By The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Celebrities, humor, babies and cute animals will once again rule the commercial breaks on Sunday during Super Bowl XLVII, advertising’s biggest showcase, when more than 111 million people are expected to tune in. Marketers have spent millions and pulled out all the stops to ‘wow’ viewers this year.
Here are 10 spots they hope will make you skip the bathroom break or beer run for during the big game:
1. Samsung Mobile’s 2-minute ad in the fourth quarter called “The Big Pitch” stars “Knocked Up” actors Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen and was directed by Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”). The company has not released details about the ad’s plot other than to say that it shows Rogen and Rudd on a “quest to become the next big thing.” A teaser ad shows Rogen and Rudd trying to talk about a Super Bowl ad without saying the words “Super Bowl.”
Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzfAdmAtYIY
2. Best Buy’s 30-second ad in the first quarter stars Amy Poehler, star of NBC’s “Parks and Rec,” asking a Best Buy employee “lots of questions.”
Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmW8HCuLo8
3. Kraft enlists Tracy Morgan from NBC’s “30 Rock” to introduce its new Mio Fit water enhancing drops in a 30-second ad during the third quarter.
Online: http://www.youtube.com/user/makeitmio?feature=watch
4. Hyundai Motor Group’s Kia invents a fanciful way that babies are made, blasting in from a baby planet in its “Space babies” ad for the 2014 Sorento crossover.
Online: http://www.youtube.com/user/KiaMotorsAmerica?feature=watch
5. First-time advertiser Paramount Farms is touting its Wonderful Pistachios brand of nut in a 30-second ad in the third quarter in its “Get Crackin'” campaign that stars Korean pop sensation Psy.
Online: http://getcrackin.com/
6. First-time advertiser Axe’s 30-second ad in the third quarter of the game shows a woman in the ocean getting rescued by a sexy lifeguard, but going for an astronaut instead. It promotes Axe’s new cologne “Apollo” and its contest to send someone on the first suborbital space tour in 2014.
Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGoU3VH7He4
7. Audi’s 60-second ad in the first quarter, with an ending voted on by viewers, shows a boy gaining confidence from driving his father’s Audi to the prom, kissing the prom queen and getting decked by the prom king.
Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANhmS6QLd5Q
8. PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay’s Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” ads are back for the seventh straight year. Two 30-second commercials made by consumers will make it on the air. Fans voted for one winner and Doritos chose the other.
Online: https://apps.facebook.com/crashthesuperbowl/
9. Ford Motor Co. enlisted late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon to choose road trip stories submitted by Twitter with the hashtag (hash)steerthescript to base its Super Bowl commercial for Lincoln. The story line for the 30-second ad was developed from 6,117 Tweets about road trips and features rapper Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, Wil Wheaton, who acted in the iconic science-fiction series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Online: www.steerthescript.com
10. The Milk Processor Education Program, known as MilkPep and popular for its “Got Milk?” print ads, is featuring actor and professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a 30-second ad in the second quarter that is directed by Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights.”)
Online: https://www.facebook.com/MilkMustache
