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Maybe it was because the build-up to Apple Music’s Rihanna halftime show became a cultural event in itself. Or maybe it’s just the continued proliferation of good ol’ fashioned media fragmentation, but prior to Super Bowl Sunday, it felt like no single brand had really captured much cultural pre-game hype.
Still, they all suited up and took the field—hoping, wishing, dreaming of tapping into your emotions.
Evaluating what makes a great Super Bowl ad (as I’ve written before) is a rather straightforward calculation: Is it entertaining? Does it actually address the product or brand? Where does it land on the first impressions scale between wing-choking chuckles and cringe-induced dry heaving?
We all experience the game and the ads in different ways. This is what I like best, but there are no wrong answers as to what you enjoy versus what I did. (Well, except for Mr. Peanut.)
PopCorners “Breaking Good”
From the moment the teaser dropped with Aaron Paul’s Jesse trying to get that RV started, it was clear that Frito-Lay was swinging for the Super Bowl fences for its fastest-growing brand. Bringing back one of TV’s most iconic duos was the advertising equivalent of going for it with a long pass for a touchdown when you only needed a yard for a new set of downs.
Breaking Bad may have ended a decade ago, but its status as one of the greatest TV dramas of all-time remains. Still, reuniting Paul’s Jesse with Bryan Cranston’s Walter White is no guarantee of success, but here Frito-Lay’s in-house agency D3 creatively avoided making it cringe. The gag of swapping in the non-fried snack for the show’s traditional meth gets the laughs it deserves. Crucially, the product is at the center of the idea the entire time. Throw in the classic line adaptation “Say their name!” and Raymond Cruz back as Tuco Salamanca, and it’s a big game winner. Tight!
Tubi “Rabbit Holes”
As we find ourselves in what feels like year 57 of the streaming wars, one of the most common advertising tropes has been to use celebrity to pitch the high profile content of a particular streamer. Apple has even doubled down on that strategy with both Timothy Chalamet and Jon Hamm, employing A-list celebrities to act like they’re begging to be on the service with all the other A-list celebrities.
Fox-owned, ad-supported streaming service Tubi doesn’t have the same hype as Apple, Netflix, Peacock, or Disney. So with its Super Bowl spot the brand decided to lean into what makes it different. Tubi has more than 48,000 titles, so the brand is really focusing on the depth of its catalog across genres and categories, from sci-fi, thriller, to Black cinema, anime and more. Hence, the title of its spot “Rabbit Holes.”
The level of difficulty here is impressive. No celebrities. No blockbusters. And not exaaactly a household name brand. But here ad agency Mishief uses bunny suits to get the idea across by throwing a Hail Mary of a creepy comedy spot at us. Tubi CMO Nicole Parlapiano told AdAge that the goal was to rattle viewers’ cage a bit, “Whether they love the ad or they think it’s weird, people will remember it. The intent is to be a bit polarizing.” Touchdown.
Squarespace “The Singularity”
When Squarespace first dropped its Super Bowl teaser, “Backstage with Adam Driver,” more than a week ago, it clocked in at two minutes, far longer than the typical 15-second teaser. The video, with about 27 different versions of the award-winning actor, ended up collecting more than 5.4 million YouTube views as of Friday, while its two TikTok adaptations have about 15 million plays between them.
The big game ad itself is quirky comedy, in the same spirit as the brand’s Super Bowl ads with Jeff Bridges (2015), John Malkovich (2017), and Keanu Reeves (2018). Strange, silly, and 100% all about Squarespace.
Squarespace chief creative officer David Lee told me last week that he looks at the Super Bowl as an opportunity that isn’t just about a singular, silver bullet 30-second spot during the game. “In some ways, [the Super Bowl spot is] actually just the cherry on top, or marks the climax of more work,” Lee said. “We look at it as an opportunity to tell a narrative over time.”
This year, it was another story worth telling from the website that makes websites.
The Farmer’s Dog “Forever”
You ever just feel like weeping openly at a Super Bowl party? This absolute tearjerker from the fresh dog food company plucked a lot of unsuspecting heartstrings in a game filled with ads aiming for laughs.
Created in-house by The Farmer’s Dog, the spot follows the relationship between a puppy and a young girl as she grows up, from playing in the yard to comforting her as a teen to saying goodbye as she leaves for college. It follows their relationship all the way up to her wedding day and then having a baby of her own, all set to the soulful soundtrack of Lee Fields’ “Forever.” The real kick to the cryballs hits about three quarters of the way through, when the entire viewpoint flips to see those same moments through the dog’s eyes.
By the time that the tagline—”Nothing matters more than more years together”—flashes onscreen, tying healthy eating to a longer life, anyone with a dog, a kid, or a heart is already melting.
GM x Netflix “Why Not an EV?”
Back in 2021, Will Ferrell took on the entire country of Norway in a bid to hype General Motors’ EV ambitions. After last year’s Dr. Evil cringefest, GM has thankfully brought Ferrell back, this time embedded in multiple Netflix shows, including Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and Squid Game.
The big game brand collaboration also announces that GM actually has signed a deal with Netflix to feature its EVs in the streamer’s original programming, all in an effort to further normalize EVs in culture. You can’t get much more mainstream than a Super Bowl ad and a guy who used to drive a Dodge Stratus. Only downside is, it may remind people that they can watch EVs on Netflix while they wait out all the supply backlogs and waiting lists to actually buy one.
Still, it’s a funny, creative way to play with pop culture. Ferrell is the perfect goofball foil for shows like Squid Game and Bridgerton, making this the best brand-entertainment pairing since the Bud Knight was brutally murdered by Game of Thrones villain The Mountain during the 2019 Super Bowl.
Finally . . . The Worst Ad of the 2023 Super Bowl.
Planters “The Roast of Mr. Peanut”
Jeff Ross is a master at his chosen art of roasting, and there’s no reason for him not to cash a sweet, sweet Super Bowl paycheck.
The challenge here is that Mr. Peanut has no personality, nor any real cultural relevance, outside of faking his own death for clicks in 2020. At least people like the M&M characters enough to actually fall for that lame retirement stunt. Here, Planters is trying to manufacture relevance, once again, by presenting the usually mute, monocled mascot as somehow worthy of a Ross roast, along with comedians Natasha Leggero, Frank Castillo, Atsuko Okatsuka, Yamaneika Saunders, David Lucas, and Sarah Tiana.
The crown for worst Super Bowl ad could rest on many heads, to be honest, but Planters gets my vote for not only serving up cringe over comedy, but doubling down on a past Super Bowl dud as some sort of inside joke. As a result, your sense of humor may need an EpiPen.
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