Scoring Super Bowl LX’s Standout Ads

Just as the Seattle Seahawks overpowered the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night, several themes dominated in the game’s commercials. (And no, not just with all the AI ads.)

“They were less complicated this year. I felt like over the last few years, the ads had gotten more and more oblique,” said Judy Frels, a clinical professor of marketing in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “The ads were more low-key, direct, straightforward and more effective than the trend has been.”

At $8 million for a 30-second spot—with some companies shelling out as much as $10 million—that strategy, along with some well-timed humor and celebrity cameos, helped some standout ads land and justify the price tag to reach over 100 million viewers, agreed fellow Clinical Professor of marketing Hank Boyd.

The pair joined Maryland Today for its annual Monday morning quarterbacking session to discuss which commercials scored big.

Best Casting: TurboTax | The Expert feat. Adrien Brody
Actor Adrien Brody, who last year won an Oscar for his intense performance in “The Brutalist,” can’t quite get it through his head that TurboTax experts aim to take the pain out of taxes. “I don’t do happy!” he declares after sulking through a dreary, rainy scene and urging viewers to brace themselves.

Frels: He’s all about how he’s gonna bring all his angst. Bringing that particular star to that brand makes such perfect sense.

Boyd: I get the sense that all the stars now say, “Okay, we get it. There’s a joke and we totally get it.”

Best AI: Anthropic and Claude | How Can I Communicate Better With my Mom? and Can I Get a Six Pack Quickly?
This tag team of ads by the artificial intelligence company features two people seeking advice from anthropomorphized chatbots, one to connect with his mom and the other to get ripped quick. After awkward pauses and realistically sycophantic responses like “Great question!” and “Perfect!,” the bots get down to selling a dating site and insoles, confusing the AI users. “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude,” the tagline reads.

Frels: The therapist starts speaking, and you realize there’s something not right about her. And then you realize, “Oh, it’s AI.” That was just hysterical. Once you got clued into that, the follow-up one about the pull-ups was even better.

Boyd: Claude is basically saying, “We’re authentic. We’re the real deal.”

(Honorable mention: Google Gemini’s ad New Home, where AI shows what a family’s new house would look like with a young boy’s belongings in it, was a great way to “think about how we can humanize AI,” Frels said. On the other hand, Svedka’s Shake Your Bots Off spot with creepy robots guzzling vodka could elicit responses of, “If this is the shape of things to come, I’m a little nervous,” Boyd said.)

Most Empowering: Dove | The Game is Ours
The ad opens with a sobering fact: One in two girls who quit sports are criticized for their body type. Then it breaks into scenes of girl athletes clapping, stomping, dancing and huddling with their teammates. “But our joy is louder,” the ad reads. “Are you listening?”

Boyd: As a father, you always want to just give a hug to your daughter and just keep reminding them, “You’re beautiful, you’re great, you’re going to change this world.” That’s why I think that Dove has really hit upon something that’s very important.

Frels: Huge kudos to Dove for being brand-consistent. They’ve been on this campaign for real beauty for 20 years.

Best Americana: Budweiser | American Icons
The beer company once again relies on its classic Clydesdale, this time showing the horse growing up with another widely recognizable American symbol, a bald eagle, protecting it from the rain and galloping through fields as it learns to fly. As “Free Bird,” plays and picks up speed, the tagline reads, “Made of America. For 150 years, this Bud’s for you.”

Boyd: You have this pairing and this friendship, and of course, they had to get Lynyrd Skynyrd in the background. You have all of that laced into 150 years of Budweiser, made of America, not for America. You want that crescendo.

Frels: It was so much straightforward, direct iconography, but it works. Sometimes it’s almost a little vacation for your brain to have such a simple ad put in front of you.

Most Interesting Switch-up: Pepsi | The Choice
A polar bear, a staple of Coca-Cola’s winter ads, becomes surprised and somewhat horrified that he actually prefers Pepsi in a blind taste test. After talking through these feelings with a therapist, he gets caught on the kiss cam enjoying his new favorite beverage.

Boyd: They have the Pepsi Challenge from back in the day, and then to bring the whole thing back to Coldplay? Well done.

Frels: I did read, though, “Did Pepsi just spend X million dollars making a Coke ad?”

Best backsides: Levi’s | Backstory
With James Brown’s “Get Up Offa That Thing” blaring in the background, the camera focuses in on famous jean-clad booties, from Grammy-winning rapper Doechii to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” album cover to “Toy Story’s” Woody the cowboy. Each one’s back pocket features the tiny pop of red of a Levi’s tag.

Frels: Man, you talk about pulling in people from all walks of life around an iconic brand. And it had reason to be there, because the Super Bowl stadium was Levi’s Stadium. So quick, so powerful.

Boyd: It really spoke to the fact that jeans are so iconic. It’s our fashion statement to the world.

(Honorable mention: Pharmaceutical company Novartis also featured backsides in its ad, Relax Your Tight End, starring famous NFL tight ends like former Patriots star Rob Gronkowski doing yoga, painting and swinging in a hammock due to its finger-free blood test to screen for prostate cancer. “Gronk was just spot-on perfect,” Boyd said.)