Madison Avenue pumped the brakes on most sober Super Bowl commercials Sunday night, with many trying to do what big game ads have never done before: make people feel good.
A dizzying number of spots featured celebrities in frenetic scenarios, including Ben Stiller and Benson Boone donning classic musician costumes and trying to outdo each other on delivery service Instacart. Andy Samberg had a blast dressing up as some sort of eccentric Neil Diamond wannabe in place of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. And a bevy of past and present “SNL” cast members appeared throughout the night – Wegovy’s Ana Gasteyer and Kenan Thompson; DraftKings’ Colin Jost and Michael Che. Heidi Gardner of Homes.com and Apartments.com. Meanwhile, Bowen Yang co-starred in Ritz Crackers with frequent “SNL” guest Scarlett Johansson and Jon Hamm.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Ellie Bamford, chief strategy officer for North America at major advertising agency VML. She felt the commercial was appropriate, moving away from sad stories and creating a sense of fun and nostalgia. In past Super Bowls, “brands have chosen things that felt too heavy, too divisive,” she says. This year, advertisers have “moved away” from moralizing and “telling people what to think,” she says.
“You can’t ignore the absurdity of advertising this year,” says Erin Salo, creative director of the Two Tango Collaborative, a Richmond-based advertising consortium. The Instacart ad, in which Stiller and Boone look like a “new wave duo with Italian mustaches,” “delivered a fever dream,” she says.
Other commercials were also surreal. Liquid IV, a hydration mix for water, has released a commercial filled with a toilet and urinal singing a cover of an old Phil Collins song. Budweiser struck a chord Sunday night with a spot inspired by Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic “Free Bird” that tells the story of a Clydesdale horse who grew up with an American bald eagle. Ben Affleck returned for his fourth Super Bowl appearance with Dunkin’, this time coaxing Jennifer Aniston, Tom Brady, Jason Alexander, Jasmine Guy, Tom Brady and Jaleel White into a spot reminiscent of the 1990s sitcom.
Instacart executives behind the company’s quirky Super Bowl appearance say consumers have always appreciated “lightness and joy,” as well as “moments of escapism.”
Sure, some spots were trying to get people thinking about bigger issues. The Rocket Mortgage and Redfin commercials aired the story of two families, one white and one Latino, to viewers. A Latin family looked at each other with skepticism until their daughter found the white family’s lost dog. Advertising agency executives praised the intent and the decision to ask Lady Gaga to sing “Want You Be My Neighbor,” the theme song for “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” But they also suggested that the spot overcame some difficult issues related to race and class.
An overabundance of happy ads can drown out more authentic or innovative creative choices. “We know what works for the Super Bowl,” says Omid Amidi, co-chief creative officer at McKinney, an advertising agency based in Durham, North Carolina. “It’s mostly celebrities, music covers, animals and puppies. It feels like we’re really playing the hits without the swings.”
Viewers were bombarded with messages from a vast array of AI companies. Amazon is aiming for humor, and Chris Hemsworth expressed worries about what the new Alexa assistant might do to him. Anthropic threw a sharp elbow at rival Open AI with a spot poking fun at ChatGPT’s decision to incorporate commercials into its tier. Open AI, on the other hand, tried to make people forget their fears about technology.
Daniel Lobaton, chief creative officer for North America at Miami agency David. “Some people are more serious and enthusiastic.”
Rob Reilly, global chief creative officer at WPP, says it’s difficult to hit a high note with a Super Bowl ad. “It’s hard to make these things. It’s really hard. There’s a lot of people involved in the decision-making and a lot of cooks in the kitchen.”
Some executives wondered if Dunkin’ ads missed the mark for all the celebrities. “It didn’t really pay off very well,” Bamford said. In past efforts, the company spent more time making sure Donuts and Coffee got more screen time.
Balancing celebrity and marketing messaging can be a challenge, Diane Saylor, Mars Snacking’s senior director who oversees marketing for the company’s salty snacks, said in a recent interview. “One of the worst things that can happen to a Super Bowl marketer, in my opinion, is that they remember your celebrity or your song or your ad concept, but not your brand.” Mars’ Pringles used Sabrina Carpenter in its Super Bowl commercial, but it emphasized the characteristics of the snack. Most of the ad saw the singer and those around her eating potato chips one after another, a nod to the revived slogan, “Once you pop, you never stop popping.”
Coinbase’s unconventional advertising also sparked controversy. The spot featured little fanfare, instead offering viewers something like a karaoke screen in a bar and encouraging them to sing along to Backstreet Boys songs. In 2022, the cryptocurrency company did a similar initiative, displaying a floating QR code on the screen but nothing else. “That’s their point,” Bamford says.
“Are we at the point where we’re too much of a celebrity? I don’t know,” Riley says. “That seems to be something people enjoy.”
