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Final ad tally
As is usually the case, dozens of brands released their ads early in an attempt to get more eyeballs on their multimillion-dollar investments. As of noon E.T. today, 43 spots have been made public (including some extended versions), which is roughly in line with the number released early in recent years.
Those releasing ads today include the “He Gets Us” campaign promoting Jesus that returned for its third straight Super Bowl. This year’s spot is set to Johnny Cash’s cover of “Personal Jesus” and has images of people with historically opposing views uniting, including a Christian and a Pride parade attendee hugging.
Ad Age also reported some new details on what to expect with Nike’s first Super Bowl ad since 1998. The female empowerment spot features star athletes including Sha’Carri Richardson, Caitlin Clark, Jordan Chiles and Sabrina Ionescu, among others, blocking out negative stereotypes.
The NFL is also leaning into female power with a two-minute spot released today that promotes girls’ flag football by going back in time to a 1980s high school. Among the songs in the ad is the 1984 track “Rock You Like a Hurricane” from the Scorpions. That song, emblematic of the ’80s metal scene, will be right at home in today’s ad breaks filled with other nostalgic nods, including a Seal song (redone by Mountain Dew) and Hellmann’s remake of a famous scene from 1989 rom-com “When Harry Met Sally…”
Also read: Super Bowl ad trends to watch
Rookies and old-timers
At last count, 17 brands are advertising in the game for the first time, up two from last year. Thirty-two brands that advertised in 2024 are back this year, including some that are continuing long consecutive-year streaks, such as TurboTax (12 years), Pringles (8) and Squarespace (6).
Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has been a Super Bowl advertiser since 1975, is back this year with four ads—for Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra—showing the nation’s largest brewer still believes in the game, even after dropping exclusive alcohol category ad rights after the 2022 game. Its only competition this year comes from Molson Coors, which is using sloths in its “Case of the Mondays” campaign for Coors Light.
To keep track of all the advertisers running national spots in the game, bookmark Ad Age’s regularly updated Super Bowl ad chart.
Diversity tracking
For the fourth consecutive year, Ad Age asked every Super Bowl advertiser with plans to air national, in-game commercials about how they prioritized diversity and inclusion in the creation and production of their ads. Most brands did not want to talk about it.
Only 14 of 58 we contacted responded, and many that did simply made blanket statements about supporting diversity efforts without identifying any specific strategies or data, reports Ad Age’s Lindsay Rittenhouse, who notes the overwhelming majority of celebrities (47) who star in this year’s Big Game commercials are white, as of available information on Feb. 7. Only four Super Bowl directors this year are people of color (one handled four ads).
Also read: Super Bowl’s most inclusive and diverse ads of all time
AI oops
AI, which has dominated marketing industry conversation in recent months, will have a significant presence on advertising’s biggest day. OpenAI is using the Super Bowl to run its first TV commercial, while Meta, Google, Salesforce and GoDaddy are touting AI products in their ads. However, when it comes to using AI to make ads, brands are being conservative, mostly using the tech for a supporting role, such as coming up with concepts.
And, as noted by Ad Age’s Garett Sloane, AI has already had its first Super Bowl ad fumble. One of Google’s 50 local Big Game spots, which features small businesses using Gemini AI to handle tasks, got some facts wrong, including that “there’s more cows in Wisconsin than there are people.” There were also holes in its Gouda cheese facts.
Food and cars
Once again, the Super Bowl is full of eats. Twelve food and restaurant brands are in the game at last count. That’s one more than last year, when a record number of candy and sweets brands bought ads. There aren’t as many candy brands this year—Reese’s and Nerds are back, while Häagen-Dazs is making its debut. But the sweets pullback has been made up for by a pizza push, with Totino’s Pizza Rolls making its debut and Little Caesars back with its first ad in-game ad in five years.
The automotive category continues to dwindle. Four brands ran spots last year, down from the recent peak of 11 in 2018. And this year, only two auto brands are in the game, both from Stellantis, which has ads for Ram and Jeep.
Early winners
By Monday there will be no shortage of ad rankings and hot takes on who won and lost the ad game. Some ad observers and data firms are getting a jump on the analysis.
iSpot.tv identified five winners so far based on its flash consumer surveys:
Booking.com: “Get Your Stay Ridiculously Right”
Budweiser: “First Delivery”
Doritos: “Abduction”
Pringles: “The Call of the Mustaches”
Reese’s: “Don’t Eat Lava
Creative effectiveness platform Daivid, which uses AI to predict the emotions an ad will generate, reports that the funniest moment of all ads released so far is when Seal (the human musician) says “Good Looking Seal” at the end of Mountain Dew’s ad, which includes a seal version of Seal.
Sprout Social is tracking the most talked about brands, based on social media analysis. Those doing well include Caesars Entertainment, which doesn’t have an in-game ad but does have its name on the Super Bowl stadium; Uber Eats, whose celebrity-filled spot includes Matthew McConaughey, Charli XCX and Martha Stewart (and which leaned into the stadium name with Stewart’s Caesar salad); and Tubi, the Fox-owned streamer that will carry the game live, the first time the Big Game will be available on a free ad-supported streaming platform. Ad Age’s Parker Herren has more on Tubi’s plans and what it is charging for ads, plus our Super Bowl LIX FAQ.
On Monday, join Ad Age live at 1 p.m. as our editors and reporters recap the winners and losers from the biggest night in ads.
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