Nike lived up to the hype in its return to the Big Game after 27 years.
It’s time for our annual Monday morning quarterbacking.
We’ve already reviewed every single commercial that aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday night. But now we’re picking our five favorites, which run the gamut from humor to a misdirect to excellently crafted spots—both heartfelt and inspiring. Notably, three of our five picks were not pre-released before the game.
Check out the full top 5 below.
When the seal lifts its head and it turns out to be ... Seal ... well, we pretty much lost it. Don’t judge us. Stupid humor has its place on the Super Bowl, and this is stupid humor at its finest. Rather than animals or celebs, we got an animal-celeb—one who hilariously fumbles with a bottle of Mountain Dew Baja Blast as he sings of his devotion to the product. Kudos to Seal for being up for this, and congrats all around for playing off the idea so well.
As for a bonus, here is a video of me watching the ad for the first time:
The notion of Tom Brady being battery-powered is an excellent starting point for this concept. The misdirect of seemingly returning to the broadcast, before we realize it’s an ad, draws viewers in. And the spot itself is nicely paced, with a more fun and engaging role for the Duracell Scientist than the hyperbole of past spots—and an amusing callback to the Brady roast from last year. Well done all around.
Also read: How the Duracell Super Bowl ad came together in 40 days
Homes.com always had a winner pair in Dan Levy and Heidi Gardner, but their spots in last year’s Super Bowl were too busy and didn’t let them shine. The two dialogue-driven :30s this year are much better, with the silly yet clever concept of the pair arguing with a lawyer over whether they can say “Homes.com is the best” in a commercial. This lets them say it over and over—a hard sell that doesn’t feel like one. And Morgan Freeman was the best celeb cameo in the game.
Watch live Monday at 1 p.m. ET—Super Bowl 2025 hits and misses
Google delivers the kind of wonderful tearjerker it’s been known for on past Super Bowls with “Dream Job,” the evocative story of a man interviewing for a position who uses Pixel’s Gemini Live AI assistant to prepare. Asked which job taught him the most, he doesn’t hesitate: being a father. The vignettes are beautifully shot by director Henry-Alex Rubin, slowly building emotion and delivering an AI-focused spot that’s heavy on humanity.
Classic Nike. The brand has been away from the Super Bowl since 1998, but doesn’t skip a beat, as the rapper Doechii narrates a wonderful ode to women athletes that lists everything they’re told they can’t do—but do anyway. Kim Gehrig’s direction is as brilliant as ever, and the close-ups of Caitlin Clark, Jordan Chiles, Sabrina Ionescu, Sha’Carri Richardson, A’ja Wilson and Sophia Wilson are laced with attitude and humor. Nike’s been enjoying a creative resurgence in advertising of late, and it’s great to see them back on the biggest stage of all.
