Super Bowl commercials 2011: Ads are the show

Darth Vader returns for VW

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A lot of viewers still tune in to the Super Bowl mainly to watch this year's batch of commercials. There was a stretch some years back when the ads were more entertaining than the actual game itself.

This year's Super Bowl commercial lineup will again be representative. It includes ads from Audi, Best Buy, Careerbuilder, Coca-Cola Doritos, E-Trade, GoDaddy, Pepsi, Skechers, Snickers, Volkswagen and, of course, Bud Light. Super Bowl XLV is expected to contain a record number of ads for automobile manufacturers.

And since many Super Bowl commercial often include "celebrities", look out for Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Roseanne Barr and Ozzy Osbourne, among others.

Business Insider reports the early leader for best commercial at Super Bowl XLV is this Volkswagen ad featuring a young Darth Vader attempting to learn "The Force."

Volkswagen has bought two 30-second spots, one for the 2012 Passat and one of the new 2012 Beetle. One ad will appear in second quarter, the other in the fourth quarter.

The Passat ad will use the "Star Wars" theme, while the Beetle spot will make use of a "Black Beetle" character jumping along to the song "Black Betty" by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

The most controversial is said to be HomeAway's "Test Baby," which features a baby slamming into a glass wall as a joke.

Advertising Age reports Home Away has purchased the one 30-second ad, set to air in the third quarter. Its ad will seek to highlight the benefits of vacation rentals over hotels by invoking a fictional government agency, the Ministry of Detourism, and the slogan "Why Hotel When You Can HomeAway?"

According to research from Kantar Media, in 2001, CBS' showing of Super Bowl XXXV featured 40 minutes and 15 seconds of commercial messages, and in most years the allotment of spots has steadily increased.

Last year's Saints-Colts match-up on CBS contained 47 minutes and 50 seconds of ads and network promos.

Viewers who tuned in for the last 10 Super Bowl broadcasts were exposed to 425 minutes of commercial time, according to Kantar Media, which estimated the total value of that load at around $1.62 billion.

In 2001, a 30-second commercial cost around $2.2 million, which led CBS to rake in $136.4 million in ad sales revenue. Two years ago, the cost of reaching the 98.7 million consumers who tuned in for the Steelers-Cardinals game was $3 million a pop, an increase of 36 percent from 2001 levels.

Brandweek reports that between 2001 and 2010, Anheuser-Busch has been the biggest Super Bowl booster, investing $235 million in promotional dollars. Pepsi ranks second ($170.8 million), while the Walt Disney Co came in a distant third ($70.8 million).