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Special Report: Super Bowl
Super Bowl 2024—Game day commercial trends and analysis
All you need to know about the ad game, including a last-minute change from Uber Eats
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Ice Spice stars in the Super Bowl ad for Starry, one of 15 brands running Big Game spots for the first time. Brand owner PepsiCo is a Super Bowl regular, back this year with three total ads.
Credit:
Starry
Final ad tally
As has been the case in recent years, plenty of brands released their ads early, starting with Kawasaki, which debuted its mullet-filled spot on Jan. 25. In all, 39 in-game ads were pre-released as of this afternoon, in line with last year and down from 45 in 2022. Continuing a recent trend, a huge majority of the ads are celebrity-filled spots with a lighthearted tone.
Those taking a more serious, or inspirational, tone include Pfizer, whose corporate branding spot is an ode to science; Kia, whose ad depicts an emotional moment between a grandpa and granddaughter; and Google, which is promoting its AI-assisted camera through the story of a blind man.
First-timers
At last count, 15 brands are advertising in the game for the first time, including some from parent companies that are not rookies—such as Starry, which is owned by longtime Super Bowl advertiser PepsiCo. The rookie count is on par with last year, when Ad Age calculated 15 rookie brands as of Super Bowl afternoon. This year’s rookie crop includes several candy and sweets brands—Drumstick, Nerds and Lindt—which are part of a blitz of sugary brands in the game. Other notable first-timers include Etsy, Snap, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and Pfizer, although the pharmaceutical giant did run a 30-second ad for Advil in 2016 (a product that is now owned by Haleon).
Last-minute changes
It would not be a Super Bowl if there were not a few late ad edits. This year, Uber Eats removed a scene that made light of peanut allergies after it angered the food allergy community. “Part of releasing your Super Bowl ad in advance means you can see problems you did not anticipate, and this sounds like one of those cases,” Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, told Ad Age. A joke about forgetting how to use a chair was given an extra moment of screen time in the ad to replace the peanut butter scene.
FanDuel also had to adjust its approach in the wake of the death of Carl Weathers, who is a significant part of the gaming brand’s campaign that features Rob Gronkowski kicking a field goal during the pre-game. The in-game ad, which will reference the kick’s outcome, will still include Weathers, but has been adjusted to make it more appropriate, the brand has said.
Stay tuned: Ad Age will release its annual Super Bowl ad review immediately after the game at adage.com
Cetaphil responds
Cetaphil, which is running a local Super Bowl ad in Texas as part of a social media campaign that went viral, is also making some last-minute changes. The skin care brand won significant attention for the campaign depicting a father and daughter bonding over Taylor Swift and football. TikTok creator Sharon Mbabazi alleged it resembled her widely viewed videos from September telling a story with her stepfather. Cetaphil has denied that it copied Mbabazi’s approach, but Craig Elimeliah, a chief creative officer involved in the Cetaphil ad, said Mbabazi and her dad would appear in a follow-up to the spot.
Diversity lacking
Super Bowl advertisers are once again lacking in bringing authentic, diverse storytelling to the big stage, Ad Age reported last week, as part of our third annual survey on the topic. As of Feb. 9, of the 78 celebrities Ad Age confirmed will appear in Super Bowl commercials, 26 identify as female, while 52 identify as male; 18 are Black, four are Hispanic, two are Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and five are two or more races. The majority of celebrities—49 as Feb. 9—starring in this year’s Big Game commercials are white.
Biggest buyers
Despite giving up alcohol ad exclusivity beginning with last year’s game, Anhueser-Busch InBev is still spending big—the brewer has three ads (for Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Ultra), although its total time of two-and-a-half minutes is less than its 2023 buy of three minutes.
Also: Trump’s support puts Bud Light back in political chatter
PepsiCo is behind three ads: for Starry, Doritos (for its Dinamita variety) and Mtn Dew. T-Moble has two ads, along with Come Near, the organization behind the “He Gets Us” Jesus campaign.
But the most surprising big spender is CoStar, which is running three ads for Homes.com and is also expected to run an ad for its Apartments.com brand.
More analysis
Everything you need to know about the business of the Big Game
Beauty brands in the Super Bowl—what’s driving these ads
8 Super Bowl ad trends to watch—from Taylor Swift to sweets
The people (and dog) who made a big impact behind the scenes
How AI would script Super Bowl commercials
Super Bowl 2024—executives and creatives discuss strategies
How Poppi’s surprise Super Bowl ad buy came together
DTC brand marketing tactics around the Big Game
How 5 brands are advertising on the Las Vegas Sphere
