So the game might not have been as good as people predicted. But the commercials were great. I thought this was one of the best overall crop of Super Bowl commercials since the dot com era when companies were burning money on clapping monkeys.
I know you have work to do today, so let’s get right to the things I loved.
And if you need links to see all the Super Bowl ads you can find them here.
Now, on to the Super Bowl commercials I liked!
Skechers. Martha Stewart Glide Stepping in her Skechers was both funny and surprising. And it’s not just surprising because she once went to jail for glide-stepping past insider trading laws.
YouTube TV: Their spot focused on how we miss important moments when watching sports on TV. Ironically, I had to rewind the commercial twice to hear what it was about because people in my Super Bowl viewing center were being too loud for me to hear. (It has to be annoying to watch the game with someone who is actually studying the commercials and taking notes. Sorry, Fam.)
Pfizer: The boy boxer fighting cancer to L.L. Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ was arresting, interesting, epic and important. The message at the end, that Pfizer is on a mission to cure 8 cancers by the year 2030 was big. Go Pfizer. I hope you win!
T-Mobile: Introducing Starklink for everyone, everywhere was an attention-getting announcement. If I can see the sky, I can connect to the Starlink network. They went big, not funny. And it made me pay attention. Because my travels and adventures take me to the middle of nowhere. Time will tell whether this was an announcement of a huge shift, or a beta max moment.
Little Caesars: The Eyebrow gag was wacky and very in line with the Little Caesars brand I knew in my twenties. I always like it when a brand gets back to what has worked for it in the past. Especially a brand that sells Pizza Pizza.
Homes.com: The 2 spots about their legal inability to claim that they are the best were funny, well-written, well-directed and well-acted. Like Baby Jessica. They did a good job of simply telling us they are the best. (Or that they think they are the best.) I have sat in many meetings with buzz-killing lawyers who were trying to shoot down all of the crafty ways I came up with to write around their objections. So this spot really hit homes.com for me.
Budweiser: The Clydesdales never disappoint. That little fella has a bright future. It was good to see Budweiser doing Budweiser things.
Ray-Ban Meta: The 2 commercials I saw were both really funny and clearly conveyed how the Ray-Ban Meta glasses benefit you. They made me like the idea of the glasses and what they can do for me. Plus, the glasses look like the Ray-Bans I already wear. So I assume they studied me to determine what the world would wear. Which would mean they thought I was the most average human. Hmmm.
IndyCar: was among the very best advertisers of the night. Their interesting, if not over-the-top micro biographies of some of their top drivers was well played. I have spent a lot of time marketing racing. And it is all about the connection to the driver. Formula-1 has done a great job with this. NASCAR has always had an every-man, or every-Danica appeal. Good to see IndyCar figuring out the formula. Because once you know a bit about the drivers you should care about, you find yourself following the storyline of the sport, even casually. Plus, they showed the really, really good looking drivers, that even the ladies who aren’t into racing will find interesting. It’s the law of attractive.
Doritos: Sure, I’m down for aliens and earthlings both loving Doritos and fighting over them in a death match. Plus, the UFO blows up. And that’s good television. When in doubt, lean on extreme consequences.
Mountain Dew Baja Blast: The spot featuring the singer Seal as a real seal was super silly. (But he was not playing the Real Seal that certifies that a product is made with real dairy ingredients.) I loved this commercial. And I love lime. I am big on silly. And this was ridiculously silly. (If you are going silly, go all the way. No one wants somewhat silly, Billy.)
Instacart: This spot was big and entertaining. And I realized I could get all my favorite brands through Instacart. Not to be confused with IndyCar. Although they both have drivers. And milk.
Coors Light: The slothy Case of The Mondays spot was fun to watch. Sloths doing most things that require swift action is funny. And this was done well. And slow. While insightfully reflecting how football fans feel the day after enjoying a lot of NFL football. Especially after watching the Sunday night game from the East Coast. Which is why I live on the Midwest Coast.
Uber Eats: We’ve seen the brand highlight the football and food connection before. But this went deeper, broader and funnier than ever. It was kinda like the 1883 and 1923 of Yellowstone. But funnier. And with less death. Good work Uber Eats and Matthew McAlrightAlrightAlright. You really delivered.
WeatherTech: I love wild older women. And the WeatherTech women were like a pack of wild honey badgers who didn’t give an eff. Because they were using protection. WeatherTech protection.
Google Pixel Gemini: The story of the stay-at-home Dad who had raised his daughter, or daughters, or kids, and was now getting some help interviewing to get back into the outside the home workspace was very touching. Even for this stay-at-work Dad.
Rocket: These people created a great spot selling the importance, value and comfort of home, using John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Road as the songtrack. It was interesting, memorable and emotional. They were smart to focus on the love for home, not on the mortgage rates at a time when all mortgage rates are Rocky Mountain High. But then they took a great spot and improved it by cutting to the entire Superdome singing Take Me Home Country Road, while the Rocket signage lit up the stadium, and the broadcasters called out the fact that this special moment was brought to you by Rocket. They crushed it with the live broadcast integration. Side Note: I couldn’t help but think that song must have been what people were singing at the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina.
He Gets Us/Jesus: This spot was powerful. It was beautiful and human. I loved it. It was very touching. It was one of the top 3 spots I was most jealous of. (I will be attaching this evaluation to the application I submit at the Pearly Gates.)
Liquid Death: I liked this spot with people singing about drinking on the job. It is very in line with the brand. After all, they portray interesting misdirection in everything they do. Because Liquid Death is basically well-marketed water, and a tiny bit of tea. But it sounds badass. So good-on you for leaning into that misdirection on a massive stage and recruiting more pseudo-rebels to the brand.
ChatGPT: This spot was beautiful and intriguing. I loved the graphics and animation. I would need to watch it again to follow the storyline of the evolution of human innovation. I am not sure I could have held out until the last couple of seconds of this 60 second/$16 million spot to reveal my logo.
NFL: The ‘I am Somebody’ spot and the spot about getting flag football for girls into high school sports in all 50 states were interesting and positive, and they shined a very positive light on the NFL. I don’t think they needed Mullet Brad to be the enemy of girls’ flag football. I know several of those guys, and I think they would think it was cool for girls, including their daughters, to play football.
Ram: The Goldilocks spot featuring The Golden Boy Glen Powell was epic, funny and badass. It was a fun twist on a classic story we all know. Not only was it really fun to watch, it highlighted the new products in the Ram lineup, which included a lot of electricity. (I also wish I had created this spot.)
Hellmann’s: The reprisal of the classic fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally was fun and funny. And it made a clear point about how Hellmann’s makes a sandwich taste mindblowing. It would have been easy to overdo or underdo this scene. Clearly, they hit the right spot.
Pringles: The flying mustaches delivering Pringles cans to those facing a Pringles outage was interesting and memorable. I don’t love a recipe that includes both hair and food for appetite appeal reasons. But I get that the super stache is part of Pringles’ brand iconography. Plus, it provided for some memorable gags that weren’t related to grossness.
Nike: The Nike women in sports spot was huge. Building on the insight that women often feel as if they can’t win no matter what they do is a strong approach. The line, ‘You can’t win. So win.’ creates a great rallying cry and motivator for female athletes to say screw it, just do it. The spot was beautiful to watch, really well shot, and featured a broad range of world-class athletes. Plus Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love was a killer tune to play under the action.
YourAttentionPlease.com: The focus on the breast was a great attention trap. It got us to lean in and then punched us right in the face with a critical message about the need for more attention to breast care so we can knock out breast cancer and save lives. Great spot!
Angel Soft: Sponsoring the bathroom break was smart, cute and timely. I didn’t go. But I appreciated the moment and the reminder. Plus, I liked the term potty-tunity.
Reese’s: This was a fun spot, full of visual gags and shock. The spot also made me aware that Reese’s has a chocolate lava product. And because of the connection with real volcanic lava in the commercial, I will remember the name when I am at the store. (And I hope I don’t accidentally buy that hard-working man soap.) Good marketing basics, well executed.
Nerds Gummy Clusters: This spot, featuring Shaboozey, was shabeautiful and interesting to watch. It was eye candy for candy. Which I loved.
Lays: The spot with the little girl growing her own potato plant on her family’s potato farm told a beautiful and heartwarming story. It helped position the Lay’s brand as a brand that starts with a wholesome agricultural product grown on family farms for generations. It’s a great way to reposition potato chips. Which are not traditionally seen as healthy or wholesome. So it’s good to get on RFK Jr’s good side.
Taco Bell: I saw the promotional commercials calling for non-famous people to be featured in their Super Bowl commercial. The end result came together really nicely. Plus, it featured famous people, like LeBron James, while saying the spot can’t have famous people. So they played it both ways, and won both ways. Kinda like the Eagles.
Bud Light: The big men of the cul-de-sac spot was my favorite commercial of the Super Bowl. I liked it so much I instantly rewound it to watch it again. The spot, featuring Shane ‘Whatchu Talk’n Bout’ Gillis, Post Malone and the Manning who can’t kick field goals, was great in every way a funny spot can be great. Starting with my favorite line of any commercial during the game, ‘I accidentally threw a lame party.’ Then Malone and Gillis become neighborhood heroes, getting the party started right. There was too much to love to mention it all here. I look forward to watching more from these suburban heroes.
Poppi: I totally relate to the problem raised in this spot. I sometimes want a soda pop, but the sugar can be too much to be worth it. I have tried Poppi and like it as an interesting alternative. And I would order it at a restaurant if it was on the menu. (So get on the menu.)
Stella Artois: The David Beckham twin thing was fun, funny and engaging. Good story telling. Good gags. Good writing. And they both loved the same beer. That’s how you know they were really brothers.
Dove: The little girl running in the spot was a great setup to the real problem of negative female body image issues. Let’s stop that. This was a great example of how a strong, insightful idea doesn’t need a lot of window dressing to be powerful. It just needs to be shared.
Bosch: This was a nice way to make sure people knew about both the great appliances and power tools that Bosch makes. Because if you love one, you will likely love the other too.
Totino Pizza Rolls: This spot was killer. Litterally. They killed an alien. And nobody really felt that bad. Which was both surprising and funny.
GoDaddy: I loved this spot. GoDaddy really does help you when you don’t know what you are doing. They help you look like you do know what you are doing through great website stuff.
Fetch: I liked that they were giving away a ton of money to generate interest and engagement, Mr Beast-style. However, the production value made the brand feel low-rent. So next time, spend a little more on your production value and give a little less away.
Ritz: The saltiness thing played well for me. Good casting. Good insight.
Haagen-Dazs: The Not So Fast, Not So Furious twist was a fun way to remind people to slow down and chill with some super premium ice cream.
Thanks for reading!
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, or who loves to talk Super Bowl commercials, please share this with them.
+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.
Adam Albrecht Blog 