With only nine days, nine hours and thirty minutes left until the big game kicks off we thought we’d take a closer look at the food and beverage lineup in the real competition – the one between the big-budget commercials.

With a record nine carmakers running ads in this year’s game (consuming almost a third of the total slots available), other brands will get little playing time. But car commercials are typically middle of the pack when it comes to performance in Super Bowl ad polls like Pavone’s SpotBowl, which means one of these drink and snack spots could take home the top prize.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH

The Budweiser gang is back as the game’s biggest advertiser, buying between three and four minutes of ad time. A-B is notoriously tight-lipped about its Super Bowl plans, which means few details about the spots are available. Budweiser has won four of eight SpotBowl titles, and will make another run with a lineup that includes the usual mix of ads for Budweiser, Bud Light, and Bud Light Platinum brands. As per tradition, we assume the famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales will also make an appearance in at least one spot.  Read more...

As more Americans seek healthier, natural ingredients in the foods they purchase, the demand for clearer, more transparent claims on packaging also increases. It’s a trend called “clean labeling,” and today’s food and beverage marketers would be wise to take notice (as many of you already have).

Contrary to what some may think, a clean label has nothing to do with design or content that is devoid of clutter and messaging. Instead, the term refers to cleanliness of information – no misleading statements, no ambiguous claims, no smoke and mirrors.

“Clean label is a phrase used by food and drink manufacturers to describe products made with ingredients that consumers understand,” said Matthew Incles, market intelligence manager at U.K.-based Leatherhead Food Research. “A clean label gives consumers sufficient information to enable them to make informed decisions regarding the contents of the product.”

Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, not all food and beverage makers are as tidy with their messages. Below are just two examples. Specific brand names have been withheld to protect the dirty.

“No Sugar Added” mixed fruit cups (above), but with plenty of extra artificial sweeteners  Read more...

Fitness is the number one New Year’s resolution, with one-third of Americans resolving to lose weight at some point in the past five years, according to a Thomson Reuters-NPR Health Poll. (A surprising 57 percent were successful in their personal pledge.) The self-improvement movement explains why weight loss ads seem to have taken over our TV commercial breaks. The ads will virtually vanish by the end of February, before returning for a pre-bikini season push in late spring.

Last week, we offered an overview of five recent or future weight loss program celebrity spokespersons. Today we take a closer look at the effectiveness of the television ads that they star in. Ms. Hudson, Mr. Barkley, Ms. Jackson and Ms. Carey – it’s time to step on the scale and be judged.

JENNIFER HUDSON (WEIGHT WATCHERS)

The American Idol finalist turned Oscar-winning actress appears in several spots for Weight Watchers, but it’s the one below that stands out from the pack. The ad uses special effects and slick editing to feature a slimmed down Hudson singing alongside her former heavier self. We can certainly appreciate the contrast provided by the “before” and “after” Jennifer’s singing on the same stage, but it feels a little weird to us. Sort of like meeting a long lost twin (who took a different dietary path) or coming face to face with what might happen if cloning humans became a reality.  Read more...

When you spend $3.5 million dollars for something, like the monkey-studded TV ad above, you probably want to make sure you get as much out of your investment as possible, right? That’s exactly what a growing number of Super Bowl advertisers are thinking after shelling out that record price for a 30-second ad during this year’s game.

Precisely how Super Bowl advertisers are stretching those dollars should come as no surprise to modern food and beverage marketers: The big budget ads are driving viewers toward websites and social media channels in an effort to extend the interaction beyond a simple half-minute paid media buy on advertising’s biggest stage.

This isn’t necessarily a new strategy, nor is it limited solely to the Super Bowl. Ads, including print, radio and TV, have included not-so-subtle nudges to the web for the better part of the past decade. But during the Super Bowl, with more than 100 million people watching the ads closer than they’ll watch any ads all year, continuing that online engagement is more important than ever.  Read more...

Last week we talked about some of our work for the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association during the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Meanwhile, just a few booth spaces away, we were also hard at work helping the Pennsylvania Winery Association wrap up its 2011 “Pennsylvania Wine Stories” campaign.

The contest asked wine lovers to share their personal memories involving Pennsylvania wine for a chance to win the ultimate Pennsylvania Wine Weekend Getaway.

An anecdote about a group of friends who find a beautiful escape waiting for them each Sunday at Galen Glen Vineyard in Schuylkill County took the top prize in the PWA promo. The story was one of eight regional finalists. The eight were put to a public vote at PennsylvaniaWine.com to determine the statewide winner.

“My friends and I often go to Galen Glenn on a Sunday afternoon to get away from life for a few hours,” wrote the winning author. “We love the fact that we have such a beautiful escape only a few miles away.”

For every story submitted during the contest, the PWA added a cork to its growing collection. Pavone then worked with Philadelphia-based artist Sandra Webberking to transform all of those corks into a sculpture, which was unveiled on January 7 at the Farm Show.  Read more...