What makes a Super Bowl ad win: lessons from Beyoncé, JLo and Taylor

Executive overview

Most Super Bowl ads are forgotten by Monday. The brands that break through earn it through a three-part test: memorability, ownability, and relevance.

Spending $7M to be forgettable is worse than not showing up at all.

The three-part rubric for a winning ad

• Memorable: people are still talking about it after the game
• Ownable: the brand — not just the ad — is what people remember
• Relevant: the moment builds brand momentum into the rest of the year
• An ad can fail on one criterion and still win if it nails the others for its specific goal

What worked at this year's Super Bowl

• Dunkin' Donuts: Ben Affleck's boy band was funny, unmistakably Dunkin', and extended into social — viral before and after
• State Farm: Arnold Schwarzenegger reinvigorated "Like a Good Neighbor" without overplaying the Chiefs angle
• CeraVe: the Michael Cera spot was smart, funny, and clearly branded
• Kawasaki: the mullet gag was creative and distinctly American — high memorability for a non-celebrity spend
• NFL's Ghana ad: emotionally resonant, targeted a global audience, and delivered on relevance

What didn't work

• Temu: ran three times, memorable only as a cue to get snacks
• Snapchat: tried to distinguish itself from social media while being social media — missed a chance to rebuild trust post-Congress hearings
• Poppi: strong ownability (you knew the brand), but low memorability and relevance

The broader trend: safe, nostalgic, celebrity-heavy

• 60% of ads used celebrities; 30% used multiple celebrities
• Most leaned on millennial/Gen X/boomer nostalgia — few targeted Gen Z
• 2024 is an election year: brands signalled loudly they're staying out of anything polarising
• Humour and nostalgia dominated; emotional risk-taking was rare

Taking clear-eyed risks

• A clear-eyed risk: gather data, strip away uncertainty, then decide with conviction
• Don't do a Super Bowl ad unless you're playing to win — there's no participation trophy
• Autodesk didn't buy airtime but still joined the conversation: the stadium was built using their platform
• ROI requires a pre/during/post strategy — winning on game day alone is not enough

Brand voice and the long game

• Brands should tell customers how they'll help, not who to be or how to live
• Personal views and brand views are not the same — leaders need clarity on the distinction
• Beyoncé's Verizon spot worked because it was mutually beneficial: rare celebrity endorsement + album launch
• Taylor Swift used the Grammys the same way — both are examples of celebrity-as-brand strategy done right