Ad Age is counting down to Super Bowl LVIII. In the days leading up to the game, which will air on CBS on Feb. 11, Ad Age will bring you breaking news, analysis and first looks at the high-stakes, Big Game commercials—all in our Super Bowl newsletter. Sign up right here to get them via email.

Late night with Schwarzenegger

State Farm kept its Super Bowl tease going when Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Wednesday, pretending to plug a 60-second action move that is obviously a Super Bowl ad. It’s a tactic that has been tried before—Nissan’s 2022 Big Game ad featured Eugene Levy as an (unlikely) action film star. Such a role is of course much more on brand for Schwarzenegger—and he also used that reputation in 2022 to tease his starring role in BMW’s Zeus-themed Super Bowl ad, putting on his Instagram account a movie-poster-themed image in the days before the game. State Farm also put him in a movie poster this year.

To keep track of all the advertisers running national spots in the game, and their teasers, bookmark Ad Age’s regularly updated Super Bowl ad chart.

No more teasing

Some brands are done teasing and have already released their ads—eight commercials have now been released. The latest spots to drop include Etsy, which has some fun with France’s Statue of Liberty gift to America; Michelob Ultra, which has Lionel Messi playing beach soccer; Budweiser, which brought the Clydesdales back; Oreo, which is encouraging coin-flip-inspired cookie twists with Kris Jenner; and Lindt, which drew inspiration from Perry Como.

For more on teasers and other pigskin marketing news, check out our continuously updated football marketing blog.

Getting serious

Amid the mostly lighthearted ad approaches taken this year, Google is poised to get serious—the brand this week revealed that its ad would promote its Pixel phone’s AI camera tools that help visually impaired people take photos. Meantime, pharmaceutical company Astellas plans to market its new menopause pill Veozah with a 60-second spot. “Menopause is having a moment,” said Jill Jaroch, senior director of women’s health and urology marketing at Astellas, referencing how the topic is no longer taboo.

Hear from brands advertising in the game at Ad Age’s virtual Super Bowl event on Feb. 6. Register and learn more at AdAge.com/SuperBowlPlaybook.

Special Sphere treatment

The NFL has found a way to deliver another perk to its sponsors—exclusivity for Sphere advertising during Super Bowl week. The arrangement, first reported today by Ad Age, is a collaboration between the league and operators of the giant Las Vegas venue that resulted in sponsors getting first dibs to run ads they operate. So Verizon, which bought one, won’t have to worry about competing with a T-Mobile ad, for instance.

MrBeast goes to Vegas

YouTube sensation MrBeast is among the people the NFL has lined up to film content for the league during Super Bowl week, as part of its ongoing efforts to include more influencers in NFL marketing efforts. Model Haley Kalil, comedian Adam Waheed and YouTuber Ryan Trahan will also be involved. “They’ll essentially be [the NFL’s] reporters on the scene” making a “plethora of content every single day,” Ian Trombetta, the league’s senior VP of social, influencer and content marketing, told Ad Age.

Read more on influencers’ role in Super Bowl marketing

Oh say can you SpongeBob

Nickelodeon revealed new elements of its family-focused Super Bowl simulcast today. In addition to SpongeBob SquarePants and friends manning the announcer booth and doing sideline reporting, the animated sea creature will perform an opening number. SpongeBob will perform “Sweet Victory,” which originally appeared in a 2001 episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants” called “Band Geeks,” frequently cited as one of the prolific show’s best. The episode also featured iconic and oft-quoted lines such as, “Is mayonnaise an instrument?” Producers told reporters today that the Nickelodeon Super Bowl will feature more animation and special effects than any previous collaboration between the kids’ network and the NFL, setting the entire stadium and audience within the animated world of Bikini Bottom.

Today in Super Bowl history

Super Bowl XLIX was played on this date in 2015, when the Patriots beat the Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Advertisers included Fiat, whose “Blue Pill” spot spoofed a Viagra ad. It was edgy, but not nearly as risky as what Nationwide attempted that year—its ad, “Boy,” was meant to raise awareness around household safety by portraying a boy who never got the chance to grow up because he died in a household accident. The attempt to raise safety awareness drew criticism for its morbid theme, and was part of a batch of ads that made Super Bowl XLIX the Somber Bowl.

Ken Wheaton, Ad Age’s Super Bowl ad reviewer that year, wrote: “We’ve had emotional Super Bowl ads before, but this year marketers seemed intent on squeezing a few gallons of tears out of the crowd.”

For a complete look at Big Game commercial history, check out Ad Age’s Super Bowl ad archive.

Contributing: Parker Herren