Super Bowl 2012: Best Commercials, Teasers, Ad Previews So Far [VIDEO]

Super Bowl XLVI is set to air on Feb. 5, but the highly anticipated game holds more than just football for millions of viewers and marketers across the country.

The 2012 Super Bowl will present a heated game between the New England Patriots led by Tom Brady and the New York Giants led by Eli Manning. The classic American tradition will also feature hundreds of eye-catching, funny, clever and sexy commercials.

Major companies from Lexus and Volkswagen to Coca Cola and Doritos buy slots during the Super Bowl game in an effort to target the millions of viewers who tune in for the game.

NBC announced it has sold all of its 30-second advertising spots for the 2012 Super Bowl for an average of $3.5 million per slot, reports CNN. Last year, Fox sold each slot for around $3 million each, making more than $200 million in ad revenue.

The exorbitant cost for Super Bowl ads comes as no surprise. In 2011, the Super Bowl broke US television records when approximately 111 million viewers watched the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This year advertisers will target viewers will their ads and commercials, but they have also shifted to new marketing techniques.

Endless social media sites provide advertising companies with the additional challenge of targeting younger viewers through the sites they use, but also offer the the potential to help ads go viral. Marketers will try to engage younger viewers by posting material on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube both before Super Bowl Sunday and during the game.

Many companies, such as Volkswagen and Go Daddy, have already released teasers for their Super Bowl ads on YouTube. Other companies have released behind-the-scenes shots in order to whet the appetite of viewers who might remember a sexy, witty or strange preview.

GM, for example, has released a teaser of their Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet and will have four ads during the game. But, in addition to the standard commercials, the automobile manufacturer has taken the new age of technology one step further. The company has released a Super Bowl app that will allow viewers using the app on their iPhone, iPad or other device to enter for a chance to win one of 20 Chevy cars. The app will ask users trivia questions about the game and will give up-to-date updates during the Super Bowl XLVI.

The Super Bowl app from GM, the pre-released teasers and previews, as well as other contest campaigns run by companies eager to engage consumers demonstrates the array of options marketers have in 2012 to spread their brand and gain the attention of viewers on the television screen, on cell phones and tablets, and through social media.

Here are 14 teasers, previews and pre-released ads for companies that have bought slots in the 2012 Super Bowl.

“The Bark Side” (Volkswagen)

“Chevy Happy Grad” (Chevrolet)

“Act of Valor”

“Make Your Own” (Doritos)