Fast-rising new companies with Covid-related relevance — Indeed or DoorDash, for example — are making their debuts. There will be the game’s first-ever diaper ad, reflecting the family pandemic times. Anheuser-Busch has said it will forego Budweiser’s berth for the first time in decades, diverting budget to promoting Covid-19 vaccination.
In truth, while Bud is taking a break, many other brands under the same corporate tent are planning a collective four minutes’ worth of commercial time. Ditto for Coca-Cola and Pepsi, though on a corporate level both are not exactly on the sidelines. Blue-chip names like Verizon and Procter & Gamble are also buckling their chinstraps, so there will be a good degree of familiarity in sponsor messages.
The 43,000 other empty seats will not go to waste. In addition to cameras like a 10th-row “trolley” that will follow players during the action, the NFL has also installed LED message boards covering the first seven rows of seats, valuing that inventory at $1.5 million to $2 million. It’s possible some of those sponsored call-outs could end up on air instead of the corporate guests or face-painted loyalists who usually serve as the live backdrop to the game.