Top 5 social media Super Bowl plans show that social media is slowing becoming the new Super Bowl ad.

This is a great article from Mashable on the smart things some brands are doing to goose the social media world as part of their Super Bowl communications strategy. With a $3 million price tag on the air time, plus the cost of production (typically $1 million+), leveraging social is a smart, obvious, and an incraesingly mandatory play. Hey, it ain’t just about the ad anymore.

See how Mercedes with their Tweet Race, Bud Light with their Facebook “guess the plot” game Unlock the Spot, Kim Kardashian ‘s private gym for Skechers, Pepsi’s iPad-specific ad, Kia, E*Trade, and VW just plopping their ads on YouTube have all pushed social networks more than ever. In the coming years, Super Bowl communications for brands in social spaces will become, like the Packers, a dynasty.

Volkswagen Passat mini Vader ad “The Force” – over 12,000,000 views BEFORE the game.

Hats off to Volkswagen. They are smart. They made a great Super Bowl ad, even though it really isn’t selling a heck of a lot. And the strategy to release the ad before the game isn’t new. But the combination of a great piece of communication, and great social media support has already created a mega hit.

And come on, the kid, Max Page, is great. Here’s a cool story on him. He’s a kindergartener, he’s in the Screen Actor’s Guild, and has been on “The Young and the Restless” over 40 times. He will be a very popular little fella this week.

The pre-Super Bowl winners of the Super Bowl ad bowl.

What ads are trending best on Twitter so far? A cool infographic from the Meltwater Group, via Mashable. Looks like the Volkswagon pre-game buzz strategy is paying off.

ESPN’s top 5 Super Bowl moments … made out of food.

It’s a great day for stop motion animation/food lovers/Super Bowl memories lovers! At last! All three passions combined, all together in one place! A fine, fine idea, despite not featuring any Packers Super Bowl moments. How awesome would it be to have Bart Starr or Reggie White made out of cheese balls and jerky links?

6 links to the best Super Bowl ads, coverage.

For the last six years I’ve shared some cool Super Bowl ad stuff from an ad guy’s point of view. As a Packer fan, it’s likely that many of tomorrow’s ads will go unnoticed. Regardless, I’ll be digging up some off-the-beaten-path stuff, so stay tuned for some cool tidbits on the ads. Here are some cool Super Bowl ad pontificator folks, and some cool resources.

1. YouTube’s Ad Blitz, now with enhanced mobile phone functionality to serve the growing number of smart phone users. From the New York Times: “This year, though, there are some new wrinkles. YouTube will run its Ad Blitz contest for the fourth year, but for the first time, it will have a mobile Ad Blitz site. People can vote on ads immediately after the game, and the winning ad will appear on YouTube’s home page a week later.” Uh. A week later YouTube?

2. Hulu is featuring the ads, and has a viewer’s favorite voting thingy.

3. Brand Bowl 2011, a cool ranking analysis of the ads brought to by Mullen Advertising and Radian6. They rank Tweets about ads, general sentiment and show a stream of what Twitter is saying. This is a really fantastic resource that shows you in real time what the world is saying about the ads.

4. When the ads run. This cheat sheet shows the ads in the blocks they will appear. Audi will have the opening slot.

5. There is some deeeep Super Bowl ad history coverage here at spike.com.

6. AdAge has industry scoopage.

Today’s creativity question (Frozen Tundra Packers Super Bowl edition): how deep can you go?

I’ve always believed that the key to having a great idea is to have a lot of ideas. So how deep can you go to generate ideas? You need to go pretty deep. Quantity counts, when solving a business problem, inventing something, or being an artist. Go. Deep. Now.

Creativity question (blizzardcam edition): how close can you get?

One way to you can crack open some cool creative ideas is to get closer. Robert Di Niro nails this idea. To prepare for his role as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, Di Niro threw himself into the character, literally transforming himself into a boxer to get closer. Who was his trainer? Jake LaMotta. That’s about as close as you can get.

And, you know what? If you’re in a community that’s pooping its pants about a blizzard, with 24/7 media coverage and Twitter freakout, the best way to get closer to the blizzard means to hang out…in…the…blizzard. It was very cool getting closer to Ma Nature.

Blizzardocolypse, snowmageddon, SOMG blizzard of 2011 diary entry.

Day Two: Ma awoke at dawn to render lard for the last of our pemmican, whilst I restrung th fiddle with remaining sinew from Fall kill. The young-uns played “Ball Toss” among burlap quilts, huddled close to th fire. We are down to our last gourd, and firewoode supplies are woefully low. Vinny barks at 27 ft. snow drifts that have enveloped the cabin. He looks delicious. We hope to survive to see Spring-Time.