Pregame starts in 15 mins.; SBB's Super Bowl ad coverage continues

No, it’s not quite time for the Super Bowl pregame show, but there’s a blitz of ad news with less than two weeks to go before the Big Game.

Yesterday’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer discusses some interesting possibilities with Super Tuesday following hard on the heels of Super Sunday:

How about a presidential "vote for me" ad during the Feb. 3 Super Bowl? The notion of such a high-impact political commercial just before two dozen states vote has crossed some media advisers' minds. But chances seem pretty slim.

A 30-second ad during the Super Bowl is going for as much as $3 million. In an age of ultra-targeted media strategies, there are other ways for a political campaign to spend $3 million than on a commercial that would compete with some of the best spots Madison Avenue can produce.

Super Bowl aside, the number of states in play Feb. 5 and the unsettled state of the race two weeks in advance pose a political advertising challenge unseen before.

"It's a long way to go in a very short time," said political ad analyst Evan Tracey. "It feels like bold move time."

Four Super Tuesday states have are home to huge numbers of fans of the Super Bowl New York Giants and New England Patriots: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

And while it’s not likely that you’ll see a spot from the man (or woman) who will be king, today’s New York Times says it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll see a spot from the King of Beers:

Anheuser-Busch, which buys more commercial time each year in the Super Bowl than any other marketer, is likely to run seven spots in Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3, all of them for Budweiser or Bud Light. The spots being considered for the game would last an aggregate of four minutes: one is 60 seconds and the rest are 30 seconds each.

There will also be a so-called secret spot, not appearing during the Super Bowl, that owners of mobile devices like cellphones will be able to watch when the game ends as part of a promotion.

And for those of you keeping score at home, you can...well, keep score at home for the ads, too, as reported in today’s New Mexico Business Weekly:

McKee Wallwork Cleveland is launching its ADBOWL Web site for the eighth consecutive year to gather and tabulate opinions about Super Bowl ads.

The Web site, first launched by the Albuquerque full-service advertising agency in 2001, provides an online, real-time system for individuals to vote on Super Bowl advertisements, rating them a "touchdown" or a "fumble," said Steve McKee, president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland.

The results are announced just after midnight the night of the game. ADBOWL totals are collected, but not shared real time on the site so that voters aren't influenced by the opinions of others

One more thing: there's a new poll in the right-hand column. Let’s hear how closely you'll be following the ads during this year's Super Bowl.