YouTube is "ready for the Super Bowl early this year, having added a teaser section to its Ad Blitz program," according to Jon Lafayette of BROADCASTING & CABLE. The gallery of teaser videos went live Friday, but some teaser videos were "already online, collecting hundreds of thousands of views, most notably a making-of spot for SodaStream featuring actress Scarlett Johansson." YouTube Brand Solutions Managing Dir Suzie Reider said that other brands airing teaser spots "include Axe, Butterfinger, Jaguar, Intuit and Squarespace." Reider added that many of the teaser ads "are longer than [a] common 30-second spot." Lafayette noted YouTube "declined to say how much it charges advertisers to participate in the Ad Blitz program." Reider admitted that it "does cost less than a spot on the Fox Super Bowl broadcast" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 1/16). Google VP/Sales & Marketing Lucas Watson said of the Super Bowl, "What used to be a one-day event, with some postgame water-cooler chat, is now an eight- to 13-week experience." He said that as a result, "'major advertisers are trying to win the conversation' before the game, as well as during and after." Watson added that ads for last year's Super Bowl were "watched on YouTube more than 80 million times before the game was played -- nearly a third of the total of more than 265 million views for Super Bowl spots on the site that year." He also said that ads uploaded to YouTube before the game "generated about 3.4 times more views on average, than commercials that were released on the day of the game." In N.Y., Stuart Elliott notes although YouTube is "adding the pregame teaser commercials to the Ad Blitz channel, YouTube will not ask viewers to vote for their favorites the same way it conducts a vote each year for favorites among the actual Super Bowl commercials" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/17).
SUPER BOWL SHUFFLES: USA TODAY's Laura Petrecca writes Pepsi, Bud Light and other major Super Bowl XLVIII advertisers "hope to strike a chord with consumers by playing up musical tie-ins." This year's promotions "will include some familiar marketing techniques such as companies sponsoring concerts and using catchy songs in Super Sunday ads." There also will be "some unexpected notes, such as Pepsi hosting a mock halftime performance at the Jan. 26 Grammy Awards." Pepsi "will run a two-and-a-half-minute ad ... midway through the Grammy telecast" featuring Pro Football HOFers Shannon Sharpe, Mike Ditka, Terry Bradshaw and Deion Sanders "singing and dancing." Pepsi on Sunday will run an ad during the NFC and AFC Championship games "promoting the Grammy video." That teaser "shows Ditka with his tongue out Miley Cyrus-style." The ad says, "What if the Grammys had a halftime show?" Meanwhile, Bud Light this week indicated that one of its Super Bowl ads "will feature the world debut of a new song from a well-known artist" (USA TODAY, 1/17).
HE'S BACK: In N.Y., Emily Smith reports actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has landed a $3M deal "to star in a Super Bowl commercial for Bud Light." Schwarzenegger "joins a long list of celebrities earning big money for Super Bowl spots," including Johannson, Laurence Fishburn, Ben Kingsley, David Beckham and Danica Patrick (N.Y. POST, 1/17). Also in N.Y., Sage Lazzaro reported Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander and Larry David were "caught filming inside Tom's Restaurant," the setting for Monk's Cafe from "Seinfeld," on Monday afternoon. While one member of the camera crew told TMZ the actors were there to shoot an episode of Seinfeld's "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" web series, another crew member indicated that they "were there to film a Super Bowl commercial" (OBSERVER.com, 1/14).
