Post-Game (Commercial) Analysis

By Patrick Bohn, February 13, 2025

Breaking down the best Super Bowl ads with Professor Mark Addona.

Super Bowl trophy with the words "Super Bowl" behind it

(Photo created by Shutterstock AI Generator)

Unless you’re a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, this year’s Super Bowl lost some luster midway through their blowout 40-22 win. The good news is that the commercials continued to be entertaining long after the game ceased to be.

Last week, Mark Addona, assistant professor of strategic communication at IC’s Roy H. Park School of Communications, previewed the upcoming commercials. Now, having watched them in full and read the opinions from industry insiders and the public alike, he’s here to offer his own breakdown of the best ads from one of the industry’s biggest nights.

“Overall, I don’t know if any of the commercials are destined to become classics that we still talk about 10 years later,” he said. “A lot of brands seemed to be playing it safe. But it was still a fun night, and there were lots of excellent commercials.”

An IC Connection

One fixture of the Super Bowl in recent years has been Jason DeLand ’98, co-founder of the ad agency Anomaly. The agency has been behind some of the game’s most memorable commercials, and this year’s ad for Bud Light was no exception.

Featuring comedian Shane Gillis, musician Post Malone, and Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, the spot shows suburban dads turning a typical backyard party in a cul-de-sac to a full-on neighborhood celebration by sending out “invitations” via cans of Bud Light fired into neighbors’ houses with a leaf blower

“Bud Light was one of the top-tier ads,” Addona said. “There had been some effective teasers put out before the game, so I was looking forward to the full version, and it didn’t disappoint. It had all the trademarks of a highly effective ad: it showed the benefits of the product — turning a boring party into a fun one — and it had some memorable faces and catchy lines.

“But the biggest thing the ad did right was tying the product back to the broadcast of the game,” he continued. “After the commercial aired, Manning was shown in the stadium with the actual cooler used, which meant viewers got instant recall and brand association.”

Top of the Mountain

A brand that came out on top despite not playing it safe was Mountain Dew, whose ad for the product’s Baja Blast flavor featured a blast from the past: 90s singer Seal — or at least his head on top of an actual seal body — singing a Dew-inspired variation of his hit song “Kiss from a Rose.”

It’s a memorable but somewhat surreal ad — and it’s perfectly on brand for Mountain Dew, which is why Addona believed it was effective.

“There’s a risk with an ad like this, that you’re going to take it too far and end up creeping people out,” he said. “It all comes down to knowing your audience. Mountain Dew has a reputation of not only doing funny ads but being out on the edge a bit. That’s why they can pull off that ad. I don’t think it would have landed as well if it was done for Coca-Cola.”

Dream a Little Dream

While there’s a lot of pressure on companies to create an outlandish ad that catches a viewer’s eye and creates a water-cooler buzz, one of the night’s most effective ads was Google’s “Dream Job,” which had a sincere and sentimental tone.

Showing a father preparing for a job interview on the phone, with a voice on the other end asking him questions about his last job, the ad combined images of the father getting ready for the day with memories of raising his daughter — with the experiences providing the context for his answers.

For example, he mentions that he’s used to working long hours — and the ad then cuts to him being awoken by a crying baby in the middle of the night. He highlights his skill at negotiation as the ad shows him going back and forth with his daughter over the number of bedtime stories he’ll read to her that night.

At the conclusion, it turns out the voice on the other end of the line wasn’t a person, but Google’s Gemini Live, an AI assistant available on Google’s Samsung phones.

“One of the biggest things a company can do is get people to relate to the ad, by making the scenario they show be something a viewer can imagine themselves in,” Addona said. “We’ve all prepared for job interviews before, so we know that feeling. And if you’re a parent, few things resonate with you stronger than the memories of your child growing up. It was a great example of how you can use storytelling in an advertisement while still highlighting the features of the brand.”