The Super Bowl always promises some of the year’s best advertising. This year, as has become common in recent years, it only half-delivered.
On the one hand, we got a lot of formulaic work. Too much of it, honestly. With the cost approaching $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime, many brands try to minimize the risk by relying on familiarity, including celebrities, to carry the load—which, ironically, may be the biggest risk of all, as you can easily fade into the background.
On the other hand, we got strong work as well. Some of it was heartfelt, much of it comedic. Companies such as OpenAI and Liquid Death aired their first-ever Super Bowl spots, while Nike returned after 27 years away, injecting some excitement into the night. Other newcomers rolled the dice, while returning brands tried to refresh their appeal in an ever-changing market.
The Super Bowl is never an easy assignment for CMOs or their agencies. We recognize it’s an accomplishment just to get a spot in the game. Still, we were keeping score. Below, check out our picks for which brands met the challenge of the evening—and which should probably go back to the drawing board.
Super Bowl 2025 ad review—the best and worst commercials
Nike returned to the Big Game after 27 years with a stunner of a spot about women athletes.
Google
‘Dream Job’
Agency: In-house
Google sure knows how to pull those heartstrings. The company’s been doing evocative, emotional Super Bowl storytelling for years, going back to “Parisian Love” in 2010. Nothing has quite topped the stark beauty of that minimalist spot, but “Dream Job” has myriad charms of its own. It shows a man using Pixel’s Gemini to prep for a job interview. Asked by the AI assistant which job has taught him the most, he doesn’t hesitate: being a father. The spot then tracks the ups and downs of life with his daughter through the years, from her infancy to college—with each vignette cleverly framed through the skills he learned in the process. The writing is great. Director Henry-Alex Rubin’s attention to detail is impeccable. The time-traveling hugs at the end are heartbreaking. Yes, it’s an ad about AI, but it’s also not—it’s about being human, and the technology that just happens to help us along the way.
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Nike
‘So Win’
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Portland
Nike aired its first Super Bowl commercial in 27 years on Sunday, and it was well worth the wait. The mesmerizing Wieden+Kennedy :60 celebrates women athletes through the lens of their detractors, with the rapper Doechii delivering a playful yet pointed voiceover listing everything they’re told they can’t do—but do anyway. Caitlin Clark, Jordan Chiles, Sabrina Ionescu, Sha’Carri Richardson, A’ja Wilson and Sophia Wilson (formerly Sophia Smith) appear in closeups crafted by director Kim Gehrig, interspersed with game footage. The growing wall shadow of Ionescu flexing is a particularly fun moment, but all the shots offer a potent mix of power and subtle, knowing humor. The writing, too, carries the piece with its rhythms and contradictory wordplay. The result is one of the stronger sports ads we’ve seen in a while—Nike has enjoyed a resurgence lately in that regard—and a true highlight of the game.
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Coors Light
‘Slow Monday’
Agency: Mischief @ No Fixed Address
You’re not you when football season is over. You’re a sloth, suggests Coors Light’s amusing spot, in which the notoriously slow-moving mammals are a metaphor for humans trying to navigate the world the day after the Super Bowl. But the beer brand is here to ease your case of the Mondays with an actual case of the Mondays: 12-packs rebranded as “Mondays” that are rolling out nationwide. The sloths’ expressions are priceless as the full-speed world gets the best of them, and the beer toss at the end is a nice kicker. Kudos to the brand, too, for generating buzz with an intentional typo before the game (among other content) and committing to the packaging bit with 1.8 million rebranded 12-packs.
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Duracell
‘Brady Reboost’
Agencies: VaynerMedia, Shadow Lion
Duracell’s :30 begins with a fun misdirect as the game broadcast seems to resume with Fox announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady. But seconds later, Brady’s head drops and he becomes unresponsive. For viewers, this is either concerning or a dream come true. It turns out Brady isn’t human but a robot in need of new batteries. Enter the Duracell Scientist, who realizes the NFL legend has been outfitted with generic batteries (perhaps he was running on them during his three Super Bowl losses). With a quick switch to Duracell, Brady powers back to life with a creepy eye flicker. A callback to Brady’s infamous roast last spring gets a laugh, and then the Scientist is off, explaining, “I gotta go. Gronk’s down again.” This is great use of a celeb who’s actually relevant on the night, and a misdirect like this—reminiscent of Tubi’s 2023 interruption spot—is always a fun way in.
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Also see: Inside Duracell’s Super Bowl ad with Tom Brady and VaynerMedia—made in just 40 days
Homes.com
‘Not Saying We’re The Best’ | ‘Still Not Saying We’re The Best’
Agency: RPA
Dan Levy and Heidi Gardner return as Homes.com ambassadors for a second straight Super Bowl, but the tone is different. In place of last year’s bombast, helicopter and giant bottle of champagne, it’s a much simpler setup: Across a pair of :30s, Levy and Gardner debate with a lawyer about whether they can say “Homes.com is the best” in a commercial. The dialogue is silly, funny and well-written. The presence of Morgan Freeman—a celeb who fits the concept—is great, too, particularly his mock-serious return in the second spot. The two ads work nicely together, and there’s no questioning what people will remember from this campaign (whether the lawyers like it or not): Homes.com is the best.
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Mountain Dew
‘Kiss From a Lime’
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Seal. As a seal. Singing about Mountain Dew Baja Blast on a rock in the middle of the ocean. This is the kind of stupid humor we can get behind. Animals and celebs are Super Bowl staples on their own. An animal-celeb—that’s a nice escalation. There’s so much to like here: The Seal reveal is LOL-worthy, the CGI is hilarious, it ties into the beach theme of the product, the lyrics (“Baby, I compare it to a kiss from a lime, on the bay”) are funny and the fumbling-with-the-bottle bit is a perfectly dumb joke, puncturing the premise of the fantasy. (Turns out it’s a story of unrequited love.) You almost don’t need the Becky G/Mountain Dude stuff—this should be a solo act. Still, it gets our seal of approval.
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NFL
‘NFL Flag 50’
Agency: 72andSunny
The NFL plays nostalgia for laughs—and to make a point about girls and sports—in its entertaining two-minute spot focused on women’s flag football. We open on a 1985 John Hughes-esque high school scene (complete with NFL legend Pat McAfee as the principal and the “Oh Yeah” song from “Ferris Bueller”), as football captain Chad encounters the “new girl,” played by real-life flag star Ki’LoLo Westerlund, who’s sporting a football jersey. “Girls don’t play football,” Chad snarls. “They do where I’m from,” Westerlund replies. We then segue to the obligatory girls-against-boys scrimmage, where Westerlund shines, even executing a nifty Saquon Barkley reverse hurdle. As she’s mid-leap, we’re catapulted to present-day footage of the modern women’s flag game. The whole approach is a fun way to dismiss old stereotypes, and there’s a clear call to action: “Let’s make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states.” The NFL and 72andSunny always find creative ways to bring the league’s growth strategies to life, and this spot is right up there with their better efforts.
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Novartis
‘Your Attention, Please’
Agency: Merkley+Partners
Boobs. The first 38 seconds of this Novartis spot gives us a parade of them. From cheerleaders to models to historical artworks to a breastfeeding mom to breast enlargement and reduction ads, the high-energy footage (and fantastic song) comprehensively catalogues society’s obsession with them. Then, a stark pivot in blocky text: “So much attention. Yet so ignored.” Turns out it’s a breast cancer awareness ad. Objectification becomes a commentary on objectification, which becomes a call to action: to obsess over breasts in a useful way. “Over 6 million women watching today’s game may be diagnosed with breast cancer,” the text reads. (The Super Bowl buy was prompted by more women than ever watching football.) Breast cancer survivor Wanda Sykes then comes on screen and issues a no-nonsense call to “take the first step” in fighting breast cancer at yourattentionplease.com. (Breast cancer advocate Hailee Steinfeld also has a cameo.) Clever, striking, insightful and clear, this spot is one of the year’s nice surprises.
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Dunkin’
‘DunKings Java Jam’
Agency: Artists Equity
The DunKings are back. In a sequel to last year’s hilarious spot, Ben Affleck and Dunkin’ get the garish boy band back together—sort of. Matt Damon and Tom Brady are gone, replaced by Casey Affleck (essentially playing Damon’s role), Jeremy Strong (method acting in a barrel of coffee-bean goo) and Bill Belichick (joined by his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, who always gets people talking). The occasion this time is a battle of the coffee-brand bands, where the DunKings have a run-in with the uptight Barista Buds, an obvious stand-in for Starbucks. The DunKings take the Buds down with insults about wait times, misspelled names on cups and prissy-sounding drinks. Belichick flat-out says Buds coffee tastes like “what’s in my garbage disposal.” It’s all a bit much—not surprising, perhaps, as it’s a cutdown of a seven-minute version. But the disses are amusing, and Hudson will surely be a talking point on social.
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Also see: How Dunkin’s latest Ben Affleck Super Bowl ad challenges Starbucks and McDonald’s
Hellmann’s
‘When Sally Met Hellmann’s’
Agency: VML
Hellmann’s reunites Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan at Katz’s Delicatessen in New York for this recreation of their fake-orgasm scene from 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally…”—this time with the brand’s mayonnaise sending Ryan into convulsions. The scene is one of the big shared pop-culture touchstones of the past half-century, and the product fits into the story nicely (even though Ryan for some reason puts a rather gross amount of the condiment on her turkey sandwich). Crystal’s deadpan quips keep things fun, and the spot was a big hit in terms of pre-game buzz. A better use of celebrity than most advertising could claim tonight.
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Lay’s
‘The Little Farmer’
Agency: Highdive
With so much comedy in this year’s game, Lay’s sweet story stands out. As her family heads off to work the fields on their potato farm, a young girl is left on her own—and decides to do the same on her own little plot of land. The storytelling is nicely paced, as we see her tilling the soil, watering the plant, protecting it from a storm and even camping out to keep watch. Barry Louis Polisar’s “All I Want Is You” (aka the “Juno” song, performed here by Caroline Says) is the perfect accompaniment. We could do without the dad munching from the giant Lay’s bag later on—keeping the branding understated is kind of the point here—but the heartfelt tone survives thanks to the photos at the end of real family farmers who grow potatoes for the brand.
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Michelob Ultra
‘The Ultra Hustle’
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Why does it feel like Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara might actually make a formidable pickleball team? The casting is pretty perfect in this :60 from Wieden+Kennedy, with the two actors—both cult favorites in their own way—hustling other pickleball players, with Michelob Ultras on the line. Their trash-talking, take-no-prisoners style of play is amusing, and pickleball is certainly the sport du jour to parody when targeting middle-agers who suck down this particular brand of beer. Using celebs in Super Bowl ads often feels like cheating, but here it’s a winning formula indeed.
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OpenAI
‘The Intelligence Age’
Agency: Accenture Song
You can get a good sense of a company’s self-image from a Super Bowl ad. There’ll be no doubting OpenAI’s—if it weren’t already clear—from “The Intelligence Age,” an animated :60 that positions ChatGPT as nothing less than a watershed moment for humanity. At the outset, a single dot splits in two—the beginnings of life on Earth. We proceed through the arc of human history, from hunter-gatherers and the control of fire to the invention of the wheel, the Agricultural Revolution, seafaring and the discovery of the New World, the age of the steam engine, the lightbulb, X-rays, the airplane, TV, the moon landing, the internet. “All progress has a starting point,” reads on-screen text, as we arrive at ChatGPT—the next game-changer. “What do you want to create next?” a voice says. There’s no attempt to humanize AI here, à la Google’s Super Bowl spot. Like it or not, the spot says, AI is our destiny. Creatively, it’s engaging and different for the broadcast. (The sound design, in particular, is stellar.) Time will tell if the ad’s positive vision comes to pass—or proves as hollow and naive as Facebook’s similarly grandiose “Chairs” spot a decade ago about the promise of harmony through social media.
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Ram
‘Drive Your Own Story’
Agency: GSD&M
In the “masculine energy” department, Ram delivers “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” on steroids in this entertaining, over-the-top :60 starring Glen Powell. Sporting golden tresses himself, Powell finds the bears’ house lacking and heads out to joyride a trio of Rams: the 2500 Rebel heavy duty truck, Ramcharger 1500 gas-electric and sporty Ram RHO. The macho clichés run rampant: He slays a dragon, leaps a volcano, sculpts with a chainsaw. (Do not attempt any of these.) The bears, too, make an appearance at the end, after Powell’s niece and nephew—to whom he’s actually been reading a bedtime story—implore him to tell the real tale. Powell’s charisma, the zippy pacing and strong CGI carry the piece. On a telecast with few automotive spots, this one brought the goods.
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Rocket
‘Own the Dream’
Agency: Mirimar
Rocket has scored well with comedic spots on the Super Bowl, twice topping the USA Today Ad Meter a few years back, but the company felt the impact of those humorous ads was fleeting. So it’s adopting a more heartfelt approach this year under CMO Jonathan Mildenhall. The well-crafted :60 frames home ownership as fundamental to the American dream through diverse vignettes set in cities, suburbs and rural areas—with families central to the narrative (including a particular focus on a veteran). The spot is carried along by a stripped-down cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Rocket bought 15 seconds of live airtime immediately following the spot to continue the song via an in-stadium sing-along. The reaction at Caesars Superdome seemed muted, but it was still an interesting experiment on a broadcast where most advertisers stick to the script.
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Squarespace
‘A Tale as Old as Websites’
Agency: In-house
To its credit, Squarespace marches to the beat of its own drummer on the Super Bowl, airing what it describes as “indie films” amid the game’s traditional blockbuster spots. It tends to recruit cult-favorite actors for these ads, from Jeff Bridges to Winona Ryder to Adam Driver. This year it’s Barry Keoghan, who’s seen riding a donkey around Ireland in the long-distant past, chucking laptops at the land’s proto-entrepreneurs, showing them the websites they could make—if they lived in the future. (The point is that Squarespace has been around forever, almost as long as the internet itself.) The spot is artful and different, and doesn’t pander—quite the opposite, as Keoghan’s brogue is thick and, at times, hard to decipher. (He does say “Squarespace” a lot, which helps.) There’s a beauty to the work that stands out in the game’s otherwise mostly jokey atmosphere. As Barry and his donkey saunter supernaturally off a cliff at the end, you have to admire the brand for its resolve in floating coolly above the rest.
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Tubi
‘Fleshy Cowboy Head’ | ‘Born to Love a Western’
Agency: Mischief @ No Fixed Address
As sight gags go, Tubi’s fleshy cowboy head—a metaphor for being innately drawn to a certain entertainment genre (of which Tubi offers many)—is up there with Mountain Dew’s Seal-seal for being memorably strange. It’s less cartoony comedy than Dew, though, and more faux-dramatic saga, as our protagonist waits for Westerns to come back in vogue so he won’t seem so visibly out of step with culture. The piece has fun villains in its fantasy-loving twins—bandwagoners who hide their wizard’s hats whenever the zeitgeist shifts. But our hero gets the last laugh, with a tip of the flesh, when cowboy fever sweeps the world. Along with the :60, there’s also a :15 with a snippet of a song we hope will soon be on Spotify. While this work isn’t as disruptive as its 2023 Super Bowl campaign, Tubi continues to set the bar for Super Bowl promos from broadcaster-owned streamers.
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Angel Soft
‘Potty-tunity’
Agency: Grey
Kudos to Angel Soft for airing the first Super Bowl ad that urges you not to watch it. “Potty-tunity” features the brand’s animated Angel character advising people that it’s a good time to take a bathroom break—which, when the spot ran in the first ad pod heading into halftime, it was. (Some 62% of people hold off going to the loo during the game so they don’t miss anything important, the brand says.) The idea is fun and different, and if the creative is somewhat perfunctory, it’s still cute and feels generous—reinforcing the brand’s promise by putting the consumer’s comfort ahead of any desire to impress with something more “entertaining.”
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Booking.com
‘Get Your Stay Ridiculously Right’
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
The Muppets, always a welcome sight, bring their charm and broad appeal to this :30 from Booking.com. The spot does a nice job of highlighting the range of vacation properties on the site—from waterpark resorts to Las Vegas suites—even if the PG-13-rated mirrored-ceiling joke feels a bit at odds with the G-rated setup. Waldorf and Statler shine as stand-ins for the dissatisfied traveler. “What if we hate everything?!” they ask, true to form; there’s free cancellation, comes the reply. While not quite making a transcendent rainbow connection with viewers, this is still decent stuff from the travel site—largely due to “celebs” that everyone actually loves.
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Budweiser
‘First Delivery’
Agency: FCB New York
It’s not really a Super Bowl without Budweiser’s Clydesdales, so it’s nice to see Anheuser-Busch InBev buy time for this :30 in the game—after reportedly only planning to air it regionally at first. The storytelling is classic Bud. A Clydesdale foal wants to join his elders in delivering kegs, but is told he’s too young. Upon seeing a keg fall off the wagon as they’re leaving, the industrious foal pushes it all the way to town and eventually into a bar—where the patrons are speechless (one guy is halted, amusingly, in the middle of a “horse walks into a bar” joke). It’s a welcome throwback to any number of Clydesdale spots—in particular, the “Puppy Love” era a decade ago. But the longform version works better, letting the emotion build by giving us more time with the horse.
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Doritos
‘Abduction’
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
First, kudos to Doritos for bringing back the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest this year. Getting consumers to make ads for the game was always a genius idea with a huge PR upside—and frankly, it was weird that they did away with it after 2016. The winning spot this year, created by Dylan Bradshaw and Nate Norell (with agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners once again helping out on the campaign), is as broadly appealing as many of the past winners, with a UFO chaser finally being visited by aliens—who, of course, want to steal his Doritos. The slapstick humor and zippy visual punchline are just what viewers want from a Doritos Super Bowl spot. As “Crash the Super Bowl” winners tend to do, it should land high up on the USA Today Ad Meter.
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Häagen-Dazs
‘Not So Fast, Not So Furious’
Agency: nice&frank
Häagen-Dazs slows things down for its first Super Bowl commercial, reuniting “Fast & Furious” franchise co-stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez for a mellower ride than they’re used to—in the process, pitching the product as a break from life’s hustle and bustle. Quieter spots like this often stand out on the game, and the Smokey Robinson track (“Cruisin’”) is just right for the occasion. The cameo from Ludacris is the fun kicker the spot needed, too.
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Instacart
‘We’re Here’
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
It’s fun seeing classic Super Bowl ad characters Puppy Monkey Baby and the Heinz Wiener Dogs resurrected for Instacart’s spot. Not a ton happens. They join other brand mascots in proudly parading to an Instacart customer’s door, representing the variety of products ordered for delivery. They might have done more to ramp up the entertainment factor of the plot, but the branded cavalcade fits the vibe of Super Bowl night well—and kudos to Instacart for striking all those partnerships with the products on hand.
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NFL
‘Somebody’
Agency: 72andSunny
The NFL’s cause spots, which air during every Super Bowl, aren’t flashy—but they’re very well made by 72andSunny. This one features children and NFL athletes reciting Rev. William Holmes Borders’ poem “I Am Somebody.” It also includes real participants of Big Brothers Big Sisters, Special Olympics and InsideOut to reaffirm how sports can empower children from all walks of life. Directed by Savanah Leaf, the spot is quietly powerful, with a great rhythm and a simple, memorable takeaway: “Every kid can be somebody. If they have somebody to show them the way.”
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Pringles
‘The Call of the Mustaches’
Agency: FCB New York
Focusing on mascot Mr. Pringle’s handlebar mustache for the second straight Super Bowl, the Kellanova chips brand extends the gag in epic fashion, with no fewer than four celebs along for the ride. The ad’s internal logic is a little odd. Adam Brody blows into a Pringles can like it’s some sort of CPG didgeridoo, which causes Nick Offerman, James Harden and Andy Reid’s mustaches to liberate themselves from their owners and fly to a supermarket to escort full Pringles cans back to Brody—all the while a version of the old “Batman” theme song plays. (Did the creatives type “Pringles utter insanity” into ChatGPT?) But the sight gags are fun, both when our heroes lose their ’staches and when they’re improperly reattached.
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Reese’s
‘Don’t Eat Lava’
Agency: Erich & Kallman
Reese’s uses the Super Bowl to hype a new product for the second straight year—the Chocolate Lava Big Cup this time, following last year’s Caramel Big Cup. And while the new :30 isn’t quite as sublime as last year’s yell-fest, it still brings the laughs with its inspired absurdity. The plot couldn’t be sillier, as hordes of frenzied people descend upon a volcano, intent on eating actual molten lava rather than the candy kind. But the ensuing high jinks are entertaining (the scooter lady’s “It’s lava time, baby!” is a highlight), and kudos to Erich & Kallman for bringing the funny while keeping the product front and center for half of the spot’s running time.
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Stella Artois
‘David and Dave’
Agency: Artists Equity Advertising
David Beckham has long been a huge global star, but the 2023 Netflix docuseries “Beckham” helped to humanize him, particularly for American audiences. This apparently opened up new roles for the soccer legend in buddy comedies—such as this Stella Artois Super Bowl spot, co-starring Matt Damon as “Dave Beckham,” David’s long-lost American brother. Beckham has been Stella’s global ambassador since last year, so this isn’t random casting. Nor is Damon’s appearance in the ad; Artists Equity Advertising, which Damon runs with Ben Affleck, made the spot. The ad isn’t uproariously funny; the charm lies in the silly makeup and sillier banter. In contrast to cartoony beer spots like the Bud Light cul-de-sac, this is more relaxed, dialogue-driven humor, paying off the new brand platform, “For Moments Worth More.”
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Taco Bell
‘The Fans’
Agency: Biite
Kudos to Taco Bell for trying something different with this Super Bowl spot, and pushing back—but not really—against the celebrity soup swamping many of the night’s other spots. The idea is to celebrate Taco Bell fans, so the chain recently put cameras in drive-throughs in five cities, encouraging patrons to take selfies. Dozens of the resulting photos appear in the ad, which is obviously a great moment for the fans involved—and allows the spot’s celeb pair, Doja Cat and LeBron James, to react with mock outrage. This is a fun way to act anti-celeb while still getting the star-power boost, and it also supplies the humor the ad needs to get it to the finish line. It’s always good to see a fresh approach to fan engagement, and this campaign, while nothing revolutionary, was a nice surprise.
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Uber Eats
‘Century of Cravings’
Agency: Special Group U.S.
Uber Eats’ continuing campaign, suggesting football exists only to make us hungry, has been a fun part of football season this year—and the spots with Matthew McConaughey and Christian McCaffrey were particularly inspired. For the Super Bowl, they’ve supersized it, serving up a more cartoony smorgasbord of time periods, puns and celebrities. This time, McConaughey is joined by Martha Stewart, Charli XCX, Kevin Bacon, Sean Evans and Greta Gerwig. In going big, a bit of the campaign’s charm is lost. But there are some choice moments, like McConaughey’s hip thrusts as he does Peyton Manning’s “Omaha” call (adding “Steak” to it). And it wouldn’t be a proper conspiracy theory if the believers didn’t eventually devolve into total lunatics by the end.
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WeatherTech
‘Whatever Comes Your Way’
Agency: Pinnacle Advertising
For years, WeatherTech has been known for its staid, patriotic Super Bowl commercials that emphasize the American-ness of its products. This year it’s done a 180, crafting something more entertaining: a spot with a quartet of grannies tearing around in a 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible to the tune of Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild.” Their reckless abandon causes lots of spills, but not to worry—they’ve got WeatherTech mats. It’s always nice to see older folks in Super Bowl ads, even if the humor here is that they look ridiculous acting like young people. The spot is broadly comedic—clichéd, even—but it’s a step up from what we’re used to with this brand.
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Bud Light
‘Big Men on Cul-de-sac’
Agency: Anomaly
From the colonoscopy joke in the opening seconds, you know Bud Light’s Super Bowl spot won’t be the most highbrow piece of advertising ever made. And it’s not. Which is how Bud Light prefers it these days, having flirted with more enlightened, Gen Z–friendly messaging in recent years—and then paying the price in market share. For better or worse, this is a regression to the brand’s ’90s vibe—proudly juvenile, full of broad humor and sight gags. A cul-de-sac rager in the ’burbs is middle America’s version of aspirational, with a trio of bros (Shane Gillis, Post Malone, Peyton Manning) holding court with an array of man-toys (leaf blowers that fire Bud Light cans, a lawn mower that smokes meat). The result is the advertising equivalent of a dad bod—inoffensive but unmemorable.
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Dove
‘These Legs’
Agency: Ogilvy
The sprinting 3-year-old in Dove’s spot from Ogilvy brings a welcome dose of cuteness to the Big Game, but beyond that the ad treads familiar ground—reminding us that girls tend to develop body image issues, and often quit sports, as they enter puberty. It’s a worthy reminder, but creatively the spot feels lacking. While there may be only so many ways to tell this same story, it is nice to see Dove continue to innovate in activations beyond the commercial itself, from Sports Illustrated profiles of young athletes to partnerships with a host of sports celebs.
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Foundation to Combat Antisemitism
‘No Reason to Hate’
Agency: VML
Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) boosts the celeb factor for its second Super Bowl campaign, following up last year’s 30-second spot featuring Dr. Clarence B. Jones with two :15s starring Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady. The spots, which are almost identical, show the rapper and NFL legend barking at each other, shouting out various reasons why they might hate one another—all centered around their perceived differences. Then they suggest those reasons “are as stupid as they sound.” The messaging here, as with last year’s ad, isn’t your typical Super Bowl fare. But the spots are compelling and make decent use of their stars.
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GoDaddy
‘Act Like You Know’
Agency: In-house, Quality Meats
This campaign has an interesting backstory. Last year, actor Walton Goggins launched Walton Goggins Goggle Glasses (WGGG), a strange hybrid eyewear product that’s part sunglasses, part ski goggles. Some wondered if it was a gag; others chalked it up to Goggins being Goggins—he’s a quirky dude. But lo and behold, WGGG now gets a starring role in GoDaddy’s Super Bowl ad, with Goggins saying the company’s AI-powered Airo software helped him as a small-business owner. Launching a whole product as an elaborate misdirect ahead of a pre-planned Super Bowl collab is some fun, sophisticated stuff. (Goggins has been promoting WGGG hilariously, too, and the business is reportedly thriving.) The Super Bowl spot itself is more traditional, with Goggins saying that, as an actor, he often doesn’t know what he’s doing—but as an entrepreneur, he looks like he does (thanks to Airo). The :30 only scrapes the surface of what’s cool about this campaign—a clever modern mashup of celebrity and commerce.
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Jeep
‘Owner’s Manual’
Agency: In-house
Olivier Francois, global CMO of Stellantis, has made a tradition of airing two-minute spots on the Super Bowl with aging white dudes holding forth on the topic of patriotism in America. Clint Eastwood did so for the Chrysler brands in 2012; Bruce Springsteen followed for Jeep in 2021. This year it’s Harrison Ford, also for Jeep, who delivers a rather meandering monologue about freedom while puttering around the house and going out for a drive. While those previous ads were overtly political, addressing divisiveness in the U.S. by name, Ford offers vague platitudes that come off as a mishmash of pseudo-philosophy in lines such as “Freedom is yes, or no, or maybe” and “The most sacred thing in life isn’t the path, it’s the freedom to choose it.” There are also automotive puns (“Pride is a terrible driver,” “We won’t always agree on which way to go, but our differences can be our strength”) that blur the line between manifesto and product spot. In the end, not surprisingly, it feels like neither. That said, the ad, directed by James Mangold, does look great. And there’s a charming moment near the end when Ford says, “This Jeep makes me happy, even though my name is...” then silently mouths “Ford.” More lighthearted moments like that, and less pontificating about the big issues of the world, would have made this spot easier to bear.
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Liquid Death
‘Safe for Work’
Agency: In-house
Known for its provocative advertising, Liquid Death uses its first national Super Bowl ad to show people “drinking on the job”—chugging tallboys of the brand’s canned water, which is packaged in a heavy-metal style to look more like alcohol. The vignettes, featuring police officers, a surgeon, a judge, a school bus driver and more, are fun and energetic (though the airline pilot is a little cringey, given recent events). “Don’t be scared. It’s just water,” reads on screen copy at the end. Thematically, the spot is similar to Liquid Death’s regional Super Bowl spot in 2022, which showed children downing the product. (Seems the misconception that it’s alcoholic lingers today.) The ad is fun, as far as it goes—but given this brand’s traditional eagerness to experiment, we were expecting something with a little more buzz factor.
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Little Caesars
‘Whoa’
Agency: McKinney
Between the Little Caesars and Pringles ads, there’s way too much disembodied facial hair flying around near food in this year’s Super Bowl. At least this spot has Eugene Levy, who’s always fun to have around. His eyebrows, less so. They levitate right off his face when he takes a bite of Little Caesars’ Crazy Puffs—the chain’s pizza dough cups—and end up flitting around town, causing accidents and annoyance (aside from, in a funny moment, fuzzy caterpillars who chant “We’re not worthy”). Levy’s daughter Sarah, who played Twyla on “Schitt’s Creek,” makes a cameo. But sadly there’s no sign of Dan Levy, who’s apparently the real Crazy Puffs aficionado in the family.
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Nerds
‘Wonderful World of Nerds’
Agency: Digitas Chicago
This Nerds spot for its Gummy Clusters, with Shaboozey in New Orleans encountering the sweetest band in the French Quarter, sounds amazing. The singer’s rich, easygoing version of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” featuring a traditional second-line band, truly is ear candy. (Shaboozey was recruited because he mixes genres, just as the candy mixes sensory experiences.) Beyond the soundtrack, though, the spot is fairly routine, with CGI Nerds hopping around like frogs, flinging themselves gleefully on a giant gummy and bedazzling everything in their midst. It’s colorful and upbeat, but lacks a bit of the entertainment factor we’ve come to expect from Super Bowl candy commercials.
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Pfizer
‘Knock Out’
Agency: Le Truc, Leo New York, Publicis Collective
It feels a little heartless not to score Pfizer’s spot higher, but the truth is, this is fairly standard advertising for the category. The metaphor of a boxer and the onscreen message near the end, “Hey cancer. We’re gonna knock you out,” feel like an expected approach to the topic. LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” fits nicely with the theme. (The rapper and his wife Simone Smith, who has survived cancer, are now working as Pfizer partners.) But the emotion at the end feels not quite earned; it’s more observed than felt. That said, the message is adequately delivered—“Pfizer is fighting for 8 cancer breakthroughs by 2030”—and reinforced at the website, PfizerForAll.com.
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Come Near Inc./He Gets Us
‘What Is Greatness?’
Agency: Lerma/
Jesus returned to the Super Bowl for the third straight year in another “He Gets Us” spot, a campaign that’s as polarizing as ever—and is beginning to feel repetitive. Johnny Cash’s version of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” is a flat-out great song, and a good fit for what’s become this campaign’s signature style: still photographs of people in heightened moments. “What is greatness?” this spot asks. The photos offer an answer—it’s helping others in need. Onscreen text then ties that to the teachings of Jesus (Matthew 23:11, to be precise). Advocating for human kindness is a good thing. But tying it to Christianity is always tricky. The spots come off as preachy to a significant portion of viewers, and the campaign isn’t really evolving. Religion remains the toughest, and strangest, sell on the game.
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Disney+
‘What If’
Agency: In-house
After its heartfelt, text-only :30 in last year’s Super Bowl referenced lines from classic movies and shows, Disney+ brings some wry humor to this year’s spot, which imagines a world in which “Star Wars,” “The Bear,” “Frozen” and “Only Murders in the Building”—four franchises streaming on Disney+ and Hulu—didn’t exist. “That would really suck, wouldn’t it?” Josh Gad says in the voiceover. The spot goes on to say it’s particularly fortunate all those people got murdered in the building. “And aren’t we lucky for that?” Gad adds. It can’t be easy to promote streaming services that have thousands of titles, so focusing on four seems wise. But the flippant tone isn’t that funny, and the spot ends up fading into the background.
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DoorDash
‘DashPass Math’
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Portland
After setting the bar for ambitious Super Bowl ideas with last year’s “DoorDash All the Ads,” which won the Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, the delivery service returns to more common terrain this year: cartoonish, celebrity-driven humor. Comedian Nate Bargatze stars as an ordinary yokel who is way overspending in his life, but who justifies it with a version of “girl math”—telling his financial advisor all is well because he’s saving on DoorDash fees with DashPass. The spot has some fun visuals, and the campaign has legs in social media, including a partnership with Sam James, who is credited with coining the phrase. But the girl-math trend feels a little dated, and the ad’s kooky vibe doesn’t distinguish it much from its fellow spots tonight.
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NerdWallet
‘Genius Beluga’
Agency: Deutsch
As sea creatures go, NerdWallet’s beluga whale may not have the crooning soul of Mountain Dew’s Seal-seal, but it’s got the smarts. The beluga supposedly has the IQ of a human genius, earning it the role of spokesanimal for NerdWallet, which helps folks make smarter financial decisions. The spot itself is pretty low-key, with the beluga—voiced by Kieran Culkin—chatting with a whale-watching tourist about NerdWallet’s credit card recommendation tool. Director Tom Kuntz brings his quirky Tom Kuntz-ness to things—the creature’s “Uh-uh-uh-uh” when the tourist asks for his phone back is a funny moment—but this feels more like a competent mascot intro than anything particularly Super Bowl–worthy.
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Salesforce
‘Dining Al Fiasco’ | ‘Gate Expectations’
Agency: In-house
Old “True Detective” buddies Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been starring together in Salesforce ads of late to promote “Agentforce,” whose AI agents help companies automate tasks for customers and employees. The celebs are meant to help humanize the B2B message, and the vignettes are engaging enough, even if the tech surely remains inscrutable to the average viewer. One spot, which has been airing for weeks (never the best thing for a Super Bowl ad), uses a drenched McConaughey to illustrate how Agentforce can adjust restaurant reservations on the fly. The other, which is new, highlights Heathrow Airport’s use of Agentforce, as McConaughey rushes to make a flight. Neither really feels like Super Bowl material. Still, McConaughey will be pleased; between this and Uber Eats, he’s in the lead for most appearances by a celeb in ads tonight.
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TurboTax
‘Now Taxes Is So Sweet’
Agency: R/GA
Issa Rae stars in TurboTax’s :45—its 12th straight appearance in the game—which offers one visual gag after another bemoaning the dated process of filing taxes. She is seen driving backwards, because the process is backwards. She walks up a million steps, because the process has a million steps. You get the idea. Rae is as charming and magnetic as ever, and some of the visuals are fun to watch, but the ad boxes itself into a corner. By the time Rae is seen quite literally having her cake and eating it too (thanks to a TurboTax expert’s help), she has to call out the metaphor—an 11th-hour bid at self-awareness that doesn’t really forgive the repetition that comes before it.
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Bosch
‘The More You Bosch’
Agency: Droga5
Bosch’s first Super Bowl commercial is a cartoony affair with Antonio Banderas saying he feels more sophisticated thanks to his Bosch fridge. Then a random dude, who’s building a bookshelf, one-ups him—saying he feels more powerful when using Bosch power tools. This back-and-forth continues as Banderas transforms into the tuxedo-clad “Antonio Boschderas” while the bookshelf builder morphs into pro wrestler “Macho Man” Randy Savage (well, an impersonator—the real guy died in 2011). Then there’s some strutting and dancing, followed by Macho Man crashing through a table. This is fairly standard Super Bowl celeb stuff (with the exception of the odd resurrection of a late wrestling icon), closing on the line, “The more you Bosch, the more you feel like a Bosch.”
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Coffee mate
‘Foam Diva’
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York
If you were hoping for more tongue from your Super Bowl commercials, Coffee mate obliges with this bonkers spot for its new Cold Foam Creamer. The insight—that the product creates “a party in your mouth”—is brought to life by an actual “tongue dancer” (move along, generative AI) whose fleshy member gyrates passionately to Shania Twain. The tongue’s talents are beyond reproach; it just maybe shouldn’t be performing for 100 million people on the Super Bowl. The brand does get points for trying something different amid the sameness of so many ads tonight. And it may get tongues wagging, for better or worse. But the roommate’s reaction feels just as valid: a silent, horrified stare.
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FanDuel
‘The Kick of Destiny 3: Eli’s Victory Parade’
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York
Eli Manning didn’t have the best week, as the two-time Super Bowl–winning quarterback didn’t tally enough votes to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. But he did end the week on a high note by beating his big brother Peyton in FanDuel’s pregame celebrity field-goal stunt, now in its third year. The in-game spot, which shows Peyton pulling a float with Eli riding atop it triumphantly in a blue FanDuel foot sculpture, is mildly amusing. It’s harder to gauge the effectiveness of the stunt itself, though it never seems to generate quite the interest you’d expect. And if the Mannings can’t supercharge it, who can?
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HexClad
‘Unidentified Frying Object’
Agency: Rosewood Creative
Cookware brand HexClad warms up a rather convoluted, VFX-heavy tale of aliens visiting Earth—and looking to be fed—in the brand’s first Super Bowl spot. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, a HexClad investor, is asked to cook for the visitors on the brand’s pans, which we’re told (without any disclaimer that maybe this isn’t true) are made with “material from an alien spacecraft.” Then Pete Davidson—apparently an alien himself—appears alongside what looks like Jar Jar Binks’ fancier cousin. There’s a message in here somewhere about the high-tech nature of HexClad’s products, but it’s clouded by the busy premise.
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Meta
‘Hey Meta, Who Eats Art?’ | ‘Art Prank Gone Wrong’
Agency: In-house
Meta is pleased with sales of its Ray-Ban smart glasses so far—moving 1 million units in 2024, per Mark Zuckerberg—and is looking to expand the market with some Super Bowl exposure. But these spots walk the line between entertainment and product demo without being very good at either. The setup is weirdly elitist, even for a $299 product: Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt as art-curious bros learning about highbrow works through their Ray-Bans. (In one of the spots, they’re randomly at Kris Jenner’s house, checking out her collection.) In both ads, they destroy the art they’re checking out—an Urs Fischer sculpture in one and Maurizio Cattelan’s famous duct-taped banana in the other. But the slapstick moments don’t really lighten the mood. Meanwhile, the tech use cases here aren’t very compelling. Advertising for new gadgets needs to feel approachable. But this work, rather than bringing us in, keeps us at arm’s length.
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Red Bull
‘Flying Penguins’
Agency: Kastner
The “Red Bull Gives You Wiiings” campaign, which has been around for decades, has a folksy charm with its old-school cartoons that couldn’t be further from the souped-up, high-octane marketing of most energy drinks. “Flying Penguins” is a fun new installment in the series, featuring a penguin who explains to his father that he’s finally figured out how to fly—thanks to Red Bull. (Penguins do have wings, but they’re for swimming—they’re flightless birds.) The trouble with debuting a spot like this on the Super Bowl is that it doesn’t feel new, since it’s part of a long-running and relatively low-key series. There was little chatter about the spot when it aired, and it didn’t help that Red Bull chose not to PR its appearance on the game ahead of time. “Red Bull Gives You Wiiings” may be a classic campaign, but the subtlety of this approach seems unlike to pay dividends for the brand.
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Cirkul
‘You Got Cirkul’
Agency: In-house
We appreciate Adam Devine as much as anyone, but Cirkul’s spot hangs the “Pitch Perfect” and “Righteous Gemstones” actor out to dry with its frenetic pace and confusing conclusion. (Devine was reportedly a fan of the brand already, thus the endorsement deal.) What’s actually happening is the water bottle brand is delivering 100,000 “starter packs”—a bottle and a flavor cartridge—to homes around the U.S. during the Super Bowl. That’s a cool giveaway, not that it’s super clear from the commercial itself.
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Fetch
‘The Big Reward’
Agency: In-house
The shopping rewards app joins a long line of Super Bowl spots that aim to activate viewers rather than entertain them. See also: DoorDash’s long URL last year, Mountain Dew’s bottle-counting spot in 2021 and Coinbase’s bouncing QR code in 2022. Fetch’s carrot to the audience is bluntly financial: Download the Fetch app and join a livestream for a chance to win $10,000 in cash. (There will be 120 winners, so $1.2 million in total—plus, $1 million more it plans to give away after the livestream.) Gamifying the Super Bowl ad experience is fine, as far as it goes—these kinds of things can work. But the creative here is underwhelming, Fetch founder Wes Schroll isn’t the most naturally charismatic spokesman and the giveaway itself is one of the less interesting we’ve seen.
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Hims & Hers
‘Sick of the System’
Agency: In-house
Super Bowl spots that aim to educate rather than entertain are usually a bit of a downer. And this one is no exception, as it frames the obesity epidemic in vivid detail (at a moment when most viewers surely don’t want to be questioning their gameday choices of pizza, chips and guac). Creatively, the spot is fairly cookie-cutter as well—adequately assembled but nothing more. The telehealth brand may achieve some of the awareness it’s looking for with this spot, but no one will look back fondly at the way the message was delivered.
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MSC Cruises
‘Let’s Holiday’
Agency: Highdive
MSC Cruises personifies its promise of “European-style with American comfort” by casting Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore—playing the stereotypical sophisticated Englishman and dumb American—for its Super Bowl debut. There ensues a rather tedious series of scenes with Bloom and Barrymore visiting different parts of MSC’s new ship, the MSC World America, and having ongoing England vs. U.S. banter. There’s plenty of time across the spot’s 60 seconds to highlight the ship’s amenities, but the pair’s relationship feels stilted—and worse, the scenes don’t feel particularly warm or inviting, which should be the vibe when showing folks on vacation (sorry, “holiday”). The whole thing feels overly orchestrated, which is what can happen when the creative hews a little too close to the strategy.
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Poppi
‘Soda Thoughts’
Agency: Virtue Worldwide
The prebiotic soda brand returned to the Super Bowl with a :60 starring top creators Alix Earle, Jake Shane and Rob Rausch. For most of the spot, the theme is indecision—as folks who crave soda but know it isn’t good for them are seen stuck in a kind of paralysis. Needless to say, this doesn’t make for the most scintillating creative. The spot drags. Even the other characters start getting annoyed. Eventually the brand gets around to breaking the stasis, suggesting a better soda exists that can be enjoyed without second thoughts. But it’s a little late. As colorful as Poppi’s spots are—the art direction is always strong—not even the creators can save this one from itself.
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Also see: Behind Poppi’s influencer-led Super Bowl ad and social campaign
Ritz
‘Ritz Salty Club’
Agency: The Martin Agency
Actors Aubrey Plaza and Michael Shannon have a salty-off in Ritz’s Super Bowl spot, arguing over who’s grumpier as they snack their way around a fictional “Salty Club” where saltiness is the price of entry. The tie-in is that Ritz crackers are themselves salty—a bit of convoluted setup, and an underwhelming product trait to celebrate as well. (To be fair, Shannon says they’re “buttery” too.) Bad Bunny is also on hand but hasn’t gotten the memo; he’s grinning ear to ear and vocally endorsing the crackers, making Plaza and Shannon nervous they’ll be kicked out. The voiceover at the end says Ritz is “loved by everyone. Even the saltiest.” The spot, not so much.
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T-Mobile
‘A New Era in Connectivity’
Agency: Panay Films
T-Mobile forgoes its traditional celebrity comedy routine for a new-product demo on this year’s Super Bowl, promoting a partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink that gives users satellite backup when they can’t connect to a cellular tower. Over shots of Earth from space, we see bubbles with text messages (also enacted in little videos) that didn’t go through—and the consequences of that, which range from serious to merely disappointing. The information is certainly delivered adequately, but it feels like there’s a more entertaining way to get this message across.
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Totino’s Pizza Rolls
‘Chazmo Finally Goes Home’
Agency: Dentsu Creative
RIP Chazmo, we hardly knew ye. It was 10 years ago this month that Nationwide notoriously killed off a kid in a Super Bowl ad, so maybe we were due for another inopportune demise. Seems like they could have gone another way with this, though—any other way, in fact. Crushing the brand’s spokes-alien in a spaceship door, then joking about it while the kids cry (thanks, Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson), feels pretty rude. Weird timing, too, since Chazmo was in the middle of declaring the product to be the “most snackable pizza in the universe.” Let’s hope he’s just injured and can recover. Either way, he deserved better.
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