Thinkbox
This year’s Super Bowl LIX adverts had it all. From actual Seal as a singing seal, pizza-eating aliens, flying facial hair, and nostalgia served with a dollop of mayonnaise. It surprised, delighted and confused us, sometimes all at the same time.
At Soho Hotel, we gathered Thinkbox’s Academy members and guests to watch this year’s Super Bowl ads, play armchair critics to the creativity on offer, and discuss what the biggest night in advertising delivered to viewers in the US and around the world.
A brilliant panel of Havas’ Elliot Harris, McCann’s Regan Warner, and BBH’s Felipe Guimaraes, sat down with Lindsey Clay, CEO of Thinkbox, to discuss, dissect and delight in the Super Bowl super selection.
We kicked the night off with the panellists’ breakthrough ad choices, the ones that showed up boldest on their radars. Capitalising on the Super Bowl’s cultural impact, it was big casting choices and unexpected collaborations which stood out, such as Hellman’s with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, and Stella Artois featuring David Beckham and Matt Damon.
We then asked our panel to pick their favourite ads, and the choices were somewhat varied. Regan had lots of positive thoughts on Nike’s ‘So Win’: “It’s a piece of art!...the music is on point. It is beautifully done, it riles me up, every time I watch it gives me goosebumps….hell yeah!”
The audience however, were split down the middle. Some felt, although the execution was amazing, the topic had been done before, while others felt that, especially in today’s US climate, it was important to re-iterate the message to empower women and women’s sport.
Felipe enjoyed the simplicity and humour of homes.com’s ‘Not saying we’re the best’: “It’s proper advertising. It’s hilarious. It’s genius…The performances are on point, there is not a single thing off beat.”
Comedy’s resurgence in advertising was a key talking point, with praise heaped upon ads that delivered clever, well executed humour alongside a clear message.
Elliot’s choice was Pfizer’s ‘Knock out’: “First rule of thumb, get noticed. I think this gets noticed; his feet go down, the track starts, and we think ‘ok, I’m listening.’ It feels quite joyful and hopeful.”
The topic then turned to specific themes that stood out and could be grouped together. Ads that effectively combined humour, self-awareness, and layered storytelling, such as Uber Eats’ food related campaign and Dunkin’s celebrity driven narrative, resonated well with audiences. Elsewhere other ads such Seal as a singing seal in the Mountain Dew ad, Tubi’s boy with a cowboy hat, and Keiran Culkin voicing a beluga whale had a different approach.
Regan commented: “The Super Bowl is a place where you can do kind of the weird and wonderful, and you can kind of get away with it, and you can kind of tell crazy stories.”
The discussion moved onto the resurgence of borrowed interest, where brands leveraged classic movie references or nostalgic themes to connect with both older and younger audiences.
Squarespace’s ‘A Tale as Old As Websites’ featuring Barry Keoghan caught the attention of Felipe: “The cinematography, so drastically different from anywhere else. All the other Super Bowl ads, very polished, very shiny, very colourful. This is very British, in terms of cinematography.”
Elliot’s suggestion for creatives who might find themselves writing a Super Bowl ad was simple: “Spend the money wisely. Just show restraint…know that you have this one-off chance with this. It would be a once-in-a-career chance for most people. So be cognisant of that in the moment.”
The panellists rounded off the evening by advising brands to focus on storytelling and engagement rather than relying solely on celebrity endorsements. And agreeing that that image of Seal will stay with them for a very long time.
If you would like to watch the best ads from the Super Bowl ads, you can find them here.
