The Big Celebrity Reveal of Super Bowl 50

With only four more sleeps until the Big Game, the hype is on and the excitement is almost palpable.

The game itself draws its own set of fans, but it's the ads we all want to see. With the flurry of ad teasers that have already been released, it's no wonder we're on the edge of our seats in anticipation, especially considering the amount of money spent behind each spot ($5 million per 30 seconds) and the number of familiar famous faces featured.

Leo Burnett's Peggy Walter, director of celebrity services and partner to the agency's experiential division, HKX, shares her thoughts on the use of celebrity endorsement and assesses how effective their presence is in rallying up public support and earning marketers their ROI.

The Super Bowl is the Golden Globes of advertising, not the Oscars which, like Cannes, is awarded by your peers after thoughtful consideration. The Golden Globes is awarded by a more random worldwide audience that might be a little drunk. And like the Golden Globes, Super Bowl audiences can be swayed by star power.

Judging by the teasers and pre-releases, more than half of the ads in Super Bowl 50 will feature celebrities. And although the stakes are high, Super Bowl is a natural fit for celebrity ads — reducing the odds that viewers will head to the kitchen and miss an advertiser’s $5 million message — that star power can add a significant cost to an already significant investment.

The Super Bowl is really the last bastion of unskippable broadcast advertising, so it seems counterproductive for an advertiser to make the investment to get in the game and then release its spot in advance. And judging by my social media feeds, many of us do not want spoilers, even of ads! So I can’t understand why an advertiser would take its significant game-day investment and reveal the content the Tuesday before.

Research shows that Super Bowl commercials score better in post-game surveys if they are released before the game, and using spots early gives advertisers the opportunity to maximize the value of their investment in celebrity talent. But like the ancient Romans, I want my athletic spectacle to entertain me straight through the ad breaks and halftime without stopping, which makes this trend toward revealing the ads early a bit of a buzz kill.

So I applaud Buick for releasing only one behind-the-scenes photo (above) of celebrities Odell Beckham Jr. and Emily Ratajkowski and a little teeny piece of the hood of the new Buick Cascada, rather than the whole spot. That’s an odd pairing. I look forward to seeing what they do.

And I love the teasers. Teasers let me know that stars I love are doing Super Bowl ads without giving away the ending. Alec Baldwin and Dan Marino for Amazon seems promising, but the Twitter tease that Missy Elliott will be showing up will have me glued to my TV. Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen in their double Spanx promise a longed-for return to hilarity for Bud Light. Can’t wait.

Hyundai released a Ryan Reynolds ad early and, while it’s clever, I’m looking forward to the Kevin Hart ad they’re keeping under wraps. And thanks to pre-releases, I know I can plan my bathroom breaks for the very moment I see T.J. Miller (whom I love, but…that spot?) or Liam Neeson, whose ad feels like it was released a full year ago when he did the exact same shtick in the Super Bowl for a different advertiser.

So, happy Super Bowl ad professionals! I hope we all stay sober enough to vote in the post-game polls for advertisers who didn’t give away the ending before the game began.