Dee-Ann Durbin, Mae Anderson, Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Business Writer for the Associated Press
This year’s Super Bowl commercial gave a brief laugh, with nostalgia largely eschewing controversy and leaving a surprise at the football field where the Philadelphia Eagles ruled Kansas City chief.
Eugene Levy’s eyebrows flew off, and after eating a little Caesar, he roared. Four old ladies were riding their joy in Weathertech commercials, but Sloths had a case in a Coors Light ad on Monday. And the British singer stickers have become actual stickers.
Actor Glen Powell won Goldilocks for the Lamb Track, but comedian Nate Bargatze cloned himself and hired an opera singer. Shaboosie took a walk around New Orleans for nerds, but the “fast and ferocious” franchise star cruised slowly in the convertible so that he could enjoy the Hagen Dazz ice cream bar.
Tim Culkins, a marketing professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, said this is a complicated Super Bowl for advertisers.
Avoiding controversy was an even more prioritized than usual, Calkins said, as most ads were developed during the US presidential race last fall. The commercial’s final crop is characterized by a lot of simple humor, nostalgia and almost creative risks, he said. But even that approach can backfire.
“That’s the challenge this year. Everyone wants to be safe, but you want to be interesting too,” Calkins said. “Safe ads are not ads you notice or remember.”
And advertisers can’t afford to not notice. Some of the roughly 80 Super Bowl ad spots cost a record $8 million in 30 seconds this year.
Some of the themes for this year’s Super Bowl ads include:
Heartwarming nostalgia
Budweiser took home Clydesdale for a Super Bowl ad, including a colt who wanted to join the delivery team. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal recreated the famous deli scene from 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally.”
Harrison Ford was reflected in the Jeep ads, talking about freedom and personal choices. “This Jeep makes me happy despite my last name being Ford,” he said.
Muppets searched for accommodation on Booking.com, but Instacart ads featured a parade of familiar mascots such as Mr. Clean, Jolly Green Giant and Pillsbury Doughboy. Disney asked what the world would look like without the iconic characters they own, like Elsa, Bert Simpson and Marvel Superheroes from “Frozen.”
Advertisers are leaning more towards nostalgia than before with Super Bowl ads, according to Kimberly Whitler, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School. Nodding to the past can broaden the appeal of advertising to different generations and connect products to positive cultural moments, she said.
Celebrity mashup
Combining famous people with unexpected combinations will expand the appeal of the commercial. In the Super Bowl ads for Michelob Ultra, actors Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe are the pickleball champions. Football star David Beckham and actor Matt Damon are twins who bond with Stella Artois. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and comedian Pete Davidson cooperated with the hexadecimal commercial, with Post Malone, Shane Gillis and Payton Manning playing a block party with Bud Wright. Many celebrities, including Matthew McConaughey, Martha Stewart, Greta Gerwig and Charlie XCX, appeared in Uber Eats ads.
Linli Xu, an associate professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, said that celebrity support can speak to people. However, there is a risk of reducing returns as dozens of brands use them.
Also, celebrities can get so much attention that viewers don’t remember which brands are posting their ads, Xu said.
“There’s a balanced act in terms of having celebrities in the ads,” she said.
Woman focused
Several ads have highlighted women and girls. Pharmaceutical company Novartis promoted early detection of breast cancer, but Rays had a heartwarming place featuring a girl raising her own potatoes.
Women’s sports were also a major focus. Nike spoke with Caitlin Clark, Shaikari Richardson, Sabrina Ionesque, Jordan Chile, Aja Wilson and Sofia Wilson about how often female athletes face the word “can’t.” Advertisement Conclusion: “You can’t win, so you win.”
The NFL has run a commercial call to help women’s flag football become a varsity sport in all 50 states. But Dove also provided calm statistics. Half of girls who quit sports have been criticized for their figure.
“Obviously, advertisers are trying to target female audiences given the growing numbers of female audiences in big games and the NFL in general in recent years,” Xu said.
Gloss out humor
Charles Taylor, a marketing professor at the business school at Villanova University, noticed a worse humor than usual.
In the Dunkin commercial, actor Jeremy Strong emerged from the property and a can of coffee covered in brown liquid. The man’s tongue began to dance to celebrate the cold bubbles from his Nestlé Coffee Mate. And in the Pringles star-studded ads, Chief head coach Andy Reed, La Clippers’ James Harden and actor Nick Offerman all have their iconic mustaches jumping off their faces and sky It helps to fly up and deliver a can of chips.
Taylor said the ads would attract attention, but said the Yack Factor could backfire.
Serious moments
Everything in the Super Bowl was fun and not a game this year. Pfizer from Pharmaceutical Company has promoted efforts to cure cancer. Telehealth company Hims & Hers spoke about the obesity epidemic in America. The Anti-Semitism Foundation, founded by Robert Kraft, chairman and CEO of the New England Patriots, is to show meaningless hatred by Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady saying things they don’t like each other. I’ve put up an ad.
Rocket’s ads aimed to show people dreaming of homes and have the Super Bowl crowd sing “Take Me Home, Country Road.” Xu was hoping to increase the number of ads promoting that unified message, but thought most advertisers had humor instead.
“We’ve just been through an election year and there’s a lot of debate about divisiveness,” she said. “People may want to see unity. Everyone is coming together as a nation.”
For the third year in a row, he is releasing a religion theme to us with a commercial back to the Super Bowl. This year’s ad featured the cover of Johnny Cash’s “Personal Yes,” showing that people every day are kind and heroic. This year and last year, a nonprofit organization that aims to come nearby and share “in a destructive and personally appealing way that Jesus’ love and message” has taken over the efforts from the previous group. funded advertisements.
Artificial intelligence arrives
Several Super Bowl ads claimed AI as their helpmates. Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth and Kris Jenner helped out with Meta smart glasses ads. Actor Walton Goggins has pitched Godadardialo, which helps them build websites and social content using AI. Google’s 50 State, 50 Stories campaign also shows viewers small and medium-sized businesses using Google’s Gemini AI assistant. However, water bottle brand Cirkul has fun with AI, showing that comedian Adam Devine accidentally orders 100,000 bottles on the phone using an AI assistant.
Original issue: 8am Eastern Standard Time, February 10th, 2025
