Super Bowl LIV ads have some Philly-area connections

The Eagles didn’t make this year’s Super Bowl, but there are still a few Philadelphia-area ties at the big game — at least when it comes to the advertisements.

Baltimore Ravens' Sam Koch holds the ball for United States soccer player Carli Lloyd as she attempts to kick a field goal after the Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens held a joint NFL football practice in August. Lloyd's kicking is featured in a Super Bowl ad.Read moreMatt Rourke / AP

by Nick Vadala

Published Jan. 29, 2020, 11:52 a.m. ET

The Eagles didn’t make this year’s Super Bowl, but there are still a few Philadelphia-area connections at the big game — at least when it comes to the advertisements.

The Hershey Company, for example, will debut its first Super Bowl ad in more than a decade with a spot for its Reese’s Take 5 bars, dubbing the treat “the best bar you’ve never heard of.” The company on Tuesday released an extended version online of the ad, which will be cut to a 30-second spot to be aired in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, Forbes reports.

Hershey hasn’t had a Super Bowl commercial since 2008, when the company debuted an ad at Super Bowl XLII for its Ice Breakers brand that featured actress Carmen Electra. Overall, ad tracker Super Ad Database reports, Hershey has had four Super Bowl ads (including this year’s Take 5 spot) dating back to 2002.

Facebook Groups and ‘Rocky’

Sunday will also bring a commercial for Facebook Groups that features Sylvester Stallone, who filmed his portion of the commercial here in Philadelphia last month. The ad will be Facebook’s first to air during a Super Bowl, and as AdAge reports, will have Stallone “kind of playing” Philly icon Rocky Balboa.

Stallone let the news of the Facebook ad slip last month, when he tweeted that he and Chris Rock had been working with the company for a Super Bowl spot.

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen launch Genesis campaign

University of Pennsylvania grad John Legend, meanwhile, will appear alongside wife Chrissy Teigen in an ad for luxury-car brand Genesis on Super Bowl Sunday. The spot, which was teased online this week, has Legend and Teigen launching the company’s so-called “Young Luxury” brand campaign.

Besides Legend, the ad also features some behind-the-scenes work from another Philly local in comedian and Chappelle’s Show co-creator Neal Brennan, who served as its director. Brennan, a Villanova native, said in a press release that the spot combines “opulence and humor.”

‘Real Housewives’ feud over hummus

Sabra Hummus will have an ad featuring a celeb from across the bridge with Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice, who appears in a spot alongside former friend Caroline Manzo. The ad, E! reports, plays on the pair’s feud, which initially began after Giudice accused Manzo’s sister-in-law, Jacqueline Laurita, of kicking off the government’s investigation into the Giudice’s family finances.

Carli Lloyd as the ‘Secret Kicker’

And, as Ellen DeGeneres revealed on her show this week, antiperspirant brand Secret will have a Super Bowl ad that stars Delran native and soccer star Carli Lloyd. Known as “The Secret Kicker,” the ad features Lloyd and fellow U.S. women’s soccer star Crystal Dunn as football players as a way to highlight equal opportunity for women in sports.

Lloyd, meanwhile, had a real-life football moment last year, when she kicked a 55-yard field goal at a joint practice between the Eagles and Baltimore Ravens. Lloyd recently said that she is “so incredibly proud to be a part of this campaign,” People reports.

Though many of the ads shown above feature a humorous element, the cost for a Super Bowl spot is nothing to scoff at. According to Fox, the average cost for a 30-second ad in this year’s big game runs upwards of $5.6 million.

Super Bowl LIV airs on Fox at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, when former Eagles head coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.