When trying to produce a winning spot, it helps to have a budget like the one at Anheuser-Busch, which sometimes shoots several dozen spots and thoroughly test each one.

Gross says DDB's testing process is, not coincidentally, a lot like the Ad Meter methodology. The commercials that work best in test are the ones most likely to make it on the air.

(Anheuser Busch says that this year's Clydesdale entry for its Budweiser brand scored higher in pre-testing than any previous commercial for the company.)

Ad agency executives are increasingly resigned to having to take such extraordinary measures in order to please the Ad Meter.

"Whether you're shooting for it or not, the Meter is a reality," says Jill Nykoliation, president of the Toronto ad boutique Juniper Park. For projects of this magnitude, she said, "there's nothing we'll do differently as far as tapping into the essence of the brand or the psyche of the public, but because it's a Super Bowl spot, we might ultimately choose to produce the spot different."

One might think that a polling device as important as the Ad Meter would be incredibly sophisticated and the methodology intricate and complex. But according to Norman, who's got a lot on his plate these days with the Super Bowl butting right up against Super Tuesday, the only difference between this year's Ad Meter and the first one 20 years ago is that this year's gadget is wireless.

"On a device a little bigger than an iPod, the audience rates a spot on a scale of 1 to 7," Norman explains, adding that the ratings are later pro-rated on a 1-to-10 scale.  "The score from each device reflects the highest point reached during a spot, usually the punch line of a joke. The final score for each spot reflects an average of the highest grades given by each individual."

The recruitment process is equally straightforward. Norman says that in an attempt to reflect the makeup of the 93 million plus watching the game, they recruit about three men for every two women, and make sure to include various ages, economic backgrounds and races.

None of the recruits, apparently, have anything better to do on the de facto national holiday that is Super Sunday.

Why test in McLean? Because USA Today has its offices there. Is the second location based upon a desire to reflect regional diversity? Not according to Norman. The choice of a second city reflects his desire to go to someplace affordable and convenient. Houston got the nod last year.

On the wall in Norman's office is a quote that appeared in Ad Age after the Super Bowl a few years ago:  "The Ad Meter is ... irrelevant at best and fascist at worst."

Does the veteran pollster agree?

"It is," he says, "what the numbers say it is."

I wonder what the principals at Portland's acclaimed Wieden + Kennedy agency think of all this hoopla over a simple poll.  If at the end of the day the people who brought us "Just do it" think that the opinions of 230-some people in a controlled environment really matter.  

I wonder because Wieden is doing the Careerbuilder ads for this year's game.