The Pepsi Lipton Partnership, a joint venture between Unilever and Pepsi-Cola, pitched its Lipton Brisk iced tea brand throughout the 1990s in ads by J. Walter Thompson starring claymation versions of celebrities including Bruce Willis, Coolio, James Brown and others. For Super Bowl XXXII, Brisk turned up with an ad starring Babe Ruth. “A baseball-themed commercial during the biggest football game of the year could have spelled certain failure,” Stuart Elliott wrote for The New York Times in reviewing the game’s ads. “But this one, featuring clay figurines as larger-than-life figures from the New York Yankees, hit a home run, literally (a blast by the Babe Ruth figurine) and figuratively.”

The spot also placed ninth on USA Today’s annual Ad Meter gauging entertainment value. See Brisk’s ad in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2006 ("Puppet Revolt") to witness its long relationship with clay figurines go far, far south. Eminem brought the brand's clay game back to the Super Bowl in 2011 ("Eminem").

Production company: Loose Moose in London.

BRAND: Lipton Brisk

YEAR: 1998

AGENCY: J. Walter Thompson

SUPERBOWL: XXXII

QUARTER AIRED: Q2