11,000 near the 45 yard line. There isn't much change one level behind that, and tickets in the 200 level sections are selling for $3,500 in the corner to $10,000 mid-field.

Supply and Demand

As the game approaches, that price will likely go down instead of up, with sellers trying to maximize their profits while still assuring a sale. Hundreds, if not thousands, of fans are waiting for this to happen and have set "Buyer Alerts" to inform them when any ticket falls to $1,000 or under. 

This trend is evidenced even in the glorious section 140. Where almost all the tickets sold in the section before Thursday went for over $13,000, the average price per seat being offered is now about $10,618. Only one seat in the section previously went for below that amount.  However, the average quality of the seat -- judged by the row number -- has also gone down.

The current low price for any one ticket is $2,119 in "terrace end" section 628, which is all the way at the top of Lucas Oil Stadium, behind the end zone. Tickets in that section have already sold for as much as $2,900. In nearby section 629, home to probably the worst seats in the house, they've gone for between $2,000 and $2,685.

Tickets in the upper decks tended to sell later than for the seats closer to the field, but bucking the pricing trend seen with the best seats, unsold tickets in the back sections are approaching $4,000 on eBay.

"The people who don't care about price have already bought," the seller said.

"The people that are price sensitive are waiting until the last minute to try to get the best deal, and so they are all buying now, driving demand and the price up."

"The market has lessened as it becomes more realistic fans looking at tickets," said StubHub spokesperson Joellen Ferrer. "It's similar to what we saw last year with quite bit of movement in the days leading into the Super Bowl."

Once a buyer had his or her ticket, a flight to Indianapolis on Sunday will only cost an additional $350 (from New York), a meager sum by comparison.

--

Other Super Bowl related items currently being sold on eBay:

Parking passes - $100 to $1,000

Plastic Super Bowl XLVI ticket holder: $12, which is the same price that a ticket to Super Bowl I in 1967 cost. The game, between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers, did not sell out.

Super Bowl 2012 novelty tickets: $9.95

Ticket frame: $45.96

Reservations at Oceanaire Seafood in Indianapolis at 11 p.m. on Sunday: $13

Hotel room at Embassy Suites: $657 per night

Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam Tickets: Average $30

This Super Bowl poster by Charles Fazzino that doesn't mention either the Giants or Patriots: Latest bid $13.63