Who won this year? Laughlin Constable’s Creative Leads weigh in on this year’s Big Game Commercials.

Let’s be honest, the biggest winner of the big game is as subjective as preferring ketchup or mustard on a hot dog. So, we’ve gathered our resident experts for a post-game commercial debrief. Here are this year’s hits, flops and takeaways according to our Chief Creative Officers and Head of Production.

Pat Laughlin, Co-Chief Creative Officer

• Overall: When you’re spending $8 million on a 30-second spot, there’s a sense of pressure to shove in as much as possible. The best ads came from brands that didn’t give in to that pressure.  
• These brands won the first half: Stand Up to Hate, Coors Light, Michelob Ultra, Doritos, Google Pixel and Liquid Death. 
• The best beer ad: was a water ad. It was perfect. Funny. Simple. And product oriented.  
• Humor isn’t the only thing that works: (I typed this thought on the Google ad through tears.)  
• Women FTW: Nike’s all-female athlete showcase had a powerful message with the sign-off: “You can’t win. So win.” 
• Second half takeaway: This is why you want an $8 million ad in the first half.

Jon Laughlin, Co-Chief Creative Officer  

• The power of celebs: Celebs can bring attention to a brand. Too many celebs can distract from it.  
• Where’s the line? If it’s the product you remember, the spot worked. If it’s the celebs, it missed the mark.  
• Who did celebrity right? ULTRA. Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara as pickleball hustlers played well. And Michelob Ultra came through as the active beer.

Vincent Geraghty, EVP of Production and HIVE Content Studio   

• Being different stands out: When humor, celebrity and high-dollar productions are commonplace, it’s refreshing to see a great spot like Coors Light “Slow Monday Sloths” that doesn’t rely on a celebrity to create an engaging ad.   
• Even the game is becoming an ad: You know the ads are good when the main event wants to be more like them. Jon Hamm introduced the Chiefs. Bradley Cooper introduced the Eagles. Brad Pitt did the pre-game “Huddle” and Tom Cruise welcomed the game. Now that is advertising influencing culture. 
• 30 seconds is as long as you make it: More brands embraced the audience as part of the commercial content. FanDuel’s “Kick of Destiny”, Doritos Crash the Super Bowl “Alien”, and Rocket Mortgage playing “Country Road” in the stadium right after the “Country Road” commercial extended their time. And don’t forget about the pre-game teaser. Those extensions all add value beyond the $8 million, 30-second ad.