Taylor and Travis might dominate the headlines this morning, but all marketers will be talking about the showstopping Super Bowl ads.
With an ad placement now costing brands an estimated £5.5 million per 30 seconds of airtime during the sporting extravaganza, it’s no surprise advertisers pulled out all the stops to make sure their work hits home.
Total ad revenue from last year’s Super Bowl reached the dizzying heights of £475 million – and are set to surpass that this year.
With numbers like that, it’s clear to see why the world’s biggest brand go no-holds-barred in their pursuit of the biggest celebrity names for their campaigns – from Oscar-winning directors and actors, to the biggest names in sport and entertainment.
Here are some of this year’s best:
Uber Eats – Don’t Forget Uber Eats
The Uber Eats ad is a veritable who’s who of pop culture from the last 25 year or so – with this star-studded (and immensely funny) effort featuring the likes of Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer, alongside the Beckhams and R’n’B legend Usher – who also performed this year’s half-time show.
Rather unexpectedly for Uber Eats however, a throwaway joke about peanut allergies has lead to something of an online backlash – with some users labelling it ‘disgusting’ and ‘tone deaf’. (Unsurprisingly, that scene was removed in time for the Super Bowl – although you can find the original here.)
Verizon – Can’t B Broken
US mobile network provider pulled off perhaps the biggest coup this Super Bowl by enlisting Beyoncé for a star turn in an ad to promote its 5G service.
Through a series of increasingly elaborate hijinks – including running for president of the United States, superstar Beyoncé attempts to ‘break’ Verizon’s 5G network, to no avail.
Michelob Ultra – Superior Beach
Whilst US beer brand Michelob might not quite be a household name in the UK, the star man of its ebullient Super Bowl ad most certainly is.
Arguably the greatest footballer to have ever lived, Lionel Messi reportedly commanded an £11 million appearance fee for this ad.
Light work when you consider that most of the clip consists of the Argentinian star kicking a ball around a Miami beach.
Dunkin’ Donuts – The Dunkings
And the award for the most star-packed Super Bowl ad of the year goes to Dunkin’ Donuts’ brilliant – if cringeworthy – clip featuring ‘The Dunkings’ (Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tom Brady and Jack Harlow) going all ahead to impress the mortified J Lo in an unsuccessful bid to feature on her latest album.
State Farm – Like a Good Neighbaaa
In this excellent mock film, we see a stunning star turn from Hollywood giant Arnold Schwarzenegger who seemingly struggles, (according to Americans) to pronounce ‘neighbour’ properly.
After increasingly ludicrous variations on the original premise – the director eventually enlists another star name in Schwarzenegger’s Twins co-star Danny DeVito to pronounce the word ‘properly’ – prompting accusations of betrayal from his good friend.
Dove – Hard Knocks
In a rather more sobering piece of work, we see cosmetics firm Dove, renowned for its work on improving body positivity in women, tackle the thorny issue of the high dropout rate seen in teenage women’s sport.
According to the firm – this is not due to the ‘knocks’ suffered by the girls playing the sports they love – but rather body confidence issues, which its says accounts for 45% of girls stopping sport by the age of 14.
