Each year, as millions tune in nationwide to watch “the big game,” brands and companies have a lucrative opportunity to sell their product to an incredibly large audience — if they’re able to pay the $8 million to $10 million price tag for a spot, that is. Once that’s secured, they pull out all the stops to ensure that their ad is the one that people talk about, and it’s gotten to the point that many viewers, myself included, are more interested in watching an ad than the game itself. The culture surrounding Super Bowl advertising has developed in such a way that the ads themselves have become their own form of entertainment to the point where they often have teaser trailers as if they were a TV show or film. However, not all ads are created equal, even with all the money poured into them.
It’s only natural that companies use part of their budget to snag a celebrity or two. While it can be easy to simply plop famous people in a commercial and say, “Look, they’re here, so you should buy our product,” it’s not always enough; one brief Katseye appearance does not instantly sell me on State Farm. In my opinion, the best way to use a celebrity in a Super Bowl ad is to play to their strengths. Consider Emma Stone’s dramatic performance in Squarespace’s ad, or Sabrina Carpenter’s witty romance with “Pringleleo.” Both of these ads utilize their celebrities in a way that is congruent with their images and their skill sets. Stone is an award-winning actress, so it makes sense for her to star in an ad that calls for emotional acting and is styled after an arthouse production. Carpenter’s songs are largely about relationships and romance presented in a cheeky tone, so it makes sense for her to construct a perfect man out of Pringles.
Above all else, concept is the foundation that every commercial is built on. If the concept is bad, the rest of the ad suffers. For Super Bowl ads, many companies attempt to be humorous with their concepts, to varying degrees of success. I laughed hard at Ben Stiller and Benson Boone as retro techno-disco singers for Instacart, but Dunkin’s ’90s sitcom-styled ad failed to have a similar effect on me because, even with all its stars, its script felt bloated. Other companies go for either more serious or heartwarming concepts. While this can work, I don’t think an ad can rely on it alone. The Google Gemini ad about a mother and son visualizing what their new house may look like was compelling, but it didn’t show me the value of Gemini above other software. Meanwhile, Lay’s sentimental narrative about a man passing his potato farm down to his daughter did tug at my heartstrings — they took the idea of local farmers and ran with it in a way that made sense.
No matter what direction companies take, Super Bowl ads can drive themselves into many possible pitfalls. As alluded to before, sometimes they put so much focus on the concept that they forget to sell me the product. Sure, Coinbase’s Backstreet Boys karaoke ad was enjoyable, but I had no idea what the ad was for until the end, and I was still left wondering why I should use Coinbase. Other times, certain concepts can feel out of touch. In an era where many are afraid of AI taking over the workforce and potentially going rogue, neither Genspark’s “Take the Day Off” ad, in which an entire workplace’s jobs are replaced by AI, nor Amazon Alexa’s attempt at humor, in which Chris Hemsworth is afraid that Alexa will kill him make a good case for what they’re selling. Speaking of AI, it’s hard for me to look at Svedka’s robotic AI hellscape and comprehend the fact that actual human beings approved it. It almost feels like a psy-op to discourage companies from using generative AI in advertising.
The most effective Super Bowl ad concept is one that is easily digestible without being bland. Consider Pepsi: while they didn’t have any big-name celebrities (unless you consider the polar bear as a Coca-Cola mascot), they were still able to deliver a simple yet effective ad that I enjoyed. The message was clear: enjoying Pepsi is nothing to be ashamed of, as demonstrated by a polar bear coming to terms with his preference. The lighthearted reference to the Coldplay cheating scandal from last year didn’t hurt either for two reasons: first, it tied into the ad’s larger idea, since the polar bears proudly hold up their Pepsi cans instead of trying to hide from the camera, and, second, I believe enough time has passed for the reference to be tasteful.
Indeed, in order for a Super Bowl ad to succeed, it needs to balance several factors. In fact, the same goes for any commercial; it’s just that Super Bowl commercials are on a larger stage, with larger budgets and a larger amount of pressure to perform. No wonder they’ve become such a cultural staple.
