Madonna, Cirque du Soleil, Century 21, and Go Daddy Sign Up for Super Bowl XLVI

It's that time of year again for brand marketers. Yes, there's Christmas and Hanukkah shopping, but getting a share of that is all up to the promotional and merchandising folks at this point. With the winter holidays in full view, the thoughts of brand marketers have been turning to February, and to the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis has announced that Madonna will bring her act to the stage to key the Bridgestone halftime show of the NBC telecast, along with a contingent of circus performers from Cirque de Soleil. And now, more and more brands are owning up to the fact that they've bought spots during the game for an estimated $3 million per 30 seconds in order to reach the projected audience of 111 million Americans who will be tuning in.

Automakers including Audi, Lexus and Toyota already have promised to show up during the February 5 game. GoDaddy has vowed to push the advertising envelope in the game for the eighth consecutive year.

And Century 21, the venerable real estate brand, will be there with its first-ever Super Bowl spot. It may seem a strange time for a housing-related brand to lay down all that dough for the Big Game considering that the U.S. housing market remains near a modern nadir. But Century 21 CMO Bev Thorne told brandchannel that it's the brand's 40th anniversary. Plus, Century 21 and its sellers are looking forward at this point.

"It's a tough market, but our brand is in a rebuild and regrow mode," she said. "We know that the majority of Americans still believe in the value of home ownership, and if it's the right time for the consumer, this could be truly a generational opportunity to buy" a home. "Interest rates are at all-time lows and [house] inventories in various markets are in good shape."

Without sharing details of the creative, Thorne said that Century 21's spot in the game — as well as during a flurry of pre-game ads — would include a continuation of the brand message of having "smarter, bolder, faster" agents than the competition.

If the glimmers of U.S. economic recovery take brighter form over the next couple of months, Century 21's timing could be just right for all those savvy agents.