What to expect in Super Bowl ads
Celebrities, humor and nostalgia likely
NEW YORK — Big name advertisers will be pulling out all the stops on Super Bowl Sunday — enlisting high-profile actors, investing in dazzling special effects and, they hope, going for laughs as they seek to win over viewers during game breaks.
In an increasingly fractured and polarized media environment — and with fewer people watching live TV — the Super Bowl is an anomaly. The big game’s viewership has actually increased, with a record 115.1 million people tuning in last year.
So marketers will use the game on Sunday, which will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+, to draw attention to new products, brand extensions and their marketing message as they again vie for the eyes of more than 100 million expected viewers.
Almost as an escape from the divisive U.S. presidential election and conflicts deepening around the world, most Super Bowl advertisers appear to be doubling down on flights of fantasy or light humor, often with a dose of nostalgia and a lot of mini-reunions of TV characters.
“Serious is out,” said Kimberly Whitler, marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “Marketers have figured out entertainment, enjoyment and escapism is the name of the ad game.”
Many Super Bowl commercials have already been released. Here’s what we know heading into this year’s big game.
TV show mini-reunions
Perhaps taking a cue from the success of last year’s Popcorners ad that featured a reunion of “Breaking Bad” stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, this year there’s a slew of mini TV show reunions in ads.
Nostalgia, light hijinks
Humor and a touch of nostalgia can be found in many ads. Molson Coors’ ad brings back their “Chill Train” that last appeared in advertisements nearly two decades ago, in 2005. A tongue-in-cheek ad shows the train crashing into a football watching party to bring partiers Coors Light. LL Cool J turns out to be the conductor.
Celebrities abound
There are always tons of celebrities in ads, and the star power seems to go up and up every year.
“It’s celebrity on steroids right now,” Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter’s Jessica D. Collins said. While that is not necessarily new or surprising for the Super Bowl, she added, “it’s just going to be so heightened this year.”
That means big names like Arnold Schwarzenegger starring in a State Farm ad, Ice Spice making an appearance for Starry, Christopher Walken facing imitations of himself for BMW, and Super Bowl Halftime
Show headliner Usher showing up in an Uber Eats spot.
Some serious moments
Of course, this year’s Super Bowl commercials won’t all be laughs.
Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism has said it will run an ad featuring Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones. Dove’s ad focuses on the fact that low body-confidence leads to girls quitting sports.
And Google’s heartstring-pulling ad follows a blind man as he uses “Guided Frame” — Google’s A.i.-powered accessibility feature for the Pixel camera that uses a combination of audio cues, high-contrast animations and tactile vibrations — to take pictures of the people and places in his life.
Surprises
As always, there will still be some game day surprises. Some advertisers such as Amazon have stayed mum on any plans. Upstart e-commerce site Temu has reportedly bought several ads.