It’s done! And thank goodness it only happens once a year. Super Bowl LX didn’t disappoint; we’ve been teased, surprised, and certainly entertained. Throughout, we’ve brought you everything we know about the work – the strategy, the production, and the collaborations. But now it’s time to round things off by speaking to some of the real heroes behind the ads.
We’ve contacted every company behind the spots for comment.
Intuit TurboTax - The Expert
Ryan O'Keefe, group creative director at R/GA
The Super Bowl sets a fundamentally different bar: it’s where safe ideas go to die. And for a brand like TurboTax, it’s the one night a year we’re competing head-to-head with brands hawking mortgages, manscaping, and mayonnaise.
We started early last summer, working closely with our compadres at TurboTax to co-author the brief. That level of trust and access gave us permission to swing harder than ever before. We opened it up globally, with teams in the US, UK, and Australia pitching week after week. It turned into a sprint and a marathon at the same time, with hundreds of ideas, all in service of finding the one thing that could actually survive the Super Bowl.
The idea behind ‘The Expert’ showed up early and immediately felt different. TurboTax takes the drama out of taxes, so let’s prove it by pitting a dramatic actor against it. It was bold, self-aware, restrained, and written specifically for Adrien Brody. It leaned into his legendary dramatic persona and asked him to flip it on its head and go comedic in a very self-referential way. We fully assumed he’d pass.
Instead, he said yes. Right away. He loved the idea of playing against expectations and showing a side people don’t usually see. Once Adrien was in, it was crucial to surround him with the right creative partners. Craig Gillespie was key. His calm presence was the perfect counterweight to Adrien’s dramatic intensity. Once they were both locked, we moved quickly. We shot in Toronto just before the holidays and stayed tight with both of them, which helped keep the work sharp and focused all the way to the Super Bowl. I couldn’t be prouder of the work from our R/GA team, and I’ve got to hand it to TurboTax, great work only happens with brave clients.
Oakley Meta - Athletic Intelligence Is Here
Ben Bliss and Galen Graham, group creative directors at Mother LA
No matter what kind of athlete you are, Oakley Meta AI glasses give you deeper, more reactive insights to help you up your game. We cast a wide range of stars, Olympians and pros to demonstrate the glasses in action across their respective fields. Our idea was to shoot tightly on their faces, letting the viewer see their epic feats through the reflection of the glasses. To achieve that, we shot with a wide range of cameras across various setups, experimenting to see what worked. Not all of them panned out. Olympic cyclist Kate Courtney broke her bike while performing a stunt for one of our key scenes, resulting in an adrenaline-packed thrill ride that showcases what Oakley Meta AI glasses can do.
Alex Ward and Boyan Zlatarski, creatives, Mother New York
We’ve only made Super Bowl ads so far, which is hilarious and kind of wild to say. So what’s the biggest challenge? Honest answer – we’re not sure yet! We are incredibly fortunate to be in this position just six months into the industry, especially because we got to see everyone at Mother LA come together and support us in learning as much as possible on this production. We keep hearing that no project will ever compare to this, and considering how much we grew as creatives just by getting to work with this infinitely talented team, we think they might be right. We hope to bring the same level of care, focus, and dedication to all the productions that follow in our careers, Super Bowl or not.
Grubhub – The Feest
Drew Burton and Lucy Logan, creative directors at Anomaly LA
When we got invited to pitch Grubhub’s Super Bowl spot, we knew they needed to take a huge swing. As a challenger brand in a loud, always-on food delivery app category, being quiet or conventional wasn’t really an option. Especially on such a massive stage.
Lucky for us, Grubhub’s plan to do away with fees gave us a juicy product benefit to rally around. So we got together with our creative team (Laura Mai Beck and Ryan Seipert) to develop a script intended to be strange, funny, and memorable. All in all, we wanted to create something distinct and bold enough to make people reconsider Grubhub.
As the script came together, we kept referencing the dark humour, rich visual world and offbeat characters of Yorgos Lanthimos films like ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’. Which, naturally, placed him firmly at the top of our wish list. Fortunately the stars aligned, and he said yes. At that moment, we all realised we had the chance to make something really special.
The collaboration with Yorgos was really incredible from start to finish. While you kind of expect a director of his ilk to come in and try to rewrite everything, he really embraced the simplicity and integrity of the original script. Elevating our core idea by meticulously crafting every single detail – infusing his absurdist vision into every nook and cranny of the piece. From the casting to the costumes to the score, Yorgos was super hands-on throughout the process.
George Clooney was actually a pretty late addition to the film. The original concept wasn’t meant to include a celeb. But as the scale and ambition of the campaign grew, we wanted to establish a voice of reason to counterbalance the absurdity of the guests, and the fees. Since George had never done a Super Bowl spot, we loved the idea of bringing him on. Fortunately we were able to make it work – and before we knew it, our boy George was on set in an orange turtleneck saying, “Grubhub will eat the fees.”
And yes, he is just as handsome and dreamy in person.
Dunkin’ – Good Will Dunkin’
Brandon Pierce, co-president and executive creative director, and Dan Litzow, group creative director, at Artists Equity
Brandon> The biggest challenge is always considering the powerful number of viewers that you will have as a willing and captive audience for 30 to 60 seconds. They are ready and willing to be entertained, and you don’t want to be the brand that lets them down with a “meh” spot. So as you think about every decision conceptually and from a craft decision, you should be thinking about someone seeing this for the very first time and walking away remembering that you added to their Super Bowl watching experience with your spot.
Dan> As if making the actual spot isn’t a challenge enough, it feels like table stakes at the Super Bowl. There’s so much more beyond film that brands do on top of that to cut through all the buffalo-sauced noise. That and actually trying to do something new and original after six decades of iconic ads. It’s beautifully intimidating to see that there are still new ways to Super Bowl in 2026.
Brandon> This ad began with an ambition vs. a concept. Asking ourselves, “How can we create a lore, so realistic in nature, that we can maybe Mandela effect the entire country into thinking, ‘Wait, did this really exist?’” We had a foundational connection to an iconic piece of IP in ‘Good Will Hunting’, being from 1997. Cross-referencing that Dunkin’ first launched Iced Coffee in 1995, it became realistic to think that a young and rising Ben Affleck may have optioned his and Matt’s script as a sitcom pilot to a network when coffee-based sitcoms were all the rage (‘Friends’ with Central Perk, the diner in ‘Seinfeld’), so we tapped into a cultural truth and then cast accordingly.
Dan> Making the film in itself was a huge feat, but we also had to create a convincing faux history for this sitcom. That mythical Sinbad genie movie really set the bar high.
So we breadcrumbed it with an IMDB page, taped an interview with Kevin McCarthy at the press junket for Ben and Matt’s new film ‘The Rip’, designed a 90s merch collection, held a '90s pop-up at MIT, inserted fake memorabilia in the bar where they shot GWH, released ‘lost’ audition tapes of John Stamos and Tiffani Thiessen, teased with teasers and also teased those teasers with more teasers, gave out 1.995 million coffees, organised a Will Hunting-level math contest with a real MIT professor, and more.
Hellmann’s - Sweet Sandwich Time and Blue Square Alliance – Sticky Note
Duc Nguyen, creative director, and Nicolas Romano, executive creative director at VML
This year we made two Super Bowl commercials. One for Hellmann’s mayo. And one for The Blue Square Alliance, which combats antisemitism. For both these spots, the big difference between a Super Bowl campaign and a regular ad is that your target audience is literally everyone. All of whom come complete with an opinion and at least one social media account. Of course, when you try to please everyone, you often end up pleasing no one. And therein lies the challenge of any Super Bowl spot – appealing to a hyper-diverse audience without diluting your idea.
For Hellmann’s it was a long and windy road. Luckily, we had a good soundtrack for the journey when we found the perfect song for a sporting event (Neil Diamond, you are a true gem). And then with the help of smart people like Andy Samberg and Tom Kuntz, we turned that song into a song about a guy who was born in a deli and can never leave, not that he wants to. Which meant we could show sandwiches and mayonnaise galore, and it would be totally natural. Which is a great way to make mayo clients happy. And happy clients? They let you do fun stuff, like pretending Andy Samberg lives in the walls of Canter's Deli.
Blue Square Alliance was a very different but also very rewarding experience. To create an ad combating antisemitism in the current climate meant knowing no matter what you do, someone is going to object. But hate is wrong. In all its forms. So with record levels of antisemitism affecting children in schools across America, we tried to create the most relatable spot possible. So we could connect emotionally with as many viewers as possible. From making that journey down the hallway, one that anyone could relate to, to the moment in our long version where the Jewish teen goes to confront his tormentors. Which turns him from a 2D victim stereotype into a strong person willing to stand up for himself. Which is how we all would like to see ourselves.
Kinder - No Bueno
Allegra Wiesenfeld, senior copywriter, and Reid Plaxton, senior art director, at Anomaly NY
At the beginning, the challenge was figuring out what ‘Is it Super Bowl worthy?’ really means. Our bread and butter is of the scrappier variety, so thinking on a bigger scale was a bit of a mind warp. Oh, we can conjure up a black hole? Ok, cool. What else can we do?
Maybe the best part of the Super Bowl is that the sky’s the limit, especially when you have a producer who works magic (looking at you, Michelle Price).
The north star of it all soon became to create something that functions as a larger-than-life one-off but could also be the launch point of a multi-year run.
This was Kinder Bueno’s first Super Bowl ad, and ours too, so we were all figuring it out together. First off was nailing down an idea. Looking back, our original scripts weren't even close to big enough, but they provided the Yes Bueno DNA.
Beth Fujiura, Casey Hall and Dan Shapiro (our CDs and fearless GCD) whipped the concept into a structure that we could slot into different settings. And then came testing. And we tested a lot of settings. There were shipwrecks, many species of talking animals, a bit of baby birding… Until we landed on a space epic.
Then, we had to go to outer space. Or rather, a massive studio in Toronto, filled with a cockpit, and right beside that a mid-century modern NASA control room, and next to that a miniature of our alien planet. Shooting was just half the lift on this one. The other half was the VFX. So. Much. VFX. Worlds of VFX. Thank God for the team at Preymaker, who built everything from a black hole to aliens to teeny tiny baby spacesuits.
Liquid I.V. - Take a Look
Scott Horlbeck and Joaquin Sabarots, associate creative directors at Anomaly
Scott> The biggest challenge is that you’re not just competing against other ads. You’re competing against nachos, buffalo wings, square pools, the coin toss, the length of the national anthem, Bad Bunny’s halftime show, the Gatorade colour, and someone’s uncle explaining the ‘Cover 2 defence’. That’s when two deep safeties split the field in half and the corners and linebackers take away everything underneath. Defences do this to limit big plays and force the offence into a long, slow drive that takes way longer than they want it to take, which is exactly how everyone feels reading this.
The idea came to us quickly. During the briefing, actually. From there, we took the idea to our clients at Liquid I.V. and Stacey, their amazing CMO, immediately saw the magic in it. She deserves a tonne of credit for that because singing toilets isn’t an easy idea to buy, let alone buy for your first Super Bowl commercial. From there, we were lucky enough to speak to some amazing directors. Then we hopped on a plane to Prague and made toilets sing with Martin de Thurah, which was exactly as much fun as it sounds.
Joaquin> Any brand that shows up during the Super Bowl turns the dial up to 100. So to stand out, you need to take risks. A lot of brands tap celebrities to be loud and heard.
The biggest challenge, and blessing, for us was not using one. That said, we knew this meant the idea had to be that much stronger.
We began by simply thinking about the signs of dehydration. And there’s not a more visual representation of dehydration than yellow pee. So naturally, we made toilets sing. It was important for us to bring on a director who took this film and the toilets' emotions seriously, which in turn made it funnier. And Martin De Thurah did just that. He was the perfect partner for this.
Dove - The Game is Ours
Andre Santa Cruz and Caio Batista, creative duo at Ogilvy
When a Super Bowl brief comes in, you instantly feel the stakes go up. It’s exciting, but it also comes with a lot more pressure, more eyeballs, and a really, really high bar. It’s almost impossible not to compare your work to the best Super Bowl ads ever. Or at least the ones everyone’s been talking about lately.
At the same time, you’re trying to make your message breakthrough in the middle of the biggest game of the year, the absolute banger Bad Bunny halftime show, and a parade of big-budget, star-studded commercials. All without losing sight of the message you set out to tell in the first place.
We started with a devastating stat: one in two girls quits sports by age 14 because of body shaming.
But instead of dwelling on what’s broken, we wanted to flip the narrative and spotlight something stronger: the power of joy and sisterhood. Girls are quitting because of what others say about their bodies. So what if we let their bodies talk back? What if the sounds of play, movement, and joy could drown out the noise?
We partnered with director and former Olympic athlete Savannah Leaf, cast over 90 real girls, worked with Beyoncé’s choreographer to create a bespoke routine (humble brag), and composed the entire soundtrack from the sounds their bodies made while playing and dancing.
Watching it come together was incredible: girls learning the moves from scratch in just a few hours, finding their confidence, feeding off one another’s energy, and truly coming out of their shells as the joy took over.
Pringles - Pringleleo
Taylor Osborn, senior copywriter, and Kelly Scollard, senior art director, BBDO New York
The shoot truly had a Super Bowl-level of ambition behind it. We had a packed schedule with many locations and complicated setups involving puppeteers, a car scene, stunt work, etc. And to top it off, we had limited time with Sabrina Carpenter to get it all done. There was absolutely no margin for error.
With any other directors, we would’ve bitten off more than we could chew. Thankfully, we had Vania and Muggia, the masterminds behind Sabrina’s ‘Manchild’ video, who executed everything flawlessly. They ran a leapfrogging system where one director filmed with Sabrina, while the other staged the next scene, allowing her to move seamlessly from setup to setup.
And they weren’t the only ones in two places at once. Our leading man, Pringleleo, was literally filming two scenes simultaneously – his detached legs playing footsie with Sabrina in the restaurant while his torso posed for the bedroom scene.
It also didn’t hurt that both Sabrina (and Pringleleo) nailed essentially all their performances in a single take.
This was a shoot that had to go perfectly. And somehow, it did. All thanks to a massive team of incredibly talented people who turned this high-wire production into something really special.
Volkswagen - The Great Invitation: Drivers wanted
Lukas Pearson and Katyana O'Neill, creative directors at Johannes Leonardo
When you’re creating a Super Bowl campaign, the biggest challenge is deciding how you’re going to effectively use this massive, 130-million-person stage in a way that makes it worth it. What are you going to say, or do, that’s worth the audience's time? Unlike a ‘regular’ campaign, you don’t have 3 months and 300 assets to make it count; you have 30 seconds.
For us, the “what will we say” came early, as we decided to bring back ‘Drivers Wanted’ for one simple reason: today, much like in the early 90s, society is at an inflection point – being pressured to follow a set path vs. making our own, except these days the set path isn’t being dictated by people in suits – it’s being dictated by AI and algorithms. This ‘simply follow’ status quo is what ‘Drivers Wanted’ flies in the face of, a call-to-arms that urges people to be a ‘driver’ as they refuse to be a passenger in their own lives. This spurred the concept behind our spot – a simple invitation to the world to leave the safety of the feed, the algo, and the known behind and get back in the driver’s seat of life.
With this message at its core, the rest of the campaign became about bringing this POV to life in an authentic, human-forward, visceral way. Shooting on film versus using AI. Casting real people versus polished actors. Letting the imperfections shine through vs. trying to glaze over them. To this end, Leigh Powis was the perfect director for this project, as his ambition and approach helped us realise the vision we set out to achieve.
As with any media buy of this size, eyes are on it, so the final hurdle became protecting the idea at the core of this campaign. Keeping it simple, human, slightly understated – real, and fending off the inclinations of stakeholders to ask for something more in-your-face. We pushed for the notion that amongst the chaotic celeb-AI-spectale-forward world of the Super Bowl, restraint and humanity can still cut through, and that this was the way to do this campaign, and message, justice.
In the end we didn’t just want to remind people that VW makes cars; we wanted to remind them why they love driving them. We treated the ad not as a broadcast, but as a genuine invitation to “say yes” to life again.
State Farm - Halfway There Insurance
Rick Utzinger, executive creative director and Megan Steidl, creative director at TMA
There are the usual challenges, of course. How do you grab the attention of 100 million viewers? How do you make sure they remember not only your brand but also the message? But this year, we had an additional challenge, because State Farm isn’t interested in merely getting the audience’s attention for a hot minute. We needed to tell a story that carries on long after the last piece of confetti has dropped.
And while crafting a new way to show that having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm, we found our way to one of the most famous songs ever and tweaked the message to be ‘Stop Livin’ on a Prayer and get State Farm’. Suddenly you’re Tommy or Gina, and I’m getting homesick for New Jersey right now.
Script-wise, there were some elements that took this to the next level for me. Starting and stopping the song. Using a talk box as an answer to a question. Office garb that’s turned into 80s rocker outfits. Those spins all felt fresh. Taking something familiar and making it unique isn’t easy, but the team kept pushing it.
‘Halfway There Insurance’ is the embodiment of false confidence and complacency, so you need talent that can pull that off. Danny McBride and Keegan-Michael Key were the perfect fit. They’re both brilliant at portraying characters like that in shows, movies and sketches. And now Super Bowl campaigns. Hailee Steinfeld was fantastic in the role of the customer. Her reaction to Danny and Keegan’s nonsense says everything we wanted about the non-State Farm experience they were giving. A simple look can go a long way from an Oscar-nominated actress.
From a social reach standpoint, is there anyone hotter than KATSEYE right now? This is going to be a big year for them. The music video vibe we were creating was an organic fit for their talents.
When it came down to putting this whole thing on film, we were thrilled to work with Dan Opsal. I have always wanted to work with Dan. He has a talent for combining humour and cinematic scope. Not to mention he plays a mean triple-neck guitar, which doesn’t hurt.
All eyes are on this. I don’t just mean when it airs. I’m talking internal, agency, clients, everything. All eyes are on this work because, for many, it’s the biggest project of the year.
When you’re working on something as big as this with State Farm, it needs to be a whole, cohesive and well-thought-out campaign versus just an ad. We needed to think through all of the channels, touchpoints, audiences, and messaging and make sure that we were telling a cohesive story that is worthy of millions of eyes. This is advertising’s biggest stage. You can’t risk going halfway. (ZING)
The core of the idea is a clear message: Stop livin’ on a prayer and get State Farm – reinforcing that having insurance isn’t the same as having State Farm. Once we had that, we were on to brainstorming lyrics – trying to find funny insurance situations and even trying to match syllable counts of each line to the iconic original song. We wrote out our version of the full song - key change and all.
Raisin Bran – Will Shat
Mimia Johnson, executive creative director, and Alex Mangione, creative director at VaynerMedia
Alex> This campaign definitely wasn’t regular, but it can make you more regular!
But honestly, the biggest challenge was convincing all the right stakeholders that saying “Shat” repeatedly on national television during the Super Bowl was a good idea. But we fought like hell for it because we knew we had to remind people why they love Raisin Bran, and we needed to make fibre – a normally clinical topic – exciting and memorable. And Will Shat did both.
Mimia> At Vayner, we never do anything regular! And it took a very irregular team to pull it off – both a brand and agency team that wasn’t afraid to push the line on what you are legally allowed to say on television, push the limits of what a 94-year-old national treasure like William Shatner can do, and relentlessly pursue getting as many puns in the spot as possible!
Alex> It started with a stat: 95% of Americans are fibre deficient. It’s an important health issue, but it’s not sexy. So the question became – how do we make digestive health engaging enough to spark a fibre revolution with Raisin Bran?
The answer was turning the legend William Shatner into ‘Will Shat’ and having him deliver this message to the masses.
And since the Super Bowl is no longer just about the commercial but about the entire campaign surrounding it, we launched two weeks early with paparazzi photos of Shatner eating a bowl of Raisin Bran in his car. The photos went absolutely crazy on the internet and beyond, and really brought cereal back into the cultural conversation. By the time we revealed the full spot on the Today Show, the internet was already primed and talking about it. Then we kept the social surround going all the way through game day with extended cuts and content, and we're even driving the fibre message post-game, positioning Raisin Bran as the ultimate reset after people have demolished wings and nachos all weekend. And the plan is to keep things going long after. Fibre pun intended.
Mimia> To Alex’s point, we think about the Super Bowl as not just one 30-second spot; it’s a whole programme that has to capture attention, which meant focusing on the PR and social buzz we could build weeks before the game. Whether that meant having paparazzi photography on set to capture juicy images to ‘leak’ to press, hundreds of social assets to release in the weeks leading up to the launch, and of course our one-in-a-million PR team that landed an exclusive reveal on the Today Show followed by People Magazine to send the launch over the top.
Honestly that part was easy compared to actually convincing NBC to let us say “shat” on a national broadcast that 130+ million people watched. You probably know that shit/shat is one of the seven banned words on television – but it was a huge kudos to the team and the rounds and rounds and rounds of scripts that Alex and our ACD Sergio Falvo wrote to find the exact line we could walk up to without crossing it.
Ro – Healthier on Ro with Serena Williams
Giselle Guerrero, VP of Brand & Creative and Ro In-House
Creating Ro’s first Super Bowl campaign meant confronting a unique set of challenges beyond what a typical ad requires. Because you’re speaking to over 100 million people in one moment, every second had to be intentional, memorable, and clear, not just entertaining. The team had to distil the ‘Healthier on Ro’ platform into a 30-second story that both dispelled stigma – especially the idea that GLP-1s are just for vanity or weight loss – and helped viewers instantly understand what Ro stands for, without spending precious time explaining the category itself. That meant relentlessly aligning on strategy and visuals so that no matter what point of the spot people saw, they would walk away with both the emotional story and a strong recognition of Ro as the brand behind it, an intentional level of repetition and clarity that goes far beyond what a typical ad needs.
The process began about six months before the game with deep strategic alignment and the exploration of more than 150 concepts. Our explicit goal was to reframe the narrative around GLP-1s, moving beyond vanity and weight numbers to show broader health benefits, such as reduced joint pain, improved blood sugar, and overall vitality in Serena Williams’ journey, anchored in the Healthier on Ro message. Ro’s in-house brand team led creative execution, choosing partners like director Bethany Vargas and production company Young Hero to evolve the established visual world while intentionally repeating “on Ro” throughout the storytelling so the brand would be unmistakable. AI tools were used in pre-production to accelerate visualisation without replacing creative judgement, and every choice – from art direction and motion to soundtrack—was made to ensure that the spot felt emotionally grounded and culturally relevant, while also clearly communicating Ro’s mission and what it means to be ‘Healthier on Ro’. If you want to see a full breakdown of our process, you can read more here.
Hawaiian Airlines - We Fly For Hawaii
Matt Wakeman, group creative director at Mekanism
Creating a Super Bowl spot for Hawaiian Airlines meant playing on the biggest stage with the smallest margin for error—more eyes, more stakeholders, and louder competition from brands with deeper pockets. So we flipped the script. With a lean budget and a fast clock, we traded spectacle for soul: no celebrities, no chart-topping anthem, no visual effects—just a simple, human story grounded in authenticity and truth. One designed to speak directly to Hawaiʻi, and resonate far beyond it.
To bring the idea to life, we skipped the star director and handed the camera to the people who carry it. Hawaiian’s own employees captured real, everyday moments – love for their community, culture, and island spirit. We didn’t just collect their stories – we joined them, travelling to Hawaiʻi to film alongside employees on phones and handheld cameras as they created their own content. A local musician crafted a traditional score representing Hawaiian Airlines’ heritage. Rooted in mo‘olelo (storytelling), the campaign reflects a brand story still unfolding – shaped not by production value, but by the people and families who live it every day.
NFL – Champion
Gerardo Ortiz, group creative director at 72andSunny
The great thing about the relationship between 72andSunny and the NFL is that it's built on trust and great work, so we stay true to ourselves and the process. To borrow from sports, 'practice how you play' – every campaign or piece of work gets the same rigor. The routine doesn’t change just because the lights get brighter for the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl brings more eyes, but you can create your own moments outside of it too.
Though the film is simple, bringing it to life was complex. Once we knew we had a powerful visual and an important message, it became clear that the hardest part was ahead. Everything had to happen in prep. With only two scenes, every second, angle, and word needed to be crafted with intention.
That meant prototyping, trying things on, adding, stripping back, and repeating. Every decision was in service of the message, and at times required the discipline to not get in its way.
At the end of the day, it was fun. For those of us with kids, we brought them in as the experts for posing the characters, and sometimes we just became kids ourselves, playing with the toys and our imagination.
NFL Cause - You Are Special
Jason LaFlore and Matt Turnier, creative directors at 72andSunny
Generally, the biggest challenge is creating something that people with no skin in the ad world will talk about and remember the next day – on one of the few days when every brand is attempting the same thing. With each commercial trying to top the next, you need an idea that makes somebody genuinely feel something. (The key word being 'idea', not 'celebrity'.) Making somebody laugh or cry or feel a sense of compassion or excitement – that’s what we try to chase.
Coming off of last year’s success, some kind of follow-up to 'Somebody' felt natural. We wanted to keep spreading a message of worth and belonging in a way that nobody could debate. With that message in mind, we went to the Mr Rogers archive pretty early on, knowing his values aligned with what we were trying to bring to the world. Once we found the right song, we needed to find real kids around the country – through different youth organisations, football teams, cheer squads, choirs, and non-traditional casting – to represent in a way that was as inclusive as the music. Then, once our players and kids arrived, it was all about bringing as much joy to the moment as possible.
e.l.f. - Melisa
TK Hong, group creative director at 72andSunny
The Super Bowl is a noisy time with every brand trying to grab your attention, so it’s not enough to make a good ad. The goal is to make it to the family group chat.
The rules still apply of course – simple, entertaining, broad appeal, memorable. But those are table stakes. To break through, the work needs to hit a cultural nerve. It needs to recruit fans and give people a reason to share. The work needs to speak to its biggest advocate.
The moment Bad Bunny announced his Halftime show, our Brand Director Silvia Lacayo saw an opportunity. This was a rare chance to show up for the Latiné community and celebrate a historic moment. Within a week, we had an idea: People wanted to participate, they just didn’t know how. So we made e.l.f.'s Glow Reviver Lip Oil the unlikely hero, helping America roll its R’s before halftime.
The trickiest part of this project was to show up authentically. To get it right, we had to do our homework. And it had to be hilarious.
To capture the feel of a real ’90s novela, we worked with director Tim Heidecker to study the rhythms, tropes, and visual language of ’90s novelas. The whole thing was shot at 30 frames per second to give it that uncanny, heightened feel. Even lighting – aggressive highlights; flat, nostalgic interiors. Wildly unnecessary sound effects for maximum melodrama. Casting Itatí Cantoral, an iconic telenovela villain, was our love letter to Latiné audiences.
Then came the funny. Melissa McCarthy was a masterclass in physical comedy and improv. The line “soy un baño” was her idea. When you work with someone that funny, the smartest move is to get out of the way.
We worked through the holidays. Shot on January 21. Shipped 10 days later. That’s e.l.f. speed for ya. We basically all held hands and jumped.
Google Gemini - New Home
Tristan Smith, creative director at Google Creative Lab
The biggest challenge of creating a Super Bowl ad is using the heightened attention -- and scrutiny -- to your advantage. The Super Bowl is the one day a year where everyone actually cares about, and thinks about, and debates, and rates ads. You have to consider that unique environment and make something that rises to the occasion, entertains, moves people, and stands out. For us, it’s an opportunity to tell a story about the real-life benefits of our technology to an audience that’s fully tuned in, which is really special.
Like everything we make at the Creative Lab, it started with high-fidelity prototype films – more than a dozen this time around. We used Gemini models like Veo and Nano Banana to explore storylines and visualise the creative direction. We then evaluated those films for what was working and what wasn’t before choosing our final direction. In this case, it was a lot of experimenting with Gemini, trying different use cases to figure out what felt most compelling. The story of a mother helping her son process the news that they’re moving came from one of those tests: I took a photo of my six-year-old daughter’s bedroom to see if Gemini could transpose her stuff into a blank real estate listing photo. Once we saw that working, it was off to the races.
MANSCAPED - Hair Ballad
Clarissa Dale, group creative director at Quality Meats
I think the hardest thing is the pressure that comes with making a Super Bowl ad. It’s a big deal in the advertising world and the non-advertising world. Everyone judges them.
When you look at Super Bowl ads that came before you, they’re biiiiiig. Packed with celebs. Explosions! Wild locations. It would’ve been easy to panic and throw in a celebrity for the “fame” of it, even if it didn’t make sense for the spot or the idea didn’t need it.
Staying single-minded feels important. I’m very glad we held our ground and kept the celebs out of this one. In a sea of famous faces, I think it stood out in the end because it didn’t have one.
It began, the same way all advertising ideas happen, in the Google Slides. There, our hairy hairballs were born to their parents Brian, Gordy, Brett, Jamie and I. After Brian sang the lyrics to our Manscaped clients (see the origin story vid here), they also agreed we should go all in on bringing the hairballs to life with real puppets. We teamed up with The Pelorians – true puppet masters – and worked with CanCan Studios to craft them from real hair. We fine-tuned the lyrics to the bitter end with Walker Music House, and voila, a little hairball ad was born.