And ads that are entertaining and humorous are the safest approach, said Walter Mills, a principal with Boston ad agency Partners & Simons. Given all the unsettling news about Iraq, North Korea, and the US economy, viewers may welcome entertaining ads this year, said chief creative officer Edward Boches of Wenham ad agency Mullen.
The Super Bowl, he said, "is the ultimate escape from reality."
As Reebok chief marketing officer Micky Pant sees it, entertainment by itself may not be enough. Partly because this is the first season in which both Super Bowl teams will sport uniforms with the Reebok logo under a long-term licensing deal with the National Football League, Reebok was eager to advertise during the game but realized its current campaign wouldn't work in that context. Many current ads feature pop stars.
The ads are "entertaining, but not amusing,"said Pant, who added, "You can't put up a serious message on the Super Bowl."
Reebok was already at work on a humorous campaign starring a fictional character named Terry Tate. The campaign wasn't conceived for the Super Bowl, but when the first ads were finished, they seemed a good fit for the big game, Pant said.
Super Bowl humor can't be too edgy, said Hill Holliday president Mike Sheehan. The best approach is "highly visual story telling"and family-friendly humor, he said.
Just because many companies follow the celebrity-and-humor formula doesn't rule out the possibility of great ads.
"There will be a great knockout surprise,"predicted Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor who teaches classes on advertising.
Bowne DecisionQuest consultant Rob Duboff, who teaches at Boston College, is less optimistic. He thinks many Super Bowl ads are a waste of money, especially those with celebrities that make no meaningful link between the celebrity and the product.
Viewers this year are likely to be overwhelmed by "celebrity clutter," he said.
Although its Super Bowl spot this year uses a voice-over by country music disc jockey Bill Mack, Monster has generally avoided celebrities, and some of its four previous Super Bowl ads did not try to be funny.
Monster pitch
This year's spot will announce the national launch of a jobs program aimed at skilled-and-hourly workers. The perception has been that Monster is a career site for white-collar workers. The ad will convey the message, "Monster works for everybody."
As an Internet company, Monster may be able to bend some rules. It can measure the impact of its ad by traffic spikes to its Web site. Still, founder and chairman Jeff Taylor has a post-game Monday morning ritual -- every year, USA Today takes an instant popularity poll of Super Bowl ads, and every year, he drives to a Hopkinton gas station to buy a USA Today.
Some Monster ads have ranked near the bottom, but Taylor doesn't mind. If traffic increases to Monster.com, he said, he can conclude the Super Bowl ad has reached its target audience.
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