Super Bowl: Did you see that commercial?

Unless you’re from San Francisco or Baltimore, you’re going into Super Bowl XLVII with some anguish. Thirty of 32 NFL teams failed to play their way into the big game.

Inevitably, this leads to large percentages of unsatisfied fans hovering over food trays, waiting in line for a refill.

What if you’re one of the 111 million people viewing Super Bowl XLVII who don’t have or care about a participating team? Why watch?

Perhaps you watch because of the need to party and love of bar foods, or maybe you’ve placed a large sum of cash on one of the Harbaugh teams.

Whether you support the Baltimore  Ravens, the San Francisco 49ers or just can’t take any more of the Puppy Bowl, you’ve surrounded yourself with a television airing the game, and therefore the impending ads.

The NFL’s biggest stage is an opportunity for advertisers to show off brands through creativity and innovation.

The Super Bowl provides the best retention rate among viewers compared to any other program, and it is an ideal platform for advertising engagement.

The competition outside the game among advertised brands is tough.

Annual branding heavyweights like Pepsi are constantly producing spots forcing its competition to raise the bar in terms of concept and execution.

Some brands rely on a celebrity spokesperson to represent a product, while others allow respective agencies to incorporate originality in their efforts to engineer big ideas that engage consumers.

An average 30-second advertisement costs about $3.8 million to air on network television.

As a result, advertisers have an incentive to create ideas that make viewers take time from partying to watch and listen.

In an article published by Adweek, a research survey conducted by Chicago-based Lab42 analyzed the results of 500 random participants who will be watching Sunday’s game.

The study concludes American adults prefer watching Super Bowl commercials to the game itself.

Others tune in for the food and halftime show. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said more than half of their Super Bowl conversations involve ads, and 69 percent rewatched a commercial online.

You can interpret the numbers with a grain of salt, but they don’t lie — advertising comes out as a winner during the Super Bowl.

Brands are also becoming more interactive through online media.

Coca-Cola is letting fans pick the name of their newborn Clydesdale via Twitter, while Audi is letting fans vote on YouTube for one of three alternate endings for their Sunday spot.

Yes, there will be a few hype ads featuring the likes of a talking baby riding a zebra while drinking a pop.

But Super Bowl XLVII promises some real creative advertising as well.

Look out for ads from perennial greats Volkswagen and Budweiser.

Mercedes-Benz is featuring a spot with Kate Upton, and “Gangman Style” singer Psy will be highlighted on behalf of Wonderful Pistachios.

Super Bowl Sunday has so much more to offer other than the game.

Tune in Sunday for some laughs and conversation starters for Monday
morning.

­— rdeavila@indiana.edu