Advertising Age reported yesterday that the Saints vs. Vikings game was the most watched event on TV yet this season. Can you believe that? Fox definitely made out in this case. So that implies that this year's Super Bowl game should again pull in some big ratings. For the past three years now since I started blogging I've been writing about the Super Bowl ads and promotions. For marketers it's a great way to take a look at what each other is doing and what resonates with consumers.

Last week I started my coverage with this post: Super Bowl XLIV Welcomes back the Doritos Brand Contest  for 4th Year. This year we will also see some familiar faces, some new ones and one big one that's decided to not participate. For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi will not have ads in the Super Bowl telecast. You recall some of their past ads that included some well known celebrities such as Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake? Instead it is putting their multi-million dollar budget on the Internet with a social media program it is calling The Pepsi Refresh Project.

The Pepsi Refresh Project launched on Jan. 13 and invites people to submit their ideas online for their projects that will refresh their communities to make a better world. Visitors to the site can start voting on Feb. 1. Pepsi estimates they will fund thousands of projects spending in excess of $20 million dollars and hopes to start a movement where others will begin funding community projects in the same manner.

So we'll have to follow how Pepsi does which their Refresh Blog helps to do that. Pepsi will be engaging a large groups of bloggers, texters and tweeters as it attempts to redefine marketing. They've already gotten much PR just from the fact that they aren't advertising during the Super Bowl telecast. Doritos brand is actually owned by Pepsi-Co. so that will be their only brand on TV. Of course Coca-Cola will be back this year along with Anheuser-Busch (even though they are now owned by Belgium company, In Bev) with their Budweiser and Bud Light brands.

We have some new controversy that's already brewing and getting some buzz. A Christian family-support organization called Focus on the Family has purchased a :30 spot and is using college-football star Tim Tebow, and his mother, Pam, to deliver a message that highlights how the group supports families. Mother Pam is known for her anti-abortion message and will supposedly be telling the story in the ad of her son's risky birth and how doctors had recommended that she terminate her pregnancy at the time. Many women's groups are asking CBS to pull the ad which CBS seems not to be backing down.

It is too bad that we have to take something as fun and entertaining as the Super Bowl and instead of it bringing Americans together can cause us to split apart. With all the partisan politics going on right now and the devastation in Haiti, we could use a break for a few hours on a Sunday.

But either way millions of us will be gathering together to have Super Bowl parties and watch the game. The football story is actually the one we should be focused on. Peyton Manning's father Archie was the head coach of the Saints for most of his career and never made it to the playoffs. Now his son is in the Super Bowl again and this time playing against their home team. So there will be many that will have a hard time deciding who to cheer for. Me, I'm cheering for Peyton and the Colts! 

Would love to hear from some of my fellow lady football fans on who their backing and what they thought of the NFL season.