Themes from Super Bowl LX ads and what brands can learn from them

Every year, brands advertising at the Super Bowl are expected to deliver the biggest and best ads to be released during the Big Game. 

From heart-tugging narratives and celebrity-studded cameos to buzzy tech and big-budget spectacles, the commercials that air during the Big Game reveal the themes and cultural touchpoints brands believe will resonate with millions of viewers.

And of course, we saw that all over again again this year. Here are some of the top themes we saw across Super Bowl ads this year, what they do well and how they compare to last year’s. 

TL;DR: List of Super Bowl LX themes

• Celebrities

• Call backs to last year

• Great music

• General weirdness

• AI

• Notable mentions: Anthropomorphism, slapstick humor, animals, athleticism and more 

It goes without saying that viewers can expect a star-studded lineup when it comes to Super Bowl ads each year. 

Celebrities are an excellent way to catch people’s attention amid the flurry of ads airing during the big game — and they can help generate positive feelings towards the brand or product they’re promoting. 

And we saw a lot of celebrities in this year’s Super Bowl ads, making up 68% of this year’s spots, including Kurt Russell, Post Malone, Shane Gillis, Peyton Manning, Chloe Kim, Sabrina Carpenter, George Clooney, Kathryn Hahn, Derrick Henry, Serena Williams, Bowen Yang, Jon Hamm, Scarlett Johansson, William Shatner, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston and many more. 

But while celebrity appearances can drive buzz and entertainment value, they don’t automatically guarantee stronger ad performance. It's when the celebrity fits naturally and reinforces the brand and what it’s trying to say that the ad is more likely to stay memorable for the right reasons, with the brand staying front and center.

Super Bowl ads can build on past ideas rather than starting from scratch. If there’s an opportunity to expand on a storyline that resonated well with viewers from previous years, that can be a great opportunity to engage viewers and help them make the connection to the brand. 

People tend to prefer what they recognize. Behavioral science calls this the mere exposure effect: The more we see something, the more familiar and likable it becomes. 

This is why consistent characters, tones and cues make it easier for consumers to remember and trust a brand. 

We saw this play among several hit spots from this year, with Budweiser’s call back to the young Clydesdale colt, Bud Light’s star-studded trio, Lay’s focus on family farms, Nerds’ giant gummy, Ritz’s saltiness and more. 

Rather than treating the game as a one-off spectacle, you can use it as a continuation of your broader strategy, blending familiar elements with just enough novelty to keep things fresh. That fresh consistency can help brands stand out while still feeling instantly recognizable.

Music is a powerful element that can help to immediately set the tone, demand attention, play on viewers’ emotions and create an overall fuller experience for your ad — ultimately helping it stand out among viewers. 

And we saw a lot of great music choices in Super Bowl ads this year. In fact, 94% of this year’s ads prominently featured music!

Dove did an excellent job harnessing the power of sound and music to capture attention, with their spot beginning in pure silence, punctuated with the sound of the steady drum beats of the girls clapping throughout the rest of the ad — a fantastic way to draw viewers in.

And Coinbase was another standout with its karaoke-style spot featuring Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody.” 

Several other ads also leaned on music to set the scene, from current hits to classic throwbacks, including Bud Light’s comedic use of “I Will Always Love You” Oakley Meta’s high-octane use of “Hyaena,” Michelob ULTRA’s montage with “Eye of the Tiger,” Pringles’ use of the romantic “Guarda che luna,” Levi’s “Get Up Offa That Thing” and more. 

Each of these tracks do an excellent job at complementing the spots they were featured in as well as help draw attention, seamlessly adding to viewers' experience and the emotions these brands were aiming to convey.

The Super Bowl is a time for brands to go big with their advertising — an opportunity for them to push the limits and put themselves out there in order to catch viewers’ eyes. 

And sometimes that means things can get a little weird.

We saw a lot of unexpected and surreal moments this year. Manscaped had singing hair clumps and Pringle’s created a man made of Pringles to date Sabrina Carpenter. Instacart came in with a bizarre banana number. And Kinder Bueno delivered an out-of-this-world spot with astronauts transforming into babies. 

While you don’t need to go wild to create a distinctive Super Bowl spot, those types of ads certainly make it feel like the Super Bowl! But don’t forget that weirdness just for the sake of attention won’t be completely effective unless it’s connected to your brand. So lean into that weirdness when it’s the right fit!

It’s no surprise AI was also a big theme this year. 

Whether it be to promote the latest AI developments, poke fun or use AI to create the ad itself — AI had a big role in this year’s lineup. 

Oakley Meta shared its latest AI developments in a high-octane spot. Anthropic’s Claude poked fun at how LLMs respond conversationally while claiming to never feature ads in its product.  And Amazon Alexa shared their latest updates while generating lots of laughs.

But there were also some heartwarming moments, with Google Gemini making it easier for a young boy to make a big move and Ring sharing how it’s helped reunite families with their lost dogs. 

And Svedka came in with an ad created completely with AI! 

Clearly, AI played a big role in the Super Bowl this year, and this year’s brands really showed up.

While those were some of the more prominent themes we saw across all the ads, there were also some smaller groupings of themes we uncovered. 

Here’s a snapshot:

Finally, here’s a quick take of how these themes and the themes we saw last year showed up in comparison:

Celebrities were featured the same amount as last year, while the amount of animals and women in the ads were down. Ads that included music were up, as well as diverse representation and, of course, butts. 

While there are some themes that are practically expected each year (Celebrities, Music, etc.), it’s always interesting to see the new and unexpected ones that pop up — like Backstreet Boys and butts, for instance. 

To learn more about what we uncovered from this year’s Super Bowl ads, check out our report which includes: 

• The ads that stole the show in this year's Super Bowl

• What made those ads effective

• What you can learn from them to create a winning Super Bowl ad