Instacart’s first-ever big game ad is set to feature memorable mascots from previous Super Bowl campaigns.
Instacart
Humor, nostalgia, and celebrities are set to feature heavily in this year’s Super Bowl commercials.Brands are aiming for safe, lighthearted ads amid political tensions and economic challenges.Data shows Super Bowl advertisers have leaned heavily on celebrities since 2020.
Super Bowl advertisers are leaning into humor, nostalgia, and generous use of celebrities this year as brands look to provide levity — and avoid controversy — in a politically charged year.
Some advertisers have spent more than $8 million to secure 30 seconds of airtime, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider. They asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive sales negotiations; their identity is known to BI. Marketers will have spent many millions more on production, securing A-list celebrity endorsements, and buying online ads. More than 123 million viewers tuned in to last year’s Super Bowl, according to TV measurement firm Nielsen.
Amid these high stakes, advertising insiders said brands have been more likely to play it safe in recent years, wary of a backlash and as they look to guarantee a return on their investment. The ads and teasers released so far for Super Bowl LIX appear to follow that trend.
“Since COVID, Super Bowl ads have taken a pretty decisive turn from being fairly edgy, fairly risque, to ones that are much, much more conscious of the national mood, of sentiment, politics — they sort of became very PC, really shying away from anything that could offend anybody,” said Sean Muller, CEO of the ad measurement company iSpot.tv.
Marketers are highly attuned to the recent rollbacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across both corporate America and the federal government.
Bud Light famously became embroiled in a wave of conservative backlash after it featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a 2023 social media promotion. Bud Light’s Super Bowl spot this year follows a much more familiar beer-marketing playbook. Its “Big Men on Cul-de-sac” ad features comedian Shane Gillis, rapper Post Malone, and twice Super Bowl winner Peyton Manning hosting a raucous backyard party.
“Advertisers are really smart to stay away from politically charged themes at all times, but to the extent that they get into something like that, they really shouldn’t be doing it when economic times are tough, or there’s something negative in the national mood,” said Charles Taylor, Villanova School of Business marketing professor and author of the coming book “Winning the Advertising Game: Lessons from the Super Bowl Ad Champions.”
Super Bowl advertisers are playing for laughs this year
Comedy is the resounding theme of this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials. According to Daivid, an AI platform that predicts viewers’ likely reactions to ads, 14 of the first 19 ads released online ahead of the game featured “amusement” as their top emotion.
Examples include the “It Hits the Spot” ad for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, which enlisted Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan to humorously recreate the classic deli scene from “When Harry Met Sally.” Elsewhere, Adam Brody sounds a Pringles can like a blowing horn to conjure the facial hair off famous mustachioed men, including Chiefs coach Andy Reid, NBA star James Harden, the actor Nick Offerman, and Mr. Potato Head. And Coors Light features a slew of CGI sloths who encapsulate what it’s like to have a “case of the Mondays” after staying up late on Super Bowl Sunday.
Brynna Aylward, North America chief creative officer of the ad agency Adam&EveDDB, said the overriding warmth of the ads released so far reflects “the hug that we all need this year.”
Advertisers have clamored to feature celebrities
The sheer number of celebrities in the commercial breaks won’t go unnoticed.
In 2010, only around one-third of Super Bowl ads featured a celebrity, but according to iSpot.tv, celebrities starred in around 70% of the ads in every Super Bowl since 2020.
“It’s a shortcut to get people’s attention, to get people really excited, and to really say what your brand stands for in tying it to a personality,” DDB’s Aylward said.
Shaboozey stars in Nerds’ Super Bowl ad.
Nerds
Keep an eye out for celebrities who appeal to Gen Z — see Nerds with singer-songwriter Shaboozey, for example — as this generation moves further into adulthood and has increased buying power, Aylward added.
Uber Eats’ 60-second ad will feature a host of well-known stars: Matthew McConaughey, Charli XCX, Greta Gerwig, Sean Evans, Kevin Bacon, and Martha Stewart — seemingly looking to appeal to viewers of all ages.
“We know most of America tunes in to the Super Bowl, from the hardcore football fans to those who watch exclusively for the ads and everyone in between,” said Georgie Jeffreys, Uber’s head of marketing for North America. “That’s why our Uber Eats campaign for the Big Game this year strives to have a little something for everyone.”
Nostalgia in numbers
Other Super Bowl advertisers are betting that nostalgia will ensure their commercial success.
Budweiser’s cinematic Clydesdale horses and Doritos, with its user-generated “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, are among the returning advertisers hoping to stir memories of Super Bowls past.
Instacart’s first-ever Super Bowl ad features the Jolly Green Giant, Kool-Aid Man, Pillsbury Doughboy, and the Duracell Bunny, among other famous brand characters, joining forces to deliver groceries.
Instacart’s chief marketing officer, Laura Jones, said the company didn’t want to use a celebrity as a “crutch” and instead wanted to try something different.
“We said, let’s actually break the patterns,” Jones said. “Let’s not do what everyone else is doing. And frankly, it’ll either be a huge hit or a huge flop.”
Whatever theme marketers opt for, Super Bowl ads have become much more than a 30-second TV ad. There are the teasers, pre-game promotions and competitions, on-the-ground experiences on game day, and then the social media activity that looks to maintain the momentum long after the final whistle.
“Brands are spending so much more money on Super Bowl ads for such a short time; they are trying to maximize this opportunity more than ever,” said Minkyung Kim, assistant professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
Margaret Johnson, the chief creative officer at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, has worked on Super Bowl campaigns for Cheetos, Pepsi, and E-Trade, among others, in her 29-year tenure at the creative agency. For Super Bowl LIX, the agency has produced campaigns for Doritos and Mountain Dew Baja Blast. Johnson said the Super Bowl is set to remain advertising’s tentpole event for years to come.
“It’s one of the last remaining collective viewing experiences and, with the impact you can have on culture, I would say 100% it’s worth it,” Johnson said.
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