To Be the Best, You Gotta Beat the Best: Super Bowl Marketing Strategies Scaled to Fit Your Business
Ask around (family, friends, coworkers), and you’ll discover that people watch the Super Bowl for very different reasons.
Some people tune in even if their favorite team didn’t make the championship. Others want to see the exciting half-time show, and some people are just there to cheer on Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.
However, a large number of people look forward to watching the commercials—even more than the game—since the Super Bowl is a prime time for brands to unveil a new product or campaign.
Companies pull out all the stops to make the most of their super-expensive ad slot, knowing viewers will talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly (commercials, that is!) for weeks after the game ends. Sometimes, people remember an ad even longer than they recall who won the Lombardi.
Stats Don’t Lie: Reasons to Advertise
Super Bowl LVIII, held on February 11, 2024, became the most-watched program in American television history. The game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime, averaged 123.7 million viewers across television and streaming platforms, surpassing the previous year’s record of 115.1 million viewers. (Thanks for the bump, Tay!)
Additionally, more than 200 million viewers watched at least part of the broadcast, marking the highest unduplicated total audience in history and reflecting a 10% increase from the prior year.
The halftime show, headlined by Usher, peaked at 129.3 million viewers, further contributing to the event’s record-breaking viewership.
The game was televised by CBS, Nickelodeon, and Univision and streamed on Paramount+ as well as the NFL’s digital platforms. With that many people watching on that many platforms, it makes total sense (and beaucoup dollars) to cash in on some well-targeted advertising.
Winning Strategies Your Business Can Put in Play
Most businesses can’t spend $7M on a 30-second TV ad, while at the same time hiring a couple of A-list celebrities and spending some serious money producing a professional video.
While Super Bowl Ad ads are usually reserved for big brands that want to boost consumer awareness, at Liquid Creative, we love to look beyond the TV ad and see what big brands are doing with their campaign as a whole.
In this article, we share three actionable lessons gleaned from Super Bowl ads that any business can apply to improve their own marketing strategies.
Learning from the Best of the Best: Memorable Ads
Here are five of the most memorable commercials from Super Bowl games—each ad known for its creativity, humor, and emotional resonance. Do you have a favorite?
Apple’s “1984” (Super Bowl XVIII, 1984)
Why it’s memorable: This ad, directed by Ridley Scott, introduced the Apple Macintosh computer. It reimagined George Orwell’s 1984 dystopia, showing Apple as the disruptor breaking conformity. It’s widely regarded as a turning point in advertising history.
Budweiser’s “Whassup?” (Super Bowl XXXIV, 2000)
Why it’s memorable: A group of friends shouting “Whassup?” to each other over the phone became an iconic cultural catchphrase. The ad humorously captured friendship and casual moments.
Coca-Cola’s “Mean Joe Greene” (Super Bowl XIV, 1980)
Why it’s memorable: This heartfelt commercial featured football legend Mean Joe Greene softening his tough persona after a young fan offered him a Coke, making it one of the most touching sports-themed ads ever.
Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” (Super Bowl XLIV, 2010)
Why it’s memorable: Featuring Betty White humorously getting tackled in a football game, this ad launched Snickers’ successful long-running campaign about how hunger affects people.
Volkswagen’s “The Force” (Super Bowl XLV, 2011)
Why it’s memorable: A young boy dressed as Darth Vader tries to use “The Force” around his house. When his father uses a remote to start the Volkswagen Passat, the boy believes his powers worked. It’s a blend of humor and nostalgia.
Each of these ads has stood the test of time due to their storytelling, cultural impact, and memorable messages. People still remember them and talk about them to this day. How will 2025 ads score with audiences? Marketing pundits make their predictions.
Whassup With Your Marketing Strategies?
Any successful digital marketing relies on rhetoric, which is just a fancy term for “the art of persuasion.”
To determine which play you (or your astute marketing agency, ahem, we see you, Liquid!) draw up depends largely on your Target Audience, their needs, and what makes them take action.
The four most common types of rhetoric you’ll see in advertising are (take a look, you’ll never see commercials the same way):
- Ethos
- Pathos
- Logos
- Kairos
Don’t mind the fancy Greek. It’s because these tactics were first developed and taught by ancient philosophers. But every marketing team still uses them today.
Check it out—
- Ethos deals with credibility and trust. Ads that employ ethos often use recognizable figures that viewers will assume are authorities on the subject. It’s like what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did when writing Letters from a Birmingham Jail. He was addressing Christian pastors, so his writing quoted the Bible quite a bit and often referenced Jesus—the authority figures his target audience would readily accept the most. Sometimes, ads just use famous people that aren’t really authority figures (is Lebron James a nutritionist with an expert palette for soft drinks?) but viewers fall for it anyway. Here’s one example: NBA players talking about shoes makes amateurs shell out hundos for their brand. Wanna play like Mike? Wear Mike’s clothes and shoes. This Gatorade ad featuring NBA stars Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade suggests that Gatorade products will be a key factor in whether the Thunder or the Heat win the game.
- Pathos has to do with feelings—nothing more than feelings (HT: Morris Albert). Marketers can affect people’s feelings with a variety of strategies: humor, sadness, nostalgia, shock, and so forth. Just be sure to pick the strategy that aligns with the audience and the topic. Humor for a funeral home probably isn’t the most effective way to sell burial options. Just saying. It’s hard to forget this hilarious Kia ad starring Melissa McCarthy that first aired during the 2017 Super Bowl. Combining a ton of recognizable pop culture moments, including an energetic soundtrack, this commercial made viewers laugh and laugh. Light on the details about mileage or cost or safety ratings (things savvy car shoppers want to know), it was heavy on the humor—with a splash of feel-good impetus to protect the environment—which made it memorable and cemented “Kia” in people’s minds.
- Logos is all about logic. Think of rational arguments, charts and graphs, and lots and lots of statistics. If Pathos is employed to convince someone’s emotions, Logos is meant to convince their brain. Can you use both in the same marketing ad, email, newsletter, blog? Sure. Just use them wisely so your customers don’t feel jerked around. People who feel manipulated will be less likely to take your desired action. This commercial from Verizon is an overload of logos. Color-coded infographics on the screen, voiceover data, more stats and details flashing across the screen—all as if to convey: “If we have this much proof we’re the best option, you should believe we’re the best option.” [Liquid Creative wisely refrains from sharing our opinion on any of these ad promises.]
- Kairos (like most NFL coaches) is focused on the clock and time, time, time. The content needs to be timely, and it will probably also play on people’s FOMO. Like, you gotta do this NOW. Prime Minister Winston Churchill used this excellently with his famous “Now is the time…” refrain in his WWII “Their Finest Hour” speech. Think of all the car commercials with their insistent “this deal ends soon,” “hurry in now,” and “get it before it’s gone.” Or the super sad ASPCA ads that promise a tote or other reward if you’re one of the next 20 callers. President Barrack Obama recently used Kairos in a tweet/post on X.
Put Me in, Coach! Three Plays to Help Your Brand Score
- Your campaign needs to be everywhere. A campaign is much more than an ad. Some of the most successful campaigns we see during a Super Bowl broadcast go beyond the 30-second TV commercial and expand to multiple platforms like social media, video platforms, digital ads, offline activities, and even viral trends. This is because brands need to be present in different touchpoints to reach their clients in multiple moments.
- Test and measure results—before, during, and after. Even if you apply the best creative strategies, you can never guarantee how your audience will react to your campaigns until you test them. Testing can be done prior to launching a campaign, during the campaign, or even after the campaign cycle has ended. If you want to test your campaign before you launch it, you can use focus groups to show your ad to a reduced sample of your target audience. Then improve the ad based on their feedback. Another option is to test your campaign once it’s launched. You can do that by doing an A/B test. This means creating two variations of your campaign and monitoring both in real time to determine which one performs best. After a period of time, stick with the winner. Finally, if your campaign is already running, check your own metrics and evaluate what worked best (and also what didn’t), so you can focus on what works and make improvements or changes in upcoming campaigns.
- Include a Call-to-Action. Most Super Bowl ads are focused on creating brand awareness. Often, big companies simply need to remind consumers that their brand exists or what it has to offer. But small businesses need to be more actionable. Their campaigns need to motivate users to take a specific action—like visit a website, watch a video, or download an app. Later, you can track those actions and evaluate the effectiveness of a campaign. Rakuten, Limit Break, and Planters are three examples of recent Super Bowl ads with a specific, intentional call-to-action.
Is It Time To Up Your Game?
Will you be watching the game this year? Super Bowl LIX will be played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA, on Sunday, Feb. 9. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m ET, and Kendrick Lamar will be performing during the half-time show. Check out the commercials, and see how many uses of rhetoric you can spot!
The commercials that air during the Super Bowl have become almost as anticipated as the game itself. Even if your business can’t match an NFL-sized budget, we recommend you implement these game-changing marketing strategies and get your company a win. And if you need a teammate, pass the ball to Liquid Creative so we can help.