Honestly, I think what I'm proposing is transforming into creating a possibility for entire civilian life in the CoH zones. Put your hero in civvies, and he can go shopping for books, catch a movie, hang out in the mall with some friends...and advertisers are paying CoH for the privilege of having things he's using be there to use.
You want more, deeper role-play possibilities? "Secret Identity" missions where the plot of the mission revolves around aspects of daily life, made larger-than-life by the need to hide your powers or the ability to turn your powers towards their resolution. For villains, have some Task Force that has a side-mission when you "die" and wind up at the hospital: you were arrested, and now you have to break out or farce your way through a trial to "prove your innocence."
Obviously not something you'll want to do every time you die, but it could be interesting every once in a while, especially if it's a random rota. As a hero, you might even need to do some "secret identity" missions that build your secret identity's persona in the setting, getting a job and the like. Said jobs determine which "lifestyle"-related missions you can take later on. The "lawyer" job might let you prosecute (or even, perversely, have to defend) a supervillain. The "waitress" one might have you fighting Vazhilock's (sorry if that's misspelled) efforts to introduce an experimental mutagen into your restaurant's food supply. That sort of thing.
Sponsors could even ask to pay to be the company that's the "victim" or otherwise plays a prominent role; they'd have to agree to take the risks associated with marketing campaigns that put them in the line of fire of supers, but many would likely still leap at the opportunity.
