The Super Bowl will be played Feb. 1, when the toughest teams in professional football will take the field at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ, and millions of Americans will unite in watching...TV commercials.
The game itself, and those extraordinarily popular and outrageously expensive ads (the average cost is now around $4.5 million for a 30-second spot), are still weeks away. But Madison Avenue is already abuzz with anticipations. Super Bowl XLIX will feature dozens of ads that are likely to be the talk of the nation on Feb. 2. And, as has been true for many a year, a good portion of those ads will be from companies in the food and beverage industry.
Here's a peek at, and some speculation about, some of this year's advertisers:
Anheuser-Busch InBev
The biggest Super Bowl advertiser over the years has been AB InBev, which has spent some $149 million since 2009 to promote its beer brands to football fans. And 2015 will be no exception. But this set of ads from the world's largest brewer are likely to be a bit different than the norm.
First, although the famous Budweiser Clydesdales will appear in ads, despite rumors to the contrary, the horses will be featured only in a "drink responsibly" ad that will run during the game. Ads to promote the actual sale of Budweiser beer, will instead feature things that the brewer's marketing executives think millennials like more than horses with big hoofs - things like zombies and Jay Z.
AB InBev's Bud Light brand is also returning to the Super Bowl. And, just like last year, the ads will revolve around the "Whatever" campaign. Beer drinkers at the 2015 game are invited to visit a block-long "Whatever" village that the brewer will erect in Phoenix. There's no word yet on whether ex-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will return to the "Whatever" commercials.
But the most interesting development from AB InBev's marketers will be their use of four social media "command centers" during the Super Bowl.
PepsiCo
Another perennial Super Bowl advertiser is Pepsi. The soft drink company pours millions into its sponsorship of the big game's halftime extravaganza.
For Super Bowl XLIX, Pepsi signed singer Katy Perry as the lead attraction for the Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show. The big question surrounding any Katy Perry show is what she will wear. The folks at PepsiCo are probably hoping she'll appear in something like her famous cupcake dress, but with soda cans.
Skittles
The rainbow candy brand is making its debut as a Super Bowl advertiser in February. But it won't be the first time the candy has appeared in the big game. In the 2014 game, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch - who is known for his obsession with the candies - wound up giving loads of free publicity to the brand as he munched the treats on the sidelines.
The big question in this year's game is whether Skittles' paid ad will reference football, rainbows, or something else entirely.