Fans can already get into the Super Bowl spirit by supporting the Ravens in the NFL's Super Ad and "How I See It" campaigns.
Led by long-snapper Matt Katula, the Ravens have five contenders that offered their pitches for a potential commercial for Super Bowl XLIII.
As part of the "Super Ad: Believe in Now" competition, Katula told the story of one fan who mistook him for Ravens Pro Bowl tight end Todd Heap, but didn't realize the specialist wasn't Heap until Katula had already signed an autograph.
If Katula wins the fan vote, his lighthearted story will be turned into a spot that will run during the Feb. 1 championship game on NBC. In addition to Katula, seven other Ravens sent in videos that are watchable on the Baltimore team page.
Joe Pytka, filmmaker and award-winning director of numerous television commercials, including last year's critically acclaimed NFL spot featuring Ephraim Salaam and Chester Pitts of the Houston Texans, will direct the commercial made from the winning pitch in collaboration with the NFL, NFL Films and BBDO.
Meanwhile, the Ravens have four fan entries among four groups of videos in the Samsung "How I See It" contest.
Kelly Nyman is a kindergarten teacher that talks about how she starts the NFL weekend on Friday with her students.
Tom and Jennifer Goldbach tell the story of when the husband and wife first bought their Ravens season tickets when the team moved to town back in 1996. They've kept them ever since and have become diehard fans.
Robert Mahan offers a heartfelt tale of his son, who studied film of Ray Lewis at the young age of 5. Now, Mahan said his son has been the leading tackler in his football conference for the last five years, sporting Lewis' familiar No. 52.
Finally, there is Larry Henson, a.k.a. Captain Defense, Ravens fan extraordinaire. Henson, who dons fully decorated shoulder pads and a military-style uniform to nearly every Ravens event, teared up when he described his Super Bowl experience holding the Vince Lombardi trophy.
The player videos for Katula and other AFC entrants are open to a vote until Dec. 17, and then the winners from each division will move to a championship round from Dec. 18 to Jan. 4.
Fan videos are subject to four separate rounds of voting until Dec. 17. The final eight videos and one wildcard video will be announced on December 18 and fans will be asked to return to the polls to vote for their favorite until January 4, 2009. The winning story, determined by fan votes and a panel of NFL and Samsung judges, will be transformed into a commercial to air during the pregame show prior to Super Bowl XLIII.
