Super Bowl Alert: Here come the commercials

Good afternoon Super Bowl junkies, I'm Jeanine Poggi, Ad Age's senior editor, here with the latest edition of our Super Bowl Alert. It's the home stretch and Ad Age is bringing you breaking news, analysis and first looks at the high-stakes, big-game commercials—all in our Super Bowl Alerts newsletter. Sign up right here to get them in your email. Carrie and Big Lebowski It's finally official—Carrie Bradshaw and the Big Lebowski will make appearances in Super Bowl LIII. Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Bradshaw in "Sex and the City," and Jeff Bridges, known as "The Dude" in the 1998 movie, will star in Stella Artois's Big Game spot, E.J. Schultz reports. The 45-second commercial from Mother New York shows the two actors in character swapping their usual drinks—a Cosmopolitan for Carrie and White Russian for "The Dude"—for the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brew. Read more about it here. Is Pepsi ok? "I'll take a Coke," a woman at a restaurant innocently says in the opening of Pepsi's Super Bowl ad. The beverage giant is embracing its challenger-brand status with a Super Bowl ad that pokes fun at the habit of people ordering Coke at restaurants, Schultz reports. As promised, Steve Carrell, Cardi B and Lil Jon, appear in the ad, which you can read more about here. Sad device A melancholy smart device, akin to Amazon's Alexa, is the real star of Pringles Super Bowl ad, which dropped on Monday. In it a smart device bemoans how a lack of hands keeps her from having Pringles. This is the second Super Bowl ad this year that features artificial intelligence and plays on the theme that these robots and devices can't enjoy our favorite snacks and beverages the same way humans can. Last week, Michelob Ultra released one of its two Big Game spots, which shows a sad-looking robot longingly eying a beer. "It's only worth it if you can enjoy it," states on-screen text. Michelob also released the second of its two ads on Monday. This one stars Zoe Kravitz and deploys a trendy sound phenomenon to promote its Pure Line Gold extension, its organic beer. Check out Ad Age tomorrow for a special Ad Lib podcast with Azania Andrews, VP of marketing at Michelob Ultra, who discusses the use of robots, the all-female production team on its Zoe Kravitz ad and use of Autonomous sensory meridian response. Sir Ridley Sir Ridley Scott will make his return to TV commercials for the first time in nearly 20 years during the Super Bowl. The award-winning director of "Gladiator" and "Alien" directed the short film "The Journey" for Turkish Airlines, a clip of which will air during Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3. Ad Age's Super Bowl ad chart, which is the most current look at all the marketers confirmed to air national spots in Super Bowl LIII, is being updated constantly this week. The latest addition: T-Mobile CEO John Legere took to Twitter on Monday to confirm the wireless carrier would be returning to the Super Bowl with its sixth consecutive spot. From the archives: Last year, T-Mobile's spot included a voice over by Kerry Washington and featured lots of babies. The National Football League also provided an update on its Super Bowl ad, which will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the league and feature more than 40 current and former football players. Here's a teaser of the ad. Chevrolet will have a Lego version of its 2019 Chevrolet Silverado appear in "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part," Schultz reports. But there are no plans for Chevy, or any General Motors brand for that matter, run in-game ads. The last time GM aired a Super Bowl spot was in 2017, for Buick. Skittles gives the middle finger Skittles previously announced it is skipping a traditional Super Bowl ad and will instead stage a musical on Super Bowl Sunday starring Michael C. Hall. And now the candy brand may have dropped its biggest bombshell --that the whole production may be a big middle finger to advertising, Ann Christine Diaz reports. In a new behind-the-scenes music video released on Monday, Hall and others perform a song from the show, "Advertising Ruins Everything," and the lyrics reveal that it will be a satirical exploration of what big game marketing is all about. Speaking of spoofs... Procter & Gamble's Charmin isn't actually slated to appear in the Super Bowl (as far as we know), but that didn't stop "Saturday Night Live" from imagining how a focus group session for a Big Game ad for the toilet paper brand might have gone, Simon Dumenco writes. Watch the segment here. Pete Blackshaw, Nestlé's global head of digital innovation and service models, lays out 10 Super Bowl tips every CMO should know. Elsewhere, Adweek takes a look at current and former NFL stars' favorite Super Bowl ads.

Super Bowl Alert: Here come the commercials

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