Super Bowl LX ad review: Budweiser, Pepsi and Kellogg’s put on a show
Advertising guru Jon Williams picks his best of the Super Bowl LX ads, featuring Budweiser, Pepsi, Fanatics Sportsbook, Michelob Ultra and Kellogg’s Raisin Bran.
Get the popcorn in, here comes the Super Bowl! No? A bit too brash for you? Well let me take you through why it might be worth it.
Put simply it’s the biggest single cultural event in the year. One hundred million people tuning in for the spectacle, the razzmatazz, Bad Bunny bringing the half-time entertainment, Green Day doing the warm-up, and Charlie Puth warbling the Star-Spangled Banner.
Oh and… the ads. Yes, you read right. It’s the last great mass-attention event. No scrolling, no skipping. No “I’ll watch later”. For advertisers this stuff doesn’t exist any more.
It’s the last dinosaur on the eve of extinction. That’s why a 30-second spot costs about $8m (£5.8m). And that’s just the airtime. Imagine how much you need to spend on the ad itself to do battle in the last arena of its kind.
It will need to grab hearts and minds among a field of the best work the Americans produce. Super Bowl ads are as much about entertainment as the rest of the show – and not something you want to skip.
Budweiser
Budweiser has rolled out the big guns – well, the big horse. Set to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird,” their Clydesdale (a massive dray horse, says Google; semiotics of heritage and craftsmanship) is shown growing up alongside an American eagle.
Just when you think you’re going to burst with cheese, the neat plot twists itself in a way which actually made this cynical old ad man laugh out loud. It’s racked up 3.2m views on YouTube in the last week – not too shabby – and captures the mood of reconciliation and togetherness that is so badly needed on the other side of the pond.
Pepsi
In a bold move, Pepsi has kidnapped Coke’s Polar Bear. He has to do blind taste test – and blow me down if Pepsi doesn’t win.
We then see a journey of redemption through his guilt into the arms of another bear. Thirty seconds later they lean into culture by mirroring the Coldplay kiss-cam couple, but this time they’re happy to be on camera. Gauntlet thrown down there.
Fanatics Sportsbook
Fanatics Sportsbook uses Kendall Jenner in a really smart, knowing way. On the internet she’s known to be cursed as all her basketball-playing boyfriends’ careers seem to crash and burn. S
he owns that in a running gag as she bets on their misfortune and turns it into her literal fortune – “Do you think modelling pays for this?” she says. In the end she challenges us to bet with her or against her in the Super Bowl, a neat and very compelling call to action.
Michelob Ultra
A cowboy-hatted Kurt Russell makes an appearance as a mysterious coach on the ski slopes (neatly rolling in that other little sporting event happening in February in Milan) for Michelob Ultra. To the familiar chords of Eye of the Tiger, he gives our hero Greg the edge so he never has to buy another losers’ round. It’s not shit…
Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
…but the Kellogg’s Raisin Bran ad very much is – deliberately. William Shatner, in the guise of “Will Shat”, rolls through every toilet gag in the book. Only he could pull it off with a cheeky smile and it’s hilarious. Stay regular, folks.
Best of the rest of Super Bowl ads
There is so much more. The celebrity roll call continues with Shane Gillis, Post Malone and Peyton Manning for Bud Light; Lady Gaga for Rocket and Redfin; Matthew McConaughey, Bradley Cooper and Parker Posey for Uber Eats; Emma Stone for Squarespace; and even Ben Stiller and Benson Boone taking the stage for Instacart.
But that’s quite enough of that. Unsurprising perhaps that the Americans have done to rugby pretty much what they have done to the English language. But the surrounding circus is truly a thing to behold.
It might even be worth the sleep deprivation. Ah well, only four months to wait till the World Cup.
Jon Williams is founder and CEO of global creative agency The Liberty Guild.