Once again, it’s time for the advertising industry’s big moment.
The Super Bowl is the promised land where marketers, agency people and viewers sit as one, enjoying the game and excited to see what advertisers cooked up. In the past, when the commercials rolled, people welcomed the interruption as part of the event. Thirty seconds at a time, advertising didn’t feel like a disruption; it was an iconic part of shared culture.
In 2026, that contract is broken. Not because people don’t care about the Super Bowl, but because they don’t care about ads the way they once did. With attention fragmented and culture moving at creator speed, the most memorable brand moments no longer live neatly inside a stand-alone 30 seconds.
The best Super Bowl “ads” today don’t feel like ads at all. Think about last year’s Rocket Mortgage spot, which went from tape to live. The Miramar spot featured John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and as the spot segued into broadcast, spectators continued to sing the stadium classic.
In 2024, DoorDash’s campaign by Wieden+Kennedy served as a live sweepstakes where a viewer could win products from ”All the Ads.” Two years before that, Coinbase’s stripped-down QR code ad had viewers grabbing their phones and linking to the site.
The brands that break through this year will create a surround-sound experience through events, stunts or other moments that help viewers blow past the spot and spill into social feeds and group chats. Today, participation wins the trophy in advertising. The commercial is but a gateway to community and action.
The paradox of advertising in the Super Bowl today
As rates rise annually, now $8 million for a 30-second spot, it feels risky. Yet it’s actually the safest bet in marketing. The audience is guaranteed, and viewers are remarkably open to enjoying the ads. That safety net is exactly why so many brand leaders see the Super Bowl as the place they can let loose a little. And they do.
Big budgets. Celebrities. Jokes. Spectacle. Maybe even a singing dog. All of it framed as “bold.” But none of that is risky anymore.
High production value, recognisable faces and carefully engineered humour now define the baseline. Celebrity, in particular, has become a kind of visual shorthand. In 2025’s Super Bowl, estimates suggest 60% of the ads featured celebrity cameos. Familiar faces, yes, but different? Not so much.
The ideas that cut through tend to be the ones willing to place emphasis elsewhere. They take risks that don’t look like excess, but like uncertainty. Think the stripped-down Coinbase ad or Mischief’s 2023 Super Bowl spot for Tubi, where it looked like someone changed the channel. This embrace of uncertainty stands in sharp contrast to most Super Bowl advertising, which is typically designed to eliminate that “uncertainty” entirely.
Designing for the moment, not just the media buy
The uncomfortable truth: Mass media no longer equals mass culture. The Super Bowl is no longer the idea. It’s the amplifier.
Some brands have already adjusted to that reality by designing for the moment and moments to come rather than just the placement. When brands treat the Super Bowl as a live cultural environment, the work feels responsive, aware and confident enough to engage as culture unfolds. It stops feeling like a campaign and starts feeling like participation.
Meanwhile, many traditional spots, celebrity cameos, nostalgic winks or expensive visual polish fade the moment the broadcast ends.
The future of Super Bowl advertising
The Super Bowl will always matter. It’s still the largest collective moment brands can buy into. But how brands show up has to evolve.
The work that resonates now is built to be live, adaptable and shareable. The brands that will break through won’t spend millions to be politely ignored. And in the most crowded room in the world, disruption wins. “Polite” is the one thing you can’t afford to be.
Graham Douglas is the cofounder and creative director at Gus.
Source: Campaign US
