US Super Bowl commercial frenzy kicks off

As always, the country's biggest brands are battling it out to produce the most talked-about TVC of the night. Below, we preview just a sample of what viewers can expect on 7 February. Keep an eye out for a professional review of the spots in the 11 February edition of Media.

1. Coca-Cola is taking full advantage of rival Pepsi's absence from this year's event by unveiling two brand new, minute-long ads built around their current 'Open Happiness' campaign. Produced by Wieden + Kennedy, the spots are very different in nature but sure to attract equal attention.

Coke isn't the first US brand to feature characters from animated favourite The Simpsons, but the execution here should appeal to fans of the drink and show alike. Named 'Hard Times', the spot reveals how the recession has affected billionaire factory boss C. Montgomery Burns. And in a Coca-Cola world, even Springfield's Scrooge deserves a happy ending.

The second spot, entitled 'Sleepwalker' depicts a man rising (but not waking) from his slumber and trekking across the African wilds in search of the refreshment that apparently only Coke can provide. As he travels, the local wildlife does its best to aid his progress. It's a no-expense-spared effort that can probably expect longevity on both TV screens and Youtube for several months to come.

The company is also offering consumers a sneak preview of the TVCs via social media, simultaneously encouraging donations to its Live Positively initiative.

2. US vacation company HomeAway, which recommends self-service vacation homes over hotels, is also employing familiar characters in its quest for Super Bowl supremacy. This time, it's the Griswalds - the hapless holidaymakers portrayed by Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angleo in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies - being resurrected to raise a laugh and a few bucks for the company concerned.

The Super Bowl spot will take the form of a mock movie trailer, enticing viewers online to HomeAway.com. Here, the company will show a 15-minute mini-movie, again featuring the Griswalds. A micro-site further offers games and user-generated content. Publicis in the West can take the credit for this one.

3. Tyre firm Bridgestone, sponsor of the Super Bowl's halftime show featuring The Who this year, has two new spots produced by The Richards Group premiering during the game.

The first, called 'Whale of a Tale', features a group of friends desperately trying to transport a killer whale back to the ocean. Of course their tyres don't let them down during the quest.

The second, intriguingly titled 'Your Tires or Your Life', appears to spoof numerous Bond, Bourne and Austin Powers (is it even possible to spoof Austin Powers?) movies, while no doubt extolling the virtues of Bridgestone's rubber.

4. Super Bowl happens to fall just a week before Valentine's Day. US flower delivery firm Teleflora would have been foolish to miss out on the action. Last year, the company introduced viewers to what it describes as its "witty and wilted flowers-in-a-box", voiced with acidic gusto by veteran actor Don Rickles. The concept is designed to demonstrate what a flower delivery might 'say' to the recipient if it is not ordered through Teleflora (clue - it's not nice). Presumably, those that are ordered through Telefora say, "I'd totally forgotten about Valentine's Day until I sat down to watch the football the other night".

5. Neither truTV nor Troy Polamalu may be household names outside of the US, but the latter is a Pittsburgh Steelers football player evidently prepared to masquerade as a groundhog in order to promote the former's new season of behind-the-scenes football specials. truTV is apparently broadcast to 91 million US homes, and is using the ample-haired sports star to make its mark on what would appear to be the perfect NFL-viewing audience. You can view the full ad here. Grey New York is behind the spot.

Elsewhere, we can expect the following: Doritos parading the winners of a homemade video contest; E-Trade rolling out the latest installments of its talking/singing/spewing babies campaign; Budweiser generally dominating the ad breaks with about five minutes of new, Clydesdale-free ads; a Christian organisation called Focus on the Family telling people not to have abortions; and Boost Mobile recreating something called the Super Bowl Shuffle from 1985. Sorry – you'll have to ask an American...