The 52nd Super Bowl, Super Bowl LII, takes place in Minneapolis on Sunday 4 February.

Although the two teams which will compete for the elusive Vince Lombardi trophy have yet to be decided, you can be guaranteed that it will be one of the most-watched sporting events in the world this year.

An audience of over 110m Americans, as well as millions more around the globe, are expected to tune in.

As it is one of the most-viewed events in the world of sport, advertisers are charged a premium rate to promote their wares, as a single 30-second slot costs as much as $5m per ad.

To put this in context, the price for a similar time slot during the All-Ireland finals costs €34,000 on RTÉ.

However the $5m fee is often deemed money well spent, because if the ads in question are successful, not only do they help promote their companies’ product, they also go down in history as some of the best pieces of advertising ever seen.

Over the years there have been a number of highly successful farm-related ads, the most noteworthy in recent times being Chrysler’s ‘So God Made A Farmer’ ad and Budweiser’s ‘Lost Puppy’.

This year, the Minnesota-based dairy co-op Land O’Lakes is among the first to set its stalls out with its ‘Farm Bowl’ campaign.

On the Thursday before the Super Bowl begins, Land O’Lakes Farm Bowl will pit teams of current and former professional football players and Land O’Lakes farmers against each other, in a series of on-farm experiences and light-hearted, farm-themed challenges to demonstrate the skill, determination and grit required to succeed as a farmer today.

Event participants include Minnesota Vikings’ tight end Kyle Rudolph, Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis, former players Greg Jennings and Jason Brown, and several Land O’Lakes member-owners.

They have released a number of ads to announce the airing of this NFL-farming mash up featuring high profile current and former players, including this video of Greg Jennings and Jason Brown Entitled Big Green Tractors.

Also featured is a video of current Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph, nicknamed ‘Big Country’, moving a tyre in a slightly unconventional method on a farm somewhere in the mid west.

If there are a sign of things to come, then the 2018 showpiece will contain some of the best ads yet.

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