NEW YORK (AP) — Eugene Levy’s trademark eyebrows fly off for Little Caesars. A tongue dances to Shania Twain to promote Nestle’s Coffee Mate Cold Foam. And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite at Katz’s Deli in an ad for Hellmann’s.
A frenzied mix of silliness and celebrities is hitting the airwaves and the internet, and that means one thing: it is Super Bowl ad time again.
Veteran advertisers are using tried-and-true tactics like celebrity cameos, humor and cute animals to win over watchers. Meanwhile, first-time and newer advertisers are courting outrageousness and using stunts to try to stand out in the battle to capture the attention of the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune into Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Fox.
Super Bowl viewers are a unique audience because they’re as primed to watch the ads as they are the game.
“This is a societal moment where we come together as a country,” said Kimberly Whitler, marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “We may be on different sides, you know, of the gridiron or the field. But we come together.”
With 80-plus ad spots divvied up among the 50-something advertisers during the game, it’s tough to make sure viewers remember your brand message. And with a few ad spots going for a record $8 million for 30 seconds this year, the stakes have never been higher.
But the price tag is worth it, advertisers say. Rachel Jaiven, head of Häagen-Dazs marketing, said the brand decided to make its first-ever appearance in the game due to the size of the viewership and its association with snacking.
“We know at the Super Bowl these days that everyone watches, it’s a wide audience,” Jaiven said. The brand’s ad shows stars from the “Fast & Furious” franchise enjoying an ice cream bar. “We thought it was time for us to tell our story, remind people what they love about Häagen-Dazs and of course, have them stock up on Häagen-Dazs in their freezer.”
In order to garner more publicity, many advertisers release their ads ahead of the game. Of the ads that have already been released, here’s a sampling of the approaches advertisers are taking during the big game this year.
CELEBRITY-PALOOZA
Hellmann’s ad made a splash ahead of the game by reuniting Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s “When Harry Met Sally” characters at Katz’s Deli enjoying a sandwich with Hellmann’s. Sydney Sweeney joins to utter the famous line “I’ll have what she’s having.”
Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth wear Ray-Ban Meta AI-powered glasses while looking at art. Hemsworth accidently eats a banana in an art piece worth $6.2 million, and Kris Jenner appears to scold them.
Actors Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe star as pickleball players hustling younger players to win Michelob Ultras.
Soccer star David Beckham learns he has a twin named Dave Beckham who turns out to be Matt Damon. They don’t have much in common but both drink Stella Artois.
Matthew McConaughey explains a conspiracy theory that football was invented to sell food, with cameos by Martha Stewart, Greta Gerwig, Charli XCX, Kevin Bacon and YouTuber Sean Evans.
SILLY HUMOR
Adorable sloths undergo mishaps because they’re slow, like a kitchen fire and running into a glass door; they have a “Case of the Mondays,” like many people sluggish at work the day after the Super Bowl.
Actor Eugene Levy’s eyebrows fly off and fly around after he tries the pizza chain’s Crazy Puffs in what is strangely not the only ad with flying facial hair in it (see Pringles).
The first-time advertiser goes for silly humor in an ad that shows a man’s tongue dancing, and even doing a flip, to a song sung by Shania Twain to represent how good Nestle Coffee Mate Cold Foam tastes.
Actor Nick Offerman, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and L.A. Clippers’ James Harden watch their famous mustaches fly away to help deliver Pringles.
SERIOUS MESSAGES
Dove highlights the problem of low body confidence in young girls and depicts a young girl running down the sidewalk to H.E.R.’s version of “Born to Run.”
Foundation to Combat Antisemitism
Patriot owner Robert Kraft has an ad in the game for the second year in a row. Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady voice reasons why people hate each other in an effort to combat hate speech.
First-time advertiser Telehealth company Hims & Hers highlights the obesity epidemic and says weight loss drugs should be more affordable.
First-time advertiser Novartis is focusing on breast cancer awareness in its ad featuring Wanda Sykes and Hailee Steinfeld.
FIRST-TIME ADVERTISERS
The ice-cream brand reunites “Fast & Furious” stars Michelle Rodriguez, Vin Diesel and Ludacris, except this time, they’re going slow. They cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway in a Chevrolet Chevelle slowly so they can enjoy eating an ice cream bar.
First-timer Instacart joins DoorDash and Uber Eats and a battle between food delivery services during the game. Instacart loads up its ad with tons of brand characters it hopes viewers recognize: from Mountain Dew’s “PuppyMonkeyBaby” character from a 2016 Super Bowl ad to the Jolly Green Giant and the Pillsbury Doughboy. The characters represent all the things you can get delivered from the food delivery service.
In one of several ads featuring aliens, comedian Tim Robinson and actor Sam Richardson say goodbye to an alien who was living in their neighborhood. Cookware brand Hexclad and Doritos ads also feature aliens.
SURPRISES
Not all advertisers release their ads early, so there are always plenty of surprises on game day. Only two auto brands, Stellantis’ Jeep and Ram, have announced Super Bowl ad plans, but they haven’t given any details on the ads.
Dunkin’ has secured the first ad spot after kickoff but is staying mum on details other than teasing that it will star Ben and Casey Affleck and Jeremy Strong. Canned water company Liquid Death will advertise for the first time with an ad created in-house. Duracell has teased that its ad will feature a “Duracell Scientist” but hasn’t given any other details.
Ad experts think it is unlikely that an A.I.-generated ad will debut during advertising’s biggest night after Coca-Cola’s holiday ad created with the help of A.I. technology drew some backlash. But if one did debut, it would be sure to make a splash.
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