Commercials get muted 364 days a year. But on Super Bowl Sunday, we shush each other when they come on.
What makes these ads so different? And why do some become legendary while others fade before the next snap?
The answer lies in the Super Bowl’s greatest hits. Take Apple’s “1984.” It didn’t tell you about computer specifications or processing power. It told you a truth about conformity and rebellion. It wasn’t selling a computer – it was selling revolution in beige packaging. That’s what made it legendary.
Today’s Super Bowl advertisers could learn something from this approach. Too many commercials mistake spectacle for substance. Yes, your rapping hamster can play volleyball with Travis Kelce while Morgan Freeman narrates – but what brand truth does it tell?
The great Super Bowl commercials of yesteryear understood something fundamental: emotion drives connection. Mean Joe Greene tossing his jersey to a kid. The Budweiser Clydesdales bowing at Ground Zero. These weren’t just ads, they were stories that touched something real in us.
The changing playbook.
The 80s gave us big, bold declarations (“Where’s the Beef?”, “1984”). The 90s brought us narrative and humor (Budweiser’s “Frogs”, Monster.com’s “When I Grow Up”). The 2000s ushered in the era of shock and surprise (GoDaddy’s “The Kiss”, Doritos user-generated ads). And now? We’re seeing an interesting shift. The best modern Super Bowl commercials are returning to fundamental human truths, but with a twist – they’re acknowledging our shared digital culture, our fragmented attention spans, our hunger for authenticity in an artificial world.
Consider more recent ads. They’re not just made for the game anymore – they’re made for the phones that will share them, the memes they’ll spawn, the conversations they’ll start. The Super Bowl campaigns of today extend well beyond the game itself, building buzz across platforms and generating conversations that last long after the final whistle.
What makes a champion.
Great Super Bowl advertising still requires one thing – courage. The courage to be simple when others are complex. The courage to be quiet when others shout. The courage to stand out when others play it safe.
Memorable Super Bowl commercials start with a clear vision. They’re simple. Human. They resonate beyond the screen. Because they have to. They’re not just competing with other advertisers; they’re competing with the chicken wings, the conversation, the bathroom break.
Beyond the game.
In the end, the best Super Bowl commercials aren’t really commercials at all – they’re cultural moments. They reflect us back to ourselves, make us laugh, make us think, make us feel. They respect their audience enough to create something memorable.
So this year as you watch the parade of ads between plays, ask yourself: Which ones silence the room? Which ones will your co-workers be laughing about Monday morning? Which ones deserve to become part of our shared cultural memory?
Because in the end, that’s what makes a great Super Bowl ad – not the millions spent, not the celebrities hired, not the special effects deployed, but the simple humanity at its core, told in a way that makes us all stop and listen.
And maybe, just maybe, buy something too.