By Matt Rascon

Browns fans are focusing on next year this Super Bowl Sunday, but Cleveland will get some time in the spotlight, thanks to a new United Airlines ad and a national spot from Destination Cleveland.

“The Super Bowl is advertising’s biggest night,” said Maggie Schmerin, chief advertising officer at United Airlines. “We really wanted to have that inspirational message to get people excited — really the fans of the 30 other teams that aren’t in the game.”

Cleveland is one of a handful of regions that United targeted in its Super Bowl ads. In the ad, actor Kyle Chandler encourages fans to buy early flights to next year’s game, because, you know, there’s always next year for Browns nation.

“Because believing that hard can change everything,” Chandler says, right before the music starts and United touts its lack of change fees.

“It actually worked. So, you’re like, oh, no change fees,” Michael Goldberg said after watching the ad.

Goldberg is a professor in the Department of Design and Innovation at Case Western Reserve University.

Throwing money at it

“The rates for advertising, not surprising, like much in life have gone up every year. And I think ultimately advertisers are making the decision that for that exposure, it’s worth it,” he said.

A 30-second spot during the game will cost a reported $7 million.

Before Mike Jackson taught advertising at Kent State University, he was employed at companies including Pepsi and General Motors. The latter is where he worked on Super Bowl ads.

“The stage is open to whomever who can obviously afford to spend $7 million for 30 seconds…it can literally serve as the centerpiece for a yearlong campaign,” he said.

“It’s very expensive, but I think the value is there when you look at the global nature, and then you add the streaming component to it and it’s just amazing,” Jackson said.

Making Cleveland shine

Destination Cleveland — a non-profit that promotes Cleveland — says they’ll be part of game day, slipping their ad in during the popular pre-game show – Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl.

“A place like Destination Cleveland, to be on a global stage with a very aspirational message, inviting visitors to see for themselves, is pretty powerful,” Jackson said.

Destination Cleveland’s Vice President of Communications Emily Lauer told 3News, “We’re excited to bring Cleveland to a national audience on what is one of the biggest media days of the year.”

“We’ve been changing perceptions of Cleveland for the past 10 years. This new campaign will help build momentum for our efforts – especially in a year that’s filled with so many big events. While we’re keeping the spot under wraps until game day, we’d love to see residents spread the word with their social media networks by sharing, liking and commenting on our posts leading up to game day,” she said.

Super Bowl social media fun

Another ad is also getting attention leading up to the Super Bowl, but for different reasons.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, known for its clever social media posts, posted videos to social media this week. The videos highlight the fact that it costs a reported $7 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot, but during that same time they’ll treat more than 82,000 gallons of water for $236 bucks – without celebrities.

“This is not a topic of conversation in most people’s circles. People don’t talk about sewers, they don’t talk about infrastructure unless there’s a problem,” NEORSD Communications Manager John Gonzalez said. “But if we can find a way to make our content relevant to them, if we can step into conversations on topics they’re already interested in, then we’re able to open doors and help people see something unexpected.”

In another video, the sewer district said after all of the food and drink Americans are expected to consume this Sunday, they are hiring.

“If we can simply make a connection there — make them stop or laugh at something we’ve shared or tweeted or posted — it’s a great way to start a conversation,” Gonzalez said. “The result is an unexpected connection that ends up demonstrating that our work has value that people rely on every day.”

Find WKYC’s full coverage here.