You know it’s Super Bowl ad season when you see your LinkedIn feed filled with campaigns anchored on bizarre themes, zany humour and probably featuring talking animals. My weekly compilation of clutter-breaking ads is a tribute to brand teams everywhere, creating such campaigns.
Why is Super Bowl special for brands?
Every year, brands line up to spend millions during Super Bowl. According to reports, a single 30-second ad can cost $10MN (INR 80CR+) just for airing once. Add to it the cost of production, PR and more. Yet, it attracts established legacy brands, little-known startups and movie trailers. What’s the magic? Aside from the large viewership numbers (last year an estimated 127.7 million viewers watched the Big Game), it is about viewer engagement, potential for disproportionate media coverage, global recognition and shelf-life beyond just one season. The operative word being potential.
Even thought an ad is aired live during the game break, it can be released weeks ahead on social media and become a talking point leading up to the game. Some ads are remembered and recalled fondly decades after their first airing. A little-known brand can attain overnight fame and awareness if they tick all the right boxes. It’s all an expensive gamble but I guess the ROI is worth it. Why else would brands line up every year, despite the high investments? The biggest benefit in my view is the unmatched shelf life and the brand memorability it creates if the ad becomes hugely popular. Even today people recall Apple 1984, Pepsi’s Cindy Crawford and Volkswagen’s Darth Vader commercials years after their airing. Such efforts create brand affinity at a subliminal level and can make the brand an automatic choice in the category.
Viewers of the game too look forward to the ad breaks. Such voluntary engagement is rare. But since competition is tough, brands do all they can to be talked about. Hence, the jaw-dropping production values, celebrity dels, bizarre humour and whacky plots.
Hellmann’s: Meal Diamond
I wonder how someone comes up with ‘Meal Diamond’ as a concept and manages to fit it in for Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. The famous ‘Sweet Caroline’ song is ‘re-imagined’ with lyrics turned into a hilarious ode to sandwiches. It all works, leaving you with a smile and wondering at the power of advertising to connect seemingly disparate stuff.
Agency: VML
Kellogg’s: Will Shat for gut health
Apparently 95% of American adults and children do not consume the recommended daily amount of dietary fibre. There is also also “gut regret” after unhealthy eating. Kellogg’s has launched a campaign designed to promote gut health and encourage the consumption of high-fibre foods. Some may call it toilet humour but the Super Bowl ad has ‘Will Shat’ starring William Shatner who is everywhere delivering that pun-intended line.
Agency: Vayner Media
Axis Bank: Republic Day
Many brands believe that they have to participate in occasion-driven ads (think Mother’s Day, World Pizza Day). Most end up with convoluted social media posts and YouTube films with no link to the category or brand (‘Doctor’s Day’ wishes from a wood laminate brand). A new film from Axis Bank manages to link a Republic Day message to its locker facility. It may not trigger a switch in bank accounts but reiterates popular perception to maintain sanctity of the flag and create a positive perception towards the brand.
Agency: Grey
Thar ROXX: spotlight
The product is the hero, literally and figuratively in this ad for Thar. A celebrity is used with almost self-deprecating subtle humour, delivering the message home.
Agency: Womb
Columbia: bear poop beer
Super Bowl ad themes cannot get more bizarre than this. Last year, Columbia Sportswear unveiled their new brand theme, dramatising the durability and ruggedness of their merchandise. Now they have launched a beer made with bear poop in time for the Super Bowl. The rationale, you ask?
With Columbia Sportswear you can enjoy the sh*ttiest parts of nature. So it stands to reason that we could even start with bear poop and end up with something delectable. Introducing Nature Calls, a Big Game beer brewed by our friends at Breakside Brewery. It’s smooth and satisfying, with notes of honey and huckleberry.
As I said, brands seem to go to any extent during Super Bowl to be talked about.
Agency: adam&eveTBWA
ABSOLUT: collaboration with Tabasco
I have always wondered why Absolut stopped their iconic print ads featuring the shape of the bottle. The campaign idea was highly extendable and could suit both thematic and tactical needs. A new collaboration Tabasco brings back the iconic bottle shape to cue the fiery taste.
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi: Speed campaign
I loved the line ‘Rush for no one‘ and the treatment of many typical situations where a driver is forced to ‘speed up’.
Agency: FCB
Spotify: promoting the stars
Ahead of the 2026 Grammy Awards, Spotify celebrates this year’s Best New Artist nominees through outdoor ads in the UK. I loved the word play and the transformation that is cued in the ‘before-after‘. It helps the platform be seen as the one that helps reach a global audience of music lovers.
Oreo: nepo cookie
An outdoor campaign positions the Oreo as a ‘nepo cookie’, as it comes from two famous sweet treats: Oreo and Creme Egg. Very tongue-in-cheek and ‘with it’ as social media is full of discussions on nepo babies in the entertainment industry.
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Access Training: London signage
There’s been much talk on how AI cannot take away jobs, especially the ones involving skilled manual labour.
Agency: Creative Coalition. Source.
Novartis: relax your tight end
The fact: One in eight men will face prostate cancer, yet fear and avoidance of digital rectal exams keep men from getting screened. Based on this insight, Novartis has launched a campaign to convey that preventive checks for prostate cancer are as simple as giving a blood sample.
Agency: Fallon
Pepsi: The Choice
The taste test is as old as the hills in the cola wars. The latest in the Pepsi vs Coke battle has the former taking on the latter using the polar bear imagery (associated strongly with Coke). A polar bear chooses Pepsi Zero Sugar over Coke Zero Sugar in a blind taste test, leading to confusion and deep identity crisis, having to seek therapy.
Agency: BBDO
Which one was your favourite? Do comment in.