By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

In keeping with my countdown to Super Bowl XLIV, which is happening this Sunday, February 7th, down in South Florida, here's another update on the advertising and marketing surrounding the big game.

Back in December I was writing about holiday promotions and had mentioned in this post the partnership that American Express was doing with the United Way. They were offering the United Way Gift Card in which the $3.95 purchase charge was donated to the United Way. The NFL has also been extremely generous to the United Way and, as in previous years, has been donating free advertising which again will include an ad during the televised Super Bowl XLIV game.

Now if any of you have been reading about the Super Bowl or watching the news, you'll realize how much this is worth. This year CBS is supposedly asking $3 million for a :30 second ad and the game is anticipated to be the most watched event of the television season and may even beat out the 2008 Super Bowl game which broke the all-time record. Overall, 57% of U.S. adults are expected to watch Super Bowl XLIV as much or more for the commercials than for the game, according to new poll by Hanon McKendry, conducted by Harris Interactive. This is a 5% interest increase over the 2009's poll, which was at 52%.

In keeping with the current United Way campaign, this year’s Super Bowl ad is focused on the crisis of childhood obesity. Addressing this challenge is one of United Way’s three pillars for advancing the common good. By 2018, United Way expects to increase by one-third the percentage of healthy youth—that’s 1.9 million more healthy young people. Youth health is also core to NFL Play 60—a national health and fitness campaign designed to encourage young fans to be active for at least 60 minutes a day.

This year's Super Bowl ad is expected to be a montage of various youth fitness activities. The base of it was filmed during the Green Bay Packers/United Way Hometown Huddle last October of a playground build. The hope of the ad is to raise awareness about the importance of physical activity, raise funds to support in-school and after-school fitness programs, and inspire people to get involved in reversing the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

In addition they have developed the NFL LIVE UNITED campaign in which a player from each of the 32 NFL teams is represented. Billboards were produced and distributed through United Way’s partnership with the Advertising Council. Local United Ways and teams are extending the campaign with print ads, Jumbotron spots, in-stadium signage and web banners.

In South Florida the United Way of Broward County and Publix Supermarkets are displaying these billboards featuring Chad Pennington of the Miami Dolphins which are also hanging on Publix stores throughout the region two weeks leading into Super Bowl.

So thank-you NFL for your generosity in helping the United Way. We'll see how well the ad scores in memorability after the game.