Every year I genuinely bask in the post-Super Bowl joy, having skipped forward through the game to reach each of the commercials.

As a marketer who has lived in the USA and Australia, I have a healthy adoration of the marketing hype surrounding a sport that has 53 players ready to play on each team (so many potential sponsorship deals!).   And although many regions in our great world don’t quite understand the power of this NFL final, it’s fascinating to look at the intensity of ad spending that converges for this single sporting event.

• Favourite Super Bowl ad with flying facial hair
• Best use of a celebrity in a Super Bowl ad
• All the feels – the Super Bowl ad with the most emotional triggers
• The Super Bowl ad that held engagement for the longest period of time
• Noteworthy pre-Super Bowl campaigns that inspired the ads

Let’s unpack a few notable ads from this year’s Super Bowl LIX (Roman Numeral 59, not ‘Super Bowl Licks’ as this year’s Uber Eats ad suggested)

Favourite Super Bowl ad with flying facial hair

Who could have anticipated this could be a category with more than one entry thanks to Pringles & Little Caesars Pizza

What the ad evoked in me: I’m not going to lie; these ads made me uncomfortable because both relate to food but heavily relied on visuals of flying facial hair.

Favorite part of the ad(s): Thinking about the Executives at Pringles & Little Caesars when they realised, they had spent $8million dollars for an ad spot + the associated creative agency contract…and still didn’t have a unique commercial.

Insight into the marketing impact: I suspect I will be haunted by the visuals from both ads; however, I have to single out Pringles for the direct correlation of their flying moustaches to their logo and product packaging….it made slightly more sense (even though we all love Eugene Levy and his expressive eyebrows)   Check out our blog on brand identity and why it’s important 

Best use of a celebrity in a Super Bowl ad

There were many celebrity inclusions in this year’s range of ads (I can’t begin to imagine the cost to brands for what was mostly forgettable ad concepts and storytelling this year).  But there was a series of ads promoting the IndyCar Series that featured drivers Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou.  The ads successfully blended humor, vintage graphics, and brilliant soundtracks to make them the standouts.

What the ad evoked in me: These were the rare handful of this year’s ads that had me hooked as they told a story about the driver using actual photos and video from their childhood, mixed with interesting as well as exaggerated facts, humor and immersive racing footage.   I’m not in the IndyCar target audience demographic, but I loved these ads because they were uplifting, and they reminded me that I do love the sound of a formula racing around a track.

Favorite part of the ad: The soundtracks, most notably the electro jazz-funk mixed with vintage Vegas style music in the Pato O’Ward version.  Special mention should also go to the milk references in both ads – apparently there’s a ‘Winners Drink Milk’ tradition that started at the Indianapolis 500 ® race in 1936.

Insight into the marketing impact: It would seem that the NFL viewing audience is a likely candidate to love the IndyCar series – the most concentrated demographic being the 55+ year old male. What was interesting about this ad, was that it seemed to be reaching for a younger audience thanks to the young drivers featured – which fits with their strategy in recent years to build a younger fan base.

All the feels – the Super Bowl ad with the most emotional triggers

There were a few ads that opted to tug at the heartstrings this year – from Pfizer with their ‘Hey cancer, we’re gonna knock you out’ ad (they’re looking to find 8 cancer treatments by 2030), to the NFL’s ‘It takes all of us’ ad that reminded views the NFL family supports more than 50,000 youth organisations worldwide (that’s really great!).

So, a good range of emotional contenders, but the winner had to be Rocket.com’s ‘Take me Home’ 60-second spot.  Using the inspiration of John Denver, they used “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in their ad, and bolted it to a live, in-stadium sing-along.

What the ad evoked in me: The ad visuals seemed to be the supporting act to a song that could really stir up feelings of nostalgia and empathy for the vast cross section of people and situations on screen (new babies, military returning home, new house, kids playing in garden sprinklers, etc.). I then watched the awkward live-pan around the stadium, which showed a disengaged audience, not the sing-along in a bar feeling they were going for (I then had feelings of sympathy for the campaign planners).

Favorite part of the ad: My little marketing heart really was filled with joy when they did the crossover to the stadium, because I do love to scream-sing this song with a group of people.

Insight into the marketing impact: Since the brand is established, they chose not to explain their products or services, they merely placed Rocket.com in the last scene of the ad (their end tag).  A bold move that they’re hopefully backing up with a range of campaigns in the coming months because the lacklustre crowd response was truly the last thing I remember about the brand. As for the concept of a 15-second in-stadium ad extension…well it’s now apparently being considered as commercial inventory, so look out for more of these types of ad crossovers.

How’s your content marketing going?  Check out our quick post about Creating Your Content Strategy

The Super Bowl ad that held engagement for the longest period of time

There are two contenders for the ads that held my attention – OpenAI’s ‘The Intelligence Age’ ad which was beautifully crafted using circles to create movement and scenes.  But the winner IMHO was the Novartis’ ‘Your Attention, Please’ ad – a 60 second spot that featured a range of different…breasts.  Lots and lots of breasts.   – I’d like to add a NSFW alert here to be polite, but the true angle of the ad is a matter of life and death, so you decide if you want to click through.

What the ad evoked in me: an actual reminder to do a breast cancer check, and it gave me pause to consider the friends in even the last year who have had breast cancer diagnoses.  The serious reminder that early detection is a game changer for breast cancer was positioned well in what started as a humorous and flirty early half of the ad – it was smart creative, with a call to action at the end.

Favorite part of the ad: The amusing number of Hollywood stereotype scenes and then the relatable every-day encounters women face where breasts are the main focus.  They crammed quite a few scenes in that might have had conservative households diving for the remote.

Insight into the marketing impact: The moment when I realised the teaser for this ad, featuring Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye!) was connected was a bit of an “ah-ha” moment but I was most impressed with the call to action at the end to visit www.yourattentionplease.com and the range of simple screening options accessible to all.

Noteworthy pre-Super Bowl campaigns that inspired the ads

Lastly, I have to acknowledge both Taco Bell and Doritos for their lead-up campaigns to extract more from their Super Bowl spend.

What the ad(s) evoked in me: None of the ads evoked hunger, but I did have a warmth toward their brands, because they were thoughtful to their fan base.  The inclusion of so many people in the Taco Bell ad, must have created so much excitement and pride for so many through something as simple as a drive-through lane photo booth.

Favorite part of the ad: There’s a couple in the Taco Bell ad who are holding up a baby announcement…. I hope this was an actual part of their big reveal to family and friends. It also looked like a yellow tractor can fit through the drive-through lane – educational.

Insight into the marketing impact:  Doritos have been running their ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ contest sporadically since 2006.  Fans can submit their own Doritos ad, and the winner is played during the Super Bowl, and the winner takes home prizemoney (this year’s winner received $1 million + a trip to New Orleans to watch the game). The fan inclusion, the prize, and of course the creativity that this type of contest brings, delivers great buzz beyond the 30-second spot.

Great TV advertising might be a disappearing art form, but until the Super Bowl stops selling overpriced spots, we will continue to skip the game to celebrate the ads.