Super Bowl XLVIII is almost upon us and as America waits to see whether the Seahawks or the Broncos will emerge victorious, the TV audience also eagerly anticipates the festival of advertising that will accompany it.



A number of brands have tried to get ahead of the game – in every sense – by posting their new work online, and our offers a preview of some of the most notable commercials.

Budweiser: 'Puppy Love'

If you had to sum up Super Bowl XLVIII's commercials in a single word, you wouldn't be too far off if you chose the word "puppies" and this ad for Budweiser is already a front-runner to emerge as this year's favourite. Skilfully directed by Ridley Scott's son Jake, it's an unashamedly emotional tale that'll have football fans crying into their beer.

Agency: Anomaly

Director: Jake Scott

Kia: 'The Truth'

Laurence Fishburne reprises his role as Morpheus from The Matrix in this unusual commercial for Kia. We get a parody of one of the film's most famous scenes; an opportunity to hear Fishburne sing Nessun Dorma and a facsimile of The Matrix's famous stunt work. The mixture of these elements generates a strange tone ... which is perhaps a further reference to the famously baffling film.

Agency: David & Goliath

Director: Carl Erik Rinsch

H&M: 'Beckham Ending'

Online viewers have been given the opportunity to decide whether or not David Beckham should be fully uncovered in H&M's Super Bowl ad directed by Nicholas Winding Refn (Drive). Without wanting to second-guess a plebiscite of this importance, I'd suggest your money will be safe if you bet on the public wanting the full monty! Whether they'll get it or not is another question.

Sodastream: 'Sorry, Coke and Pepsi'

Scarlett Johannson's role as Sodastream's brand ambassador and her subsequent decision to split with Oxfam has generated huge controversy in recent weeks. This commercial might not run during the Super Bowl in any case ... not, as it happens, because Fox is worried about ruffling any political feathers but because it doesn't want to offend Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Agency: Humanaut

Director: Bryan Buckley

CarMax: 'Slow Clap / Dog Version'

Two for the price of one here. The first of two commercials for CarMax is a parody of the kind of feelgood ending you'd sometimes see in the cinema during the 1980s. The second – believe it or not – is a shot-for-shot reconstruction of the first ad using dogs instead of actors. Disappointingly, only the first of these two is scheduled to be shown during the big game.

Agency: Silver & Partners

Directors: Harold Einstein / Ronnie Koff

Chobani: 'Ransacked'

We've had horses and we've had dogs, so how about a bear? Chobani yoghurt's Super Bowl commercial has townsfolk running for cover to avoid being mauled by an ursine visitor in search of food. The behaviour of the bear is typical of his breed until he encounters the advertised product. Not only does he desist from his ransacking, he appears eager to actually pay for a tub or two of Chobani.

Agency: Droga5

Jaguar: 'Rendezvous'

Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) directed this confident offering for the luxury car marque which has Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong and Tom Hiddleston drawing attention to Hollywood's tendency to cast British actors as the villain. It's an excellent way of underlining the car's credentials for a global market that seems to have quite an appetite for a certain kind of Britishness these days.

Agency:

Director: Tom Hooper

VW: 'Wings'

When his daughter is unimpressed by the news that their VW has just clocked up its 100,000th mile, a man tells her that each time that this happens a German engineer gets "his wings". Cut to the VW factory in Wolfsburg where we discover this is quite literally true, but you don't want to know what happens when the cars hit 200,000 miles! It seems unlikely that this will be broadcast on Sunday without a little expletive management.

Agency: Argonaut

Cheerios: 'Gracie'

This is the second outing for this mixed-race family in Cheerios's advertising and it's good that they've opted to put them back on television, as their first appearance was marked by a bigoted backlash. This time around, we learn the family is about to grow as mom is pregnant … prompting a skilful piece of negotiation from young Gracie.

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi New York

Director: Mark Smukler

Newcastle Brown Ale: 'Anna Kendrick: behind the scenes ... '

In the spirit of Nike's guerilla advertising campaigns for major sporting events, "Broon Ale" is cheekily running a spoof Super Bowl campaign which cleverly makes a virtue of a necessity. They'll probably get a much better return on heir investment than many of the brands that have paid for top dollar for their thirty seconds on Sunday.

Agency: Droga5

Director: Randy Krallman



Jason Stone is the editor of David Reviews