Best Super Bowl LX Ads: Key Findings
As the Seattle Seahawks closed out Super Bowl LX, the ads that stuck mirrored real tensions people brought into the game, especially around AI and credibility.
The strongest work understood how people were watching, reacting, and talking in real time, and built their campaigns around this reality.
Here are 15 campaigns that defined this year's Super Bowl by meeting the moment with clarity, humor, and strategic ambition.
1. Google Gemini: 'New Home'
Northwestern University's Kellogg School ranked Google's "New Home" as 2026's most effective Super Bowl ad for demonstrating AI capabilities through a relatable family event.
Directed by Daniel Mercadante for Park Pictures, the spot showed Gemini's image generation through a mother helping her young son visualize their new house.
Audiences had mixed reactions, with some praising the heartwarming story and others questioning whether AI should be involved in deeply personal moments.
2. Anthropic: 'Ads Are Coming to AI' by Mother
Anthropic made its Super Bowl debut by challenging OpenAI's decision to introduce ads into ChatGPT, using competitive positioning to stake out business model differences.
Spots from creative agency Mother showed AI chatbots disguised as therapists and personal trainers, making AI ad intrusion viscerally uncomfortable through comedy.
The campaign committed Claude to remaining ad-free, turning OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's broken "last resort" promise into proof that business models can shape user trust.
3. Bad Bunny x Apple Music
Apple Music positioned Bad Bunny's halftime show as a global cultural event by celebrating the Spanish language.
The spot featured the artist dancing through Puerto Rico while surrounded by people of different ages, grounding the visuals in rhythm and community.
The trailer signaled the NFL's confidence that international audiences don't need adaptation to connect, becoming the most-watched halftime show in Super Bowl history.
4. Mike Tyson x MAHA: 'Processed Food Kills'
Mike Tyson appeared in a 30-second spot from the MAHA Center, using his personal testimony to deliver health advocacy messaging.
He shared that he once reached 345 pounds and revealed that his sister died at 25 from a heart attack linked to obesity.
Directed by Brett Ratner, the black-and-white ad drew polarized reception for its dramatic tone without addressing that ultraprocessed products account for 70% of the U.S. food supply.
5. DoorDash x 50 Cent: 'The Big Beef'
DoorDash skipped a traditional in-game placement for a social-first campaign featuring the rapper teaching fans the art of trash talk.
It unfolded across socials throughout the Big Game weekend, acknowledging that Gen Z spends more time on their phones during games than watching the broadcast.
50 Cent's legendary rap feuds with Ja Rule, The Game, and Rick Ross established him as an expert in public beef, giving the campaign instant authenticity.
6. Budweiser: 'American Icons'
Anheuser-Busch committed three minutes of national airtime across five flagship beer brands, using portfolio strength to maximize reach during the broadcast.
Budweiser's teaser centered on a fictional friendship between a Clydesdale and a bald eagle, using emotional narrative and symbolism to reflect on its 150 years in American culture.
The campaign marked the brewer's largest Super Bowl push yet, supported by a Heritage Can Series 12-pack featuring designs from the 1950s to the present day.
7. Pepsi: 'The Choice' by BBDO
Pepsi's Big Game spot starred a blindfolded polar bear taking the Pepsi Challenge, turning Coca-Cola's 102-year-old mascot into direct competitive messaging that needed no explanation.
Created by BBDO, "The Choice" revived the 1975 blind taste test format, connecting nostalgia to present-day product claims.
It was built on 2024's taste test data showing that Pepsi Zero Sugar won with 65% preference across 34 U.S. cities, using real numbers to back up the provocation.
8. Dunkin': 'Good Will Dunkin' by Artists Equity
Dunkin' reimagined its iced coffee origin as a 1995 sitcom pilot starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Tom Brady, and more.
The Artists Equity-produced ad was styled like a VHS tape pulled from a forgotten box, using nostalgic formatting to ground the brand's history.
The campaign extended into Super Bowl Monday with 1.995 million free iced coffees redeemable through the app, alongside vintage merch, an MIT math challenge, and a watch party.
9. YouTube TV: 'Don't Settle for Meh'
YouTube TV secured its pre-kickoff placement with a 60-second spot featuring Jason and Kylie Kelce, timing competitive messaging when viewers were settling in.
It imagined a universe where everything is "aggressively underwhelming," with Gordon Ramsay, David Blaine, Sarah Hughes, and Christian McCaffrey executing "meh" versions of their expertise.
The campaign will continue with 30-plus airings during Winter Olympics coverage, extending the creative investment across multiple major sporting events.
10. Lay's: 'Last Harvest' by Highdive
Lay's ran two in-game commercials for the first time, using dual execution to cover both heritage storytelling and live activation.
A Taika Waititi-directed 60-second film from Highdive showed a father and daughter on their family farm, building an emotional story around where chips actually come from.
A 30-second live consumer challenge from D3 invited viewers to receive chips delivered in 72 hours, landing alongside new price cuts that linked storytelling to performance strategy.
11. Kinder Bueno: 'Yes Bueno' by Anomaly
Ferrero made its Super Bowl debut with a cinematic space-themed spot from Anomaly, using blockbuster scale to introduce the brand to U.S. audiences.
Paige DeSorbo and William Fichtner faced meteor showers and alien encounters that get reframed as "Yes Bueno" moments after tasting the bar.
The campaign extended through a national Game Day Sweepstakes with a $25,000 grand prize, limited-edition chocolate variants, and a 360-degree rollout spanning influencers, retail, and eCommerce.
12. Coinbase x Backstreet Boys
Coinbase returned to the Super Bowl four years after its controversial bouncing QR code spot, using nostalgia and accessibility to rebuild trust with audiences.
The 60-second karaoke concept was set to Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" with low-def retro graphics, using nostalgia to generate positive attention.
The company's creative VP described the approach as buying "a vibe" to communicate that "crypto is for everybody," prioritizing cultural connection over technical explanations.
13. MrBeast x Salesforce: 'The Vault'
YouTube star MrBeast partnered with Salesforce for a 30-second fourth-quarter spot to launch a $1 million puzzle challenge.
The first person to crack the code and send it via Slack wins the prize, with clues scattered across social media, future MrBeast videos, and public appearances.
Produced in 27 days, the spot used Salesforce’s Slackbot to demonstrate workplace AI while MrBeast’s reach pushed the campaign well outside Salesforce’s usual audience.
14. Grubhub x George Clooney: 'The Feest'
Grubhub made its entry with George Clooney's first Big Game appearance, helmed by Oscar winner Yorgos Lanthimos, to announce eliminated delivery fees on orders over $50.
Created by Anomaly, the spot showed patrician characters at a mansion arguing about who will "eat the fees" before Clooney declares Grubhub will cover them.
Lanthimos’ trademark fisheye lens gave it a distinctive visual signature, with Grubhub’s $650 million acquisition by Wonder sharpening its push against DoorDash and Uber Eats.
15. Liquid Death: 'Stop Exploding'
Liquid Death's faux medical PSA, starring board-certified surgeon Dr. Darshan Shah, asks if viewers' heads have ever exploded from extreme energy drinks.
The 30-second spot showed headless patients to dramatize overly caffeinated products, promoting its Sparkling Energy line with 100 mg of caffeine as an "unextreme" alternative.
Created in-house by Death Machine, the ad reinforced momentum for a product that had already entered Amazon’s top 20 brands by market share in its first week.
Our Pick: Dunkin' and Lay's
We think the strongest Super Bowl LX campaigns balanced creativity with brand strategy, justifying their massive media investments at upwards of $8 million for 30-second spots.
Kantar's 2025 Super Bowl analysis found that a single Big Game ad is 25 times more effective than a regular TV ad at driving brand perceptions.
This helps explain why heritage brands like Dunkin' and Lay's outperformed newcomers by anchoring nostalgia in present-day positioning.
Strategic choices also drew a clear line between campaigns that broke through and those that faded after the broadcast:
- Acknowledge audience unease directly. Messaging lands more cleanly when brands recognize skepticism without overreaching emotionally.
- Design for real participation. Interactive mechanics extend attention past the broadcast.
- Back provocation with evidence. Claims stick when creative ideas are supported by clear proof points.
If two campaigns captured what worked best at Super Bowl LX, we think they were Dunkin's "Good Will Dunkin'" and Lay's dual approach.
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Dunkin' built an entire universe around a single spot, extending it into brand activations that people could take part in after the game is over.
The casting was also a great choice, because everyone felt natural in the premise, giving it high entertainment value and recall.
Meanwhile, Lay's proved that brands don't need to choose between storytelling and activation.
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The farm-focused film built emotional equity around the origin of potato chips, while the 72-hour delivery challenge made speed tangible and turned viewers into participants.
Both campaigns used Super Bowl advertising to express brand history in ways that couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s.
Big Game advertising requires agencies that understand how to balance creative ambition with clear strategy.
Explore these top creative agencies helping brands turn tentpole moments into lasting impact.
