Superstars set to appear in super-priced Super Bowl ads

While the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers are getting ready for Super Bowl XLV, the lineup is set for Sunday's super bowl of advertising.

There will be new players and returning favorites, celebrities galore and eye-popping special effects.

With advertisers paying up to a record $3 million for a half-minute of primo time, Super Bowl XLV could have a bonanza of creative commercials.

Among the stars suited up for action in 30 and 60 second spurts are Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Ozzy Osbourne, Faith Hill, Jillian Michaels, Adrian Brody, Diddy, the talking E*Trade baby and those beloved Budweiser Clydesdales.

Will any of these top last year's most memorable and surprising commercial star: Betty White (getting sacked for Snickers)?

And then there is the Pepsi/Doritos "Crash the Super Bowl" contest which six commercials have been created by consumers (from more than 5,600 entries).

Unlike the past two years when the network carrying the game struggled to sell ad time, this year Fox sold out early and got top dollar.

And the auto industry is back in a big way with nine different car brands being pitched during the game.

"It's a sign that the economy is turning around so we're expecting a huge audience, maybe 120 million viewers," says Tor Myhren, creative head of the ad agency, Grey New York.

"I call the Super Bowl 'America's last campfire' because it's the only event that we, as a nation, watch and share together," says Myhren, whose team created the famed E*Trade baby.

"This also is the only event on television where people actually tune in to see the commercials and even at $3 million per spot, it's the best bargain on television," he added in a telephone interview.

Myhren points out that a Super Bowl buy is more than 30-seconds. There are two weeks of free national exposure when the media starts reporting and showcasing the commercials.

"And there's at least four weeks or longer afterlife when the commercial is online, comics like Jay Leno and Conan are joking about and people are buzzing about it at the water cooler," he says.

He says people are still checking out the first E*Trade baby commercial that debuted three years ago. "Millions have seen it and we're coming back this year because it still works," he says.

Among the Super Bowl commercials already generating buzz is Best Buy's first ever spot to air in the third quarter featuring kid pop star Justin Bieber and aging rock star Ozzy Osbourne.

Among the other celebs: Kim Kardashian is the star of the Skechers 30-second spot; Faith Hill will appear in a Teleflora ad; and "Biggest Loser" trainer Jillian Michaels joins Danica Patrick in the GoDaddy.com commercial.

Annual big spender Anheuser-Busch is set to have five commercials including a 60-second feel-good romp with the Clydesdales; more comical Bud Light spots; and a Super Bowl debut of the company's Belgian brew Stella Artois.

In a humorous musical interlude, Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody will portray a jazz club crooner who only has eyes for Stella.

For years, Anheuser-Busch has been the best advertiser at branding a product during the Super Bowl so the departure to pitch an import is intriguing, says marketing professor Derek Rucker of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

The school is known for its Super Bowl Advertising Review, during which a panel of 40-plus students rank the success of product branding.

"Anheuser-Busch has never dropped the ball as far as making effective commercials for the Super Bowl," says Rucker who has seen a lot of advertisers blow the chance to make a lasting impression. "You can have a funny ad that every one likes but if it doesn't tie into the product or the brand then it fails," he says.

Recalling last year's commercials, the Kellogg Review gave high marks to the Snickers commercial in which a cranky octogenarian White turned into a young guy ready to play ball after eating a Snickers bar. Another winner was the Google ad in which a long-distance romance unfolds through Google searches. "That was a great way to show what the product does," says Rucker.

This year Rucker is also interested in seeing how the various automobile companies distinguish their products.

Mercedes-Benz also is a first timer with a commercial featuring rapper Diddy. A Kia ad for the 2011 Optima features an alien driver. And Volkswagen features an animated Beetle speeding through a forest.

An ad for Audi, set to air in the first break after kick-off, is called "Release the Hounds" and has an irreverent, satirical overtone as it follows two well-dressed inmates who break out of a luxury prison.

General Motors will have five Chevrolet commercials; a tie-in with Fox's post-Super Bowl "Glee" episode and it will present a Camaro to the game's most valuable player.

General Motors Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick has said the company is using humor to "reintroduce Chevrolet in an engaging and interesting way."

In one, a seemingly boring car dealership ad comes alive when a Camaro morphs into the Bumblebee character from the "Transformers" movies. In another ad, a Silverado is like famed collie Lassie, helping rescue a boy for some weird perils.

Disney will advertise the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" film and "Cars 2." Paramount is advertising five films including "Captain America," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Thor."

Vacation rental company HomeAway, which did a "National Lampoon" spot last year with Chevy Chase, is back with the fictional "Minister of Detourism" in a top-secret government testing facility where a "hotel room simulator" tests "limited space syndrome" and a "test baby" gets smashed.