The Most Distinctive Ads of the Big Game
Imagine spending millions on producing and airing a Super Bowl commercial, only for viewers to not comprehend that it’s for your brand. Sounds like every marketers’ worst nightmare, right? Unfortunately it’s a reality, as, on average, more than 20% of viewers who watch Super Bowl ads don’t know the brand after watching. We recently recapped the most effective Super Bowl LIX ads according to Star Rating (predicted long-term brand-building potential) and Spike Rating (predicted short-term sales potential). But what about the brands that stand out on branding?
In this blog, we’re breaking down the most distinctive ads of this year’s game, and highlighting the ways these advertisers make sure viewers recognize them.
How We Measure Ad Effectiveness
First, a brief timeout to review how we test ads.
Our Test Your Ad platform reveals consumers’ emotional responses throughout an ad, including happiness, surprise, neutrality, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and contempt. In addition to the type of emotion, and how intensely viewers feel these emotions, we also report on the strength of branding. The Fluency Rating is based on the percentage of consumers who recognize the brand by the end of the ad.
The Fluency performance scale is:
72 & below = Low
73 – 82 = Modest
83 – 90 = Good
91 – 94 = Strong
95 & above = Exceptional
The Biggest Branding Wins
The average Fluency Rating for this year’s Super Bowl ads was 78 (modest growth potential). This was a decrease from 2024’s average of 83 (good growth potential).
The top 10 leaders on Fluency are as follows. Where Fluency is equal, we use the Star Rating as the tie breaker.
1. Budweiser (FCB New York), First Delivery – 100
2. Poppi (Virtue), Soda Thoughts – 100
3. Taco Bell (Biite), The Fans – 99
4. Doritos (Dylan Bradshaw), Abduction – 98
5. Pringles (FCB New York), The Call of the Mustaches – 98
6. Red Bull, Flying Penguins – 98
7. Reese’s (Erich & Kallman), Don’t Eat Lava – 97
8. Little Caesars (McKinney), Whoa! – 97
9. Mountain Dew (Goodby Silverstein & Partners), Kiss from a Lime – 97
10. Angel Soft (Grey), Potty-tunity – 95
How to be Distinctive
With all of the top 10 advertisers in the 90th percentile, there’s a lot to learn from their performances. Here’s why consumers understood who the ads were for:
- Fluent devices are your friends: Fluent devices, recurring characters and scenarios, help viewers quickly and correctly identify brands. From Budweiser’s Clydesdales to Little Caesar’s animated Caesar mascot to Pringles’ mustachio-ed Julius Pringle character to Mountain Dew’s macho man Mountain Dude (making his Super Bowl debut after appearances in other campaigns) to Angel Soft’s angelic character reminding us to take a bathroom break, there were plenty of characters in this year’s game day ads.
- Maintain a consistent look/feel across campaigns: There’s a reason brand recognition was near perfect for Red Bull’s Super Bowl ad – as soon as viewers see the animated cartoons in the brand’s style they know it’s an ad from the company behind the energy drink. Dunkin’ and Reese’s are also brands that contain a similar look across their advertising, featuring their bright brand colors prominently to signal it’s them.
- Make it musical. Mountain Dew incorporated its name into Seal’s classic hit “Kiss from a Rose” and last year e-commerce platform Temu created a catchy branded song that audiences had stuck in their heads for days. Melodic soundtracks appeal to the right side of the brain, and are a great way to bring your brand to the forefront.
- Grab attention with sonic cues: Taco Bell’s ‘bong’ or ringing bell sound is a recurring sonic device that the brand uses at the conclusion of all of its ads. Bosch also leverages a sonic cue with its sing-songy “Boooschh!” to wrap up its commercial. These jingles, notifications and tones are owned assets that can drive exceptional Fluency, especially when used consistently.
- Put your brand at the center of the story: Many brands followed this rule in the Super Bowl and it paid off. A bag of Doritos was nearly abducted, Lay’s spot followed a young girl planting her own potato to be harvested for the chips brand, Ritz created a compound in Utah’s salt flats just for salty celebrities to gather and eat crackers and Budweiser showcased a Clydesdale’s first beer delivery, bringing a barrel from the farm straight into a bar. Focusing the narrative around a product or service means fewer viewers are left guessing who the ad is for, leading to higher Fluency scores.
Create with Confidence
System1 helps the world’s biggest advertisers predict and improve the commercial impact of their advertising. Want to hear how Test Your Ad supported Pfizer’s latest Super Bowl spot? Jon Evans, host of the Uncensored CMO podcast, recently sat down with Susan Rienow, CMO of Pfizer, to discuss everything that goes into showing up on advertising’s biggest night. Listen here.
There’s more Super Bowl insights! Our webinar recapped the top ads of the night and why they worked. Click below to access the recording and download our Super Bowl recap report.
