Marketers such as VW use ads to promote their Super Bowl ads

— -- Coca-Cola has plastered ads on bus shelters and billboards. Honda and Volkswagen have posted online videos. Kia has launched movie theater ads.

Yet the ads don't specifically tout cars or cola. They hype the brands' Super Bowl marketing plans. In a trend sure to thrill sellers of ad space, and irk anti-commercialism activists, marketers are running ads for their ads.

Big Game advertisers, who paid an average of $3.5 million for each 30 seconds of airtime on NBC, are working ahead of Sunday's game more than ever before. They want viewers to actively seek out their big-budget TV ads and to get involved with the digital and social-media efforts of which the commercials are a centerpiece.

"You want to make sure that you get the most out of what is a very big and a very expensive event," says Pio Schunker, Coke North America head of integrated marketing.

By touting their ads early, marketers hope to stand out from the game-day commercial clutter, says Brad Adgate, research director at marketing agency Horizon Media. And unlike some other live events, consumers are hungry to see Super Bowl-related content and welcome these promotions, he says.

Says Coke's Schunker, "People want to feel that they've gotten inside and advanced information."

They also readily share it via social media. After VW posted its teaser ad on its Facebook page — it showed dogs barking the Imperial March tune from Star Wars in its 2011 ad — the video was "shared" more than 676,000 times.

"That's all free advertising," Adgate says.

Among pre-game efforts:

•Online videos. Both VW and Honda's teasers end with "2.5.12" references to the game. Audi's video hyped its ad and included clips from its past Big Game spots. "Every February a new chapter unfolds," said Audi's ad. "But nothing has prepared you for this."

•Outdoor ads. Coke's ads promote the polar bears in its game spot and urge viewers also to watch a live stream of the bears reacting during the game at CokePolarBowl.com with: "Join us on game day."

•Movie theater ads. A Kia theater ad shows Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima, who's in its game ad, and says, "See you on Sunday."

•Twitter.How I Met Your Mother star and M&M's spokesman Neil Patrick Harris tweeted: "M&Ms asked me to announce that a new character, Ms. Brown, will be unveiled during the SB."