The Tremendous Bowl is a magical time and place for manufacturers. A uncommon and transient three-or-so hour second when individuals wish to see commercials. Each marketer’s Xanadu.
What defines an important Tremendous Bowl advert is clearly subjective, it doesn’t matter what the Advert Meters, and any variety of different measurement tech tells you. Hell, even your own brain might be lying to you. The actual scorecard is exclusive to every model and what it considers the worth of up to $40 million or more in investment around the game.
My standards for a superb Tremendous Bowl advert stays comparatively easy: Is it enjoyable or emotional in a means that’s each entertaining and memorable? A straightforward query to ask, however as annually proves, rather more tough to reply.
Earlier than I get into my prime 5 checklist, listed below are the honorable mentions.
The espresso wars come to the Tremendous Bowl! I’m a fan of Dunkin’s work with Ben Affleck, created by Artists Fairness Promoting (the advert arm of Affleck and Matt Damon-founded Artists Fairness). This 12 months’s spot was a humorous tackle the espresso wars, utilizing a part-Warriors, part-Anchorman dynamic to proceed the adventures of the DunKings.
I additionally actually appreciated Starbucks’ “Hello Again,” by Anomaly, which aimed to remind us why we liked the brand within the first place. Nevertheless, the spot may very well be used as a case research in how essential the fitting track will be, as a result of this advert wouldn’t hit practically as exhausting with out AC/DC’s traditional “Thunderstruck.”
After 27 years, it’s about time we noticed one other Nike business within the Tremendous Bowl. “Hare Jordan” is arguably a Prime 10 all-time Tremendous Bowl business, so getting the swoosh again feels proper. Now in “So Win,” the model used Led Zeppelin and a murderers’ row of feminine superstars to stylishly proceed its swing again to the ultra-competitive angle Nike was constructed on.
My admiration for what FanDuel has created with “Kick of Destiny” is well-documented, and continues this 12 months. Whereas the principle occasion isn’t technically an in-game advert—this 12 months cleverly embedding itself inside the Fox pregame present—it stays one of many best-ever Tremendous Bowl model concepts.
Talking of all-time huge recreation model concepts, another shout-out to Doritos for bringing back “Crash The Super Bowl” after an eight-year hiatus. The spots had been enjoyable, humorous, and the competition stays a benchmark in fan participation.
And lastly, a shout-out to the manufacturers that determined to go full emosh and really pulled it off with spectacular outcomes. The NFL’s “Somebody,” Lay’s “Little Farmer,” and Google’s “Dream Job” all struck a pleasant stability for the manufacturers and the second.
OK, now on to my prime 5 advertisements of the 2025 Tremendous Bowl.
Stella Artois “David & Dave: The Different David”
It’s a premise that may very well be defined in a single line: David Beckham finds out he has a secret American twin named Dave. That is Artists Fairness Promoting’s first Tremendous Bowl spot for a model that’s not Dunkin’, and right here we’ve got the corporate’s different co-founder Damon in a starring function.
I spoke to execs on the company for a narrative popping out later this week, they usually informed me the transient from the model was to shift Stella’s picture within the U.S. as an upscale beer to extra of a top quality on a regular basis beer. Enter Dave Beckham. We’ve seen David pitch for the model loads of occasions, in advertisements, on Hot Ones, and past, however right here we get to see a funnier facet of the soccer legend.
Mountain Dew “Kiss From A Lime”
Mountain Dew has long-been one of many extra experimental Tremendous Bowl advertisers. In 2021, it enlisted John Cena to challenge viewers with a contest to be the primary individual to tweet the right variety of Mountain Dew Main Melon bottles that appeared within the advert for an opportunity to win $1 million. In 2018, it partnered with sibling model Doritos for a surreal rap battle between Peter Dinklange and Morgan Freeman. And naturally, 2016 gifted us the traditional “Puppymonkeybaby.”
This 12 months the model went all in on the large recreation model of unhinged. Seal as a seal? Directed by Taika Waititi, not solely is that this absurdity bullseye in line with the soda’s identification in relation to the Tremendous Bowl, it delivers an on-brand ear-worm care of a 1994 love ballad. What’s to not like? (It’s nonetheless in your head, isn’t it?)
Uber Eats “A Century of Cravings”
Uber Eats made a comparatively late resolution in September to fully change its Tremendous Bowl plans—a planning course of that usually begins in July. A spot starring Matthew McConaughey, by which he floated a conspiracy concept that the perform of all sports activities is to behave as a catalyst for us to eat extra meals, bought an important response. May they proceed that within the huge recreation? Brief reply: yep.
Right here it goes deeper. Not deep like finger-rolling a booger in your Lincoln deep; simply completely different deep. A decade on, The McConaissance continues to be deep in its business period, and right here the Oscar winner retains the streak alive by giving us a historical past lesson of his earlier conspiracy.
It’s a enjoyable instalment of an general celebrity-soaked advert technique that manages to face out, at the same time as Pringles put up a strong challenge to its multi-celeb strategy.
“I believe individuals now have a clearer understanding of our model and tone as a result of we’re constantly displaying up with a really particular kind of spot that’s touchdown a particular kind of humor,” Uber’s head of promoting for North America Georgie Jeffreys, told me last week. “Even when the message modifications, the core tenets of our model are the identical.”
Bud Gentle “Huge Males on Cul-De-Sac”
Similar to at a bar, it was an in depth name between this and Bud Gentle’s blood rival Coors Gentle. Each advertisements are actually humorous and just about precisely what a lightweight beer advert within the Tremendous Bowl ought to intention for.
What places Bud Gentle over the road right here is the way it not solely meets the above standards, however does so with strong model consistency. A terrific huge recreation advert that doesn’t really feel like a one-off is usually a uncommon species. This isn’t the primary time we’ve seen Submit hit the sector for Bud Gentle, and the work Gillis has done over the previous 12 months has fully reinvigorated the model’s character.
Todd Allen, Bud Gentle’s senior vice chairman of promoting told me that it was a no brainer for the model to maintain the momentum going and proceed to lean into Gillis’ model of humor. “There’s completely no greater stage to ship fun than the Tremendous Bowl, and once you mix a comedic powerhouse like Shane with Bud Gentle, I believe we’ve got a profitable system,” stated Allen.
Liquid Demise “Protected For Work”
I discussed the significance of the fitting track earlier with Starbucks, and right here it applies simply as a lot, however in a completely completely different means. As an alternative of counting on a traditional track or new hit banger to faucet into the viewers’s current affinity, Liquid Demise crafted its personal hilarious, pseudo-country jam about consuming on the job.
The cops are consuming, the surgeons are consuming, the pilots are consuming, the court docket judges, the soccer refs, even the college bus drivers are all consuming on the job.
Liquid Demise is not any stranger to celebrities. It’s labored with Martha Stewart, Bert Kreischer, Tony Hawk, and extra. However right here, the model shrewdly prevented any huge names realizing full effectively it’s precisely the other of what the vast majority of Tremendous Bowl advertisers would do. The sharp distinction between the parade of celeb pitchfolks and this lack of Hollywood star energy, makes the advert stand out for all the fitting causes.
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