"Anthropic took a jab at OpenAI's ad product launch and T-Mobile and Coinbase used The Backstreet Boys top play up millennial nostalgia. Meanwhile, Dunkin' and Xfinity stacked celebs in their ad spots (jury's out whether generative AI or CGI was used to make the celebs look younger.)"
"All said, a few things were clear: AI platforms like OpenAI and Google are becoming Super Bowl ad regulars, celebs are still the go-to Big Game strategy and in a high-stakes cultural landscape, and sports betting is the new American past time."
""Most of the advertisers tried to take some big swings. Some of them didn't land as probably as they were intended," Sunny Bonnell, co-founder and CEO of the branding agency Motto, said on a recent episode of the Digiday Podcast. She later added, "I also think people took a lot of swings at trying to inject more humor, given the landscape that we're all in.""
AI platforms such as OpenAI and Google featured prominently among Super Bowl advertisers. Celebrities and nostalgia remained dominant creative strategies, with T-Mobile and Coinbase leveraging The Backstreet Boys and Dunkin' and Xfinity stacking celebrity appearances. Advertisers largely played it safe amid cultural tensions, favoring harmony, lighthearted jokes and heartwarming moments. Notable standouts included Pepsi, Squarespace and Anthropic. Brands experimented with AI, humor and celebrity cameos, yielding mixed results as some big creative swings did not land as intended. Sports betting references rose, reflecting broader cultural trends.
Read at Digiday
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