Justin Bieber and Ozzy? to star in Best Buy Super Bowl ad

Read More at: USA Today

Justin Bieber and Best Buy — two megabrands mutually in search of image change — are about to combine on the biggest stage of all: the Super Bowl.

Best Buy announced plans to feature teen heartthrob Bieber — along with elder rocker Ozzy Osbourne— in the first Super Bowl commercial for the nation’s largest home electronics chain.

“Justin Bieber is the biggest star out there, but that’s not why he’s in the spot,” says marketing chief Drew Panayiotou. “He symbolically represents something important to the brand message.”

For Best Buy, it’s a strategic attempt to move beyond its big-box retailer stereotype. With consumer interest in TV purchases declining even as mobile and tech-related interest grows, Best Buy wants to evolve into more of an Internet technology expert and service provider. And it wants to skew younger.

“Very rarely do you get a big brand looking to evolve into something else,” Panayiotou says. “We want to get this brand to a different place.”

It won’t just be with a Super Bowl spot. Best Buy will run more Bieber ads and Facebook updates through 2011.