Come Sunday, you might think this year’s Super Bowl is brought to you by Orange County.
Commercials are on tap from the county’s biggest advertisers, Fountain Valley’s Hyundai Motor America and Irvine’s Taco Bell Corp.
A handful of others also have taken out air time during the game:
Irvine’s Kia Motors America Inc., which, like Hyundai, is part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co.
Irvine-based Boost Mobile LLC, which markets prepaid cell phones from parent Sprint Nextel Corp of Overland Park, Kan.
And Irvine-based flat-screen TV maker Vizio Inc.
This year’s local contingent is up from last year and could be the biggest yet for advertisers here during the Super Bowl.
“We loved what we got from last year’s Super Bowl numbers—they were off the charts,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president of marketing at Hyundai Motor America.
New York-based CBS Corp., which is hosting the game, said it sold out 30-second spots on Monday.
CBS sought $2.5 million to $3 million for a 30-second ad, with higher prices allocated for the best time slots.
A year ago, during the height of the recession, the sour economy paved the way for many newcomers to advertise during the Super Bowl.
Last year, Hyundai aggressively gobbled up spots abandoned by General Motors Co.
This year, the automaker initially bought five spots for this year’s game, but it has been actively picking up spots abandoned by veteran advertisers looking to take the year off.
After learning PepsiCo Inc. dropped its prime advertising spots, Hyundai grabbed more prominent placement, during the first quarter of the game.
This year’s campaign will introduce the redesigned Sonata and Tucson as well as highlight Hyundai’s charity efforts, such as Hope on Wheels, a pediatric cancer program.
Kia’s ad will feature the new Sorento which the automaker hopes will appeal to young families. The automaker has a 60-second spot featuring a cast of animated characters from children’s TV shows including Nick Jr.’s “Yo! Gabba Gabba” series.
Boost Mobile, which is also new to the Super Bowl, will be reuniting the Chicago Bears players to parody the 1985 ”The Super Bowl Shuffle” music video.
The ”Boost Mobile Shuffle” will air for 30 seconds during the first quarter of Super Bowl
The effort comes after Boost added more than 2 million subscribers in the 12 months through September, according to Boost.
Boost spent $28 million on print, TV and radio ads through October, according to Nielsen.
Irvine’s Taco Bell, part of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., is looking to get a head start on its NBA promotion with a 30-second TV spot featuring Basketball Hall-of-Famer and commentator Charles Barkley during the game.
The spot is promoting the fast foot chain’s next “NBA Five Buck Box,” which includes tacos, burritos and soda.
TV seller Vizio, which advertised in the Super Bowl last year, is looking to add some serious star power this year.
The TV maker signed a three-year deal to have singer Beyonce Knowles-Carter endorse its line of TVs, including a commercial during the Super Bowl.
Previously, the company used San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
