Super Bowl Ads: Expert Breaks Down Good, Bad, Trends

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- For some, Super Bowl Sunday is less about the big game and more about the wacky, wild and often controversial commercials that air during it.

In an in-studio interview with CBS 2's Cindy Hsu on Sunday, Kevin Swanepoel, president of The One Club for Art and Copy, which showcases the world's top advertising, said one popular trend this year leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII are teaser ads, such as Bud Light's commercial featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger playing table tennis.

Ironically, a hot teaser ad won't even lead to a Super Bowl spot. In a spoof commercial for New Castle, "Up in the Air" actress Anna Kendrick rants about being excited to be chosen to appear in a Super Bowl commercial, only to learn later the beer company didn't have the money to actually produce it.

"There's so much hype about advertising around the game that this is really our sort of Oscar time," Swanepoel said. "This is for us to show off what's really great advertising."

Super Bowl ads don't come cheap, but they are worth the hefty price tag, Swanepoel said.

"The cost nowadays is upwards of $3 million for an ad (for 30 seconds)," he said. "The return is pretty high. But this is the biggest stage in the world. You can't get a bigger stage when it comes to advertising and marketing your product."

Swanepoel said some of the better ads in recent memory include the 2009 eTrade commercial, featuring two talking babies, and the 2010 Old Spice spot, in which a shirtless male spokesmodel morphs from the shower to a boat to the beach to horseback.

"The eTrade baby is a great ad," Swanepoel said. "It really is spectacular. It appeals to the consumer. It really tugs at the heart strings. Here, you've got this beautiful little baby. He's got an attitude. He's really fun. It's great."

As for the Old Spice commercial, in "the Super Bowl, you've got all these really hot ... Super Bowl babes, but here you've got the hot Super Bowl guy," Swanepoel said. "And obviously, it's appealing to women who go out and buy deodorant for men."

Swanepoel said unsuccessful ads are those "when you've just loaded up with stars and there's no real good storytelling."

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