Your Super Bowl LX Cheat Sheet
The Big Game is Sunday. Super Bowl LX is serving up a quarterback showdown that feels like a Hollywood script: New England Patriots’ Drake Maye led the league in completion percentage and passer rating in just his second season. Seattle Seahawk’s Sam Darnold completed his second 14-3 season in a row, establishing himself as a bonafide starter and removing the ‘bust’ label from his name after six underwhelming seasons with four other NFL teams.
That’s what happening on the field.
Off the field, roughly sixty advertisers are placing a $7M bet for 30 seconds of attention, all competing for your eyeballs, wallets, and hearts.
A couple of days ago, NBCUniversal reported that a handful of 30-second spots sold for a record $10 million or more – yes, per ad! (And that doesn’t include creative, production, and talent costs.)
This year, advertisers chose storytelling around how you feel when you experience their brands rather than feature dumping.
Below are a handful of brands that get it right by creating campaigns that are building awareness, engagement, and cultural relevance beyond Sunday night.
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#1: PEPSI ZERO SUGAR
Pepsi’s ad, titled “The Choice,” features the iconic Pepsi polar bear who takes the Pepsi Challenge and is surprised to learn he preferred Pepsi Zero Sugar to Coke Zero Sugar in a blindfolded taste test. The brand tapped Oscar winner Taika Waititi to direct and make a cameo appearance in this funny, entertaining, and culturally relevant ad.
Coca-Cola has famously featured its own polar bear mascots in the brand’s advertising over the years. The cola wars have “become such a memorable and deeply ingrained part of pop culture and, weirdly, of the human experience,” Waititi explained.
Pepsi leans into nostalgia and humor while dramatizing product choice in a playful narrative. It’s a clever way to join the conversation with Coca-Cola, the industry leader.
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#2: UBER EATS
Uber Eats plays offense as it presents Food + Football as inseparable cultural moments. The delivery app returns for the 6th consecutive year with an ad supported with on-site events and experiences during the game.
Last week, the brand shared teasers revealing that Matthew McConaughey, Bradley Cooper, and Parker Posey will star in its ad to continue to make the case that football was invented to sell food. The brand is building on a theme it introduced in its 2025 Super Bowl ad, which also starred McConaughey.
The brand smartly opts for humor over a direct product push. Rather than listing features, the campaign wraps its value proposition in comedy. Uber Eats leans hard on recognizable talent to break through the clutter on Super Bowl Sunday.
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#3: TOYOTA
Toyota’s “Superhero Belt” ad turns buckling up into a superpower in its Super Bowl ad. The ad, which wasn’t originally intended for the Big Game, opens with a scene from decades ago with a young boy riding in his grandfather’s Toyota RAV4. When the boy resists buckling up, his grandfather reframes the seatbelt as something relevant to the boy, a “superhero belt”.
The spot jumps thirty years to witness the boy, now a grown man, driving his grandfather and jokingly reminding him to put on his “superhero belt”.
The brand skips the hard sell and tells a human story that feels familiar. The result is an emotional pull – viewers recognize themselves in the moment, and the product earns its place without asking.
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#4: BUDWEISER
Budweiser pairs two quintessentially American symbols – a Budweiser Clydesdale and a bald eagle – to celebrate its 150th anniversary. It’s about tradition, longevity, and national pride. It positions Budweiser not just as a beer, but as an American cultural institution.
Budweiser has been teasing its new commercial for several days leading up to its release. One teaser, titled “Stable,” features Budweiser Clydesdales watching a mystery animal wiggle under a bucket. The brand asks viewers to guess the creature’s identity.
The ad campaign, which is the Clydesdales’ 48th year at the Super Bowl, has legs since 2026 is Budweiser’s 150th anniversary and America’s 250th birthday.
Other Super Bowl ad news includes:
- AL is about to have its Super Bowl moment. Anthropic will appear, but it’s staying cryptic – no creative details have been released. ChatGPT grabbed a premium 60-second spot, and for now the story, visuals, and star power are under wraps.
- The car category is pumping the brakes. You’ll see fewer automobile ads this year, with Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Kia, Honda, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz all sitting out.
- Celebrities, however, are everywhere. They’re selling everything from Donuts (Ben Affleck for Dunkin) to websites (Emma Stone for Squarespace) to mayonnaise (Andy Samberg and Elle Fanning for Hellmann’s).
