As the Dust Settles – Which Super Bowl Ads Stole Glory In 2024?

It couldn’t have been much closer. 

The 123.4m viewers that tuned in, making Super Bowl LVIII the most-watched television event in history, saw an epic overtime bout. The night was eventually won by the Kansas City Chiefs, after Mahomes’ short-range touchdown to Hardman sent Taylor Swift, and the thousands more in attendance, into rapturous scenes of celebration. 

So it was hard luck – once again – for the 49ers, who returned to California empty-handed but with heads held high, and congratulations to a Chiefs side which, in the words of MVP Mahomes, stands at the dawn of a “legendary” dynasty. Of course, the real contest (at least in our minds) took place off the field, played out on television sets across the nation and the world. With a 30-second spot priced at $7m, the stakes could hardly be higher for the brands behind this year’s Super Bowl ads.  

The Context

Which makes it something of a surprise to see so many newcomer brands (like Lindt, Pfizer, and Popeyes) enter the fray – and perform admirably, too, scoring an average Star Rating of 2.2. 

For reference, the heavy-hitting brands – Dorito’s, M&M’s, Paramount, et. al – scored an average Star Rating of 2.9, showing that, although the rookies do have some catching up to do, for a few veteran brands, the gap may be just a little too close for comfort. 

Another surprise, given those high stakes, is that Super Bowl ads perform only marginally better than the USA commercial average (2.9 vs 2.3 Star Rating last year). 

Of the 70 spots aired during Super Bowl LVIII, zero scored 5.0. Only 8 scored 4.0 or above. So… what’s going on? Which Super Bowl ads were the biggest hits? And what themes did we see develop over the course of game night?

How To Measure Super Bowl Commercials

Let’s pause for a second and go under the hood, to show exactly how we’re able to quantify the creative and commercial impact of Super Bowl ads so reliably. 

And, not to toot our own horn too loudly, it is remarkably reliable. When ESOV in isolation is measured against brand growth, the results correlate at a frequency rate of 0.25. But when we add Star Rating and Test Your Ad to the mix, that correlation jumps to 0.83. 

Star Rating, in essence, draws on Paul Ekman’s fundamental human emotions to predict the deep impact of an ad on its audience. We know that when people feel more, they buy more, and so strong emotional impact correlates closely with long-term brand growth. 

We also factor-in Spike Rating, as a measure of short-term sales effects, and Fluency Rating, which shows the strength of brand recognition following an ad. 

A Word on Spike

Were we to focus only on short-term sales impact – that is, to neglect long-term brand growth – the top Super Bowl ads from this year are as follows.

 

Rank  Brand Spike Rating (USA Today Rank)
1 Dunkin’  1.63 2
2 Hellman’s 1.62 12
3 Reese’s 1.57 23
4 Oreo 1.54 33
5 StateFarm 1.52 1
6 Popeyes 1.47 27
7 T-Mobile 1.46 21
8 NFL 1.45 5
9 Michelob ULTRA 1.44 20
10 Booking.com  1.44 36

 

Interestingly enough, this broadly aligns with the USA Today ad meter: traditionally considered the benchmark of Super Bowl ad impact. 

With that said, this readout does not account for long-term brand effects. 

The brands on this list can look forward to some quick, high-volume sales off the back of their Super Bowl ads; but to achieve sustained, long-term, enduring growth, they’ll need to go one step further. 

They’ll need to harness the power of emotion. 

3 of Our Favorite Super Bowl Ads

This year’s Super Bowl saw brands from across industries shoot for the uprights with some spectacular, sensational and, at times, scintillating efforts. But what were the top Super Bowl ads aired nationally? 

To find out, take a look at our Super Bowl LVIII webinar, How To Win the Super Bowl. For now, here are just a few of our favorites from this year’s game.

 

T-Mobile: That T-Mobile Home Internet Feeling

T-Mobile is no stranger to big-play commercials; in fact, it’s the second most effective advertiser on our database. At Super Bowl LVIII, T-Mobile was back on form, with this spot featuring Jason Momoa and that irresistible 80s feel-good anthem, What a Feeling, by Irene Cara. Last year, Zach Braff and Donald Faison welcomed John Travolta to the neighborhood – this year it’s Jason Momoa, and we see a character-driven, humorous story play out. It’s a lesson in getting the basics right, with a lot of betweenness, narrative, and fluency, and a good laugh, to boot.  

Be On the Right (Brain) Side

In Lemon and Look Out, building on insights from Dr Iain McGilchrist, Orlando Wood discusses the industry’s creative crisis. The left and right brains don’t function separately to one another; rather, they approach the same things in different ways. 

T-Mobile is no stranger to big-play commercials; in fact, it’s the second most effective advertiser on our database. At Super Bowl LVIII, T-Mobile was back on form, with this spot featuring Jason Momoa and that irresistible 80s feel-good anthem, What a Feeling, by Irene Cara. Last year, Zach Braff and Donald Faison welcomed John Travolta to the neighborhood – this year it’s Jason Momoa, and we see a character-driven, humorous story play out. It’s a lesson in getting the basics right, with a lot of betweenness, narrative, and fluency, and a good laugh, to boot.

 

Pfizer: Here’s To Science

It’s not easy for newcomers to the Super Bowl – especially when your big game commercial centers on pharmaceuticals, an industry traditionally perceived as lacking in emotion. In this spot, Pfizer works to distance itself from being seen as ‘the COVID vaccine brand’, building brand awareness on its ongoing fight against cancer. The spot tells the story of its 175-year history, the medical developments it has spearheaded, and ties it all together with some genuinely heartfelt human impact at the end.

 

Budweiser: Old School Delivery

Key Takes

In our webinar, Jon Evans (host of the Uncensored CMO podcast) and former CMO of the NFL Dawn Hudson broke down the big plays from the big night and fielded some questions from the listeners. Here are some of our key commercial takeaways from Las Vegas and the biggest football game on earth.

 

1. Celebrity Power

Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Tom Brady, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Greene, Ben Affleck, Michael Cera, Arnold Schwarzenegger… arguably, Super Bowl LVIII was the most star-studded in history, with brands really leaning-into the extra pulling power a household name can bring. 

However, what we’ve found is that crowbarring a recognisable face into your ad simply for the sake of it has no discernible impact on brand growth. The trick here is to riff on, or parody, the thing a celebrity is known for: whether that’s Lionel Messi playing some beach soccer, or Christopher Walken doing… a Christopher Walken impression.  

 

2. Fluent Devices

Fluent devices, or distinctive assets, are an incredibly powerful marketing play that brands can leverage to really bolster their Fluency Rating. 

It could be the M&M’s characters, the Lindt master chocolatier, or those iconic Clydesdale horses we mentioned earlier. When you have a symbol, image, character, or motif that viewers instinctively associate with your brand, you’re able to cultivate instant recognizability and a long-term feel-good factor.

3. Gameday Themes

Over the course of the night, we analyzed every ad featured at Super Bowl LVIII and pulled together some common themes. To greater or lesser effect, these were the recurrent commercial threads woven throughout this year’s Super Bowl ads.    

  • Tell a Story: Those ads that did well this year all told a cohesive story, taking viewers on a narrative journey.
  • Keep Things Simple: Sometimes at the Super Bowl, we see ads try and do too much; the most successful spots though, rather than using complex ideas, take a simple idea and communicate it in a clear, straightforward way. 
  • Double Down On Humor: We’ve seen comedy enjoying something of a renaissance across the advertising game, and this year’s Super Bowl ads aligned with that, as brands generally went for laughs. 
  • Be Smart With Celebrities: As we said before, playing with celebrities’ fame – that is, in terms of what they’re actually known for – is the best way to use them.
  • Use Fluent Brand Assets: Brands generally do well at the Super Bowl when they are able to create or use devices that they become known and remembered for.

Chasing the Perfect Super Bowl Ad

So, as the lights of the Super Bowl fade for another year and the game gets written into the history books, what can we anticipate for the coming NFL season? 

Will Super Bowl LIX see the Chiefs retain their crown? Do the 49ers have what it takes to go one step further? Or will players from two more teams take the field in New Orleans, looking to write their own chapter and add a diamond Super Bowl ring to their jewelry collection?

And – perhaps most importantly – who will be performing the halftime show? All these questions await answers, and there’s a long road ahead for the teams hunting glory in 2025. 

For the players, it’s time to reflect, recover, and get into the training regime, in preparation for everything to come. 

And for the brands? 

Well, for the brands looking to grow market share in the fiercest commercial contest on the planet, there is no off-season. The show, as always, must go on.

How To Win The Super Bowl

On Monday 12th February at 2PM EST, System1 will be analyzing the big game’s brand-building ads. Register for the free webinar today.

At System1, we help the world’s largest advertisers make confident, creative decisions that lead to transformational business results. Our powerful ad testing platform (Test Your Ad) and our idea testing platform (Test Your Idea) help brands predict the commercial potential of ads and ideas. Complementing TYA and TYI is Test Your Brand, our brand monitoring platform which measures the impact of ads and ideas on brand health, ensuring long-term brand growth through predictive success.