Ah, the Super Bowl—a time when marketers throw down millions (a casual $8mil for a 30sec TVC) to supercharge their brand awareness and sales. While the game itself might be the main event for some, for us branding nerds, it's all about the ads and the strategy to help their brand win big. This year’s Super Bowl ad lineup revealed some interesting trends and creative gambles—some brilliant, some bizarre, and a few total flops.
Key Themes from Super Bowl 2025 Ads
A few standout themes dominated this year’s ad breaks:
The Winners
Taco Bell – UGC masters
You know an ad is great when you’re annoyed you didn’t think of it first. Taco Bell leveraged user-generated images of real fans (most captured via a camera in their drive-throughs, genius), pushing celebrities like Doja Cat and LeBron James to the outer. It was simple, authentic, and hilarious — more than just an ad, it strengthened customer connection in the real world.
Google – The Tearjerker
We’re not crying, you’re crying. Google continues to master the art of turning a simple product demo into an emotional rollercoaster. This ad was just beautiful and cuuuuuute. They made an AI product seem so human with the power of storytelling. Heartstrings officially pulled.
Coors Mondays Light – Sloth’s rock
A product name that’s marketing genius. Plus, sloths with awesome facial expressions. Enough said.
Yahoo – The Wildcard
Bill Murray as a dog? Weird, wonderful, and mysterious. Co-written by Murray and his brother for yes you read right… Yahoo. In this 15sec spot Bill invites fans to email him and he’ll respond with a story. It ranked as the #4 most-viewed Super Bowl ad on YouTube and is quote “just the beginning”.
Pringles – Call of the Moustaches
Featuring Adam Brody, Nick Offerman and facial hair come to life —what’s not to love? A bizarre but fun approach with a clever way to build brand equity. Bizarrely Little Caesar’s had the same idea in eyebrow form.
Homes.com – Marketers know
Starring Eugene Levy, for any marketer who’s battled their legal department for ad approvals, this is surprisingly satisfying.
Bud Light – Comedy bros to the rescue
Post Malone teams up with ex-SNL cast member-turned-bro-comedy star Shane Gillis in a fun, well-scripted spot featuring leaf blowers. If Betoota made a beer ad.
The Honourable Mentions
The Flops
Once again proving that just because you can buy a Super Bowl ad doesn’t mean you should (or at least make sure investment extends to your creative team).
Nike – what happened?
Nike’s first Super Bowl ad in nearly three decades felt uninspired and off-brand. Narrated by Grammy-winner Doechii and created by Nike OG agency Portland’s legendary Wieden+Kennedy, but… did they hand the script off to an intern or worse chatGPT?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ezn5pZE7o
Mountain Dew – Trying Too Hard
Some brands pull off bizarre, and some just fall short. Mountain Dew’s attempt landed in the latter category. Can’t say it’s not memorable though…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QPLoTLAdh8
T-Mobile & Starlink – Lame
This ads felt like it was homemade in PowerPoint —uninspired, bad typography, and so generic. Elon, Elon, Elon, and we thought you understood brand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLw6ZovMpLI&t=10s
Ray Ban & meta AI glasses
Oh no no no no no no no
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cqwXxUo_q8
Playing it safe
These brands clearly didn't read our Guts blog about the cost of being dull.
Jeep – Hedging bets
Jeep tried to sell both electric and gas-powered vehicles simultaneously, playing it safe by getting Harrison Ford to sit right on the fence. They even ditched major creative agencies, producing the ad entirely in-house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDn_uFEXGXk
And Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show?
Kendrick Lamar doubled down on Americana with an all-star-spangled performance featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam (cute). But surprisingly, it fell flat— we were expecting more. Too busy with his beef with Drake... he’s no Prince or Rhi Rhi.
Final Thoughts
It was always a challenging brief from CMOs asking their creative agencies to navigate the current U.S. cultural landscape. Some brands played it safe, some took bold risks, and a few totally missed the mark. But hey, at least we got some great marketing moments out of it.
Oh, and apparently, there was some kind of game on too...?
Blog sources:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/super-bowl-ads-best-worst-2025-1235261475/
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/most-watched-super-bowl-ads-2025-youtube-top-10-1236302276/
https://www.9news.com.au/world/super-bowl-ads-2025-wrap-celebrities-commercials/cd790e5d-85de-4412-88fa-2a34916e4fa9