Credit: Casey Murphy
Australian creatives have shared their thoughts on this year’s Super Bowl ads, with spots from Squarespace, UberEats and Coors Light earning praise.
Brands reportedly paid up to $US8 million for a 30-second commercial spot during the big game on Monday.
As the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs went head-to-head, Adland shifted its focus to the high-stakes marketing campaigns vying for attention.
Amanda Spry, senior lecturer, marketing, at RMIT University, said a lot of brands went down the comedic route.
“The 2025 Super Bowl ads largely played it safe, relying on humour, nostalgia and celebrity appearances to appeal to a broad audience,” she said.
“Given the timing of ad development around the U.S. presidential election, brands avoided political or controversial themes, opting instead for lighthearted entertainment.”
AdNews asked creative agencies to share which ad was their favourite, or not so.
Adrian Elton, an independent creative, said this year’s commercials were a lot to digest.
“Focussing on the cacophony of this year's Super Bowl ads feels like we're shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic while icebergs are raining down on it,” he said.
“Despite a cavalcade of expertly made ads, they were collectively exhausting in that Super Bowl sensory overwhelm kind of way.”
Elton said the Booking.com spot was a standout.
“Maybe it was because I grew up with the Muppets? Or maybe it was because of the excellent pun at the end?” he said.
“Special mentions too to whoever got Seal appearing as a seal across the line too. Seal of approval!”
Elton confessed that not every campaign was a winner in his eyes.
“On the flip-side though, Spruce’s ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’ left me doubled over and wincing in existential agony,” he said.
“Despite the slick production values, the extent to which they had to underline the gag made it feel like it had been meticulously engineered for the hard-of-thinking.”
Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, ECD at TBWA\Sydney said her favourite work from this year expands the canvas beyond the broadcast.
“I must admit, I’m looking for a little more something, something in my Super Bowl advertising than just a celebrity-fuelled fever dream film,” she told AdNews.
“It feels like you’re missing the mark as a brand if you’re not really capitalising on the moment when real people are actually waiting with open arms for brands to entertain.”
Alvarez-Jarratt said two campaigns really caught her eye.
“The long troll from Coors Light and Mischief ‘Case of the Mondays’ has tickled me no end, and the final flourish on the spelling-mistake-gate saga features a film where sloths attempt to do Monday post-Superbowl. I feel seen,” she said.
“I also found the conspiracy laden ‘A Century of Cravings’ served up by Special US for Uber Eats particularly delicious. Yes, the film is packed with food related celebrities (hello Kevin Bacon), but they also toyed with fans online first, seeding all sorts of ‘food-ball’ related conspiracy theories online.”
Wellison D’Assuncao, creative director at Think HQ, said humour dominated this year.
He said 7-Eleven’s ‘Emotional Support Pizza’ was a missed opportunity and that Coors Light’s campaign was his favourite this year.
“I love when brands turn assets into something tangible for consumers,” D’Assuncao said.
“The ad’s universal insight is brilliant – Super Bowl viewership exceeds 100 million, making it a global event.
“This ad broadens the appeal to all viewers beyond ads packed with stars and players.”
Ben Clare, ECD at We Are Social, said some of this year’s advertisers had the budget of a blockbuster but the creativity of a sequel nobody asked for.
“While there were moments of brilliance this year, overall the lineup felt like it was playing not to lose rather than playing to win,” he said.
“The kind of integrated storytelling that turns a $US7 million media buy into cultural conversation was more absent than in previous years.”
Clare said the UberEats’ spot emerged as this year’s “golden child” because it led with social content.
“The whole, ‘football-was-invented-to-make-you-hungy’ theory is algorithmically delicious,” he said.
“And pairing Charli XCX with Martha Stewart for a series of TikTok-perfect teasers, complete with an expertly placed Club Classic sandwich (IYKYK, Charli fans) was feed gold.”
Clare said Hex Clad’s ‘Unidentified Frying Object’ gave the impression that the cookware brand had three different concepts and decided to use all of them at once.
“HexClad really said ‘what if we took Gordon Ramsay, Pete Davidson, and aliens, put them in a blender, and made... well, something?’,” he said
“The most unbelievable part for me isn’t the aliens learning to cook, it's the idea that anyone needs Gordon Ramsay to explain why non-stick frypans are good.”
Matt Geersen, creative partner at Connecting Plots, said this year’s UberEats campaign is a prime example of celebrity done right.
“The thought that the NFL is just a conspiracy to sell food is a novel and clever idea, and casting Matthew McConaughey to play virtually every character in the spot really makes it shine,” he said.
“The side spots they produced are also really fun, McConaughey impersonating Mike Ditka, and Charlie XCX explaining football to non-fans were both hilarious. They got value for money out of their celebrities.”
Geersen said Nerds Clusters’ ad was a “clusterf*ck of CGI mixed with zero creativity”.
“They dropped big money on breakthrough country artist Shaboozey, only for him to deliver one of the most unenthusiastic performances captured on film,” he said.
“Then the forced tagline with no idea behind it slaps you in the face at the end and makes you wonder what just happened. Super glossy, super expensive, super forgettable is the feeling for this ad.”
Hannah McElhinney, chief creative officer and co-founder at Snack Drawer, also said the UberEats commercial was her favourite.
“The ad enlisted the most culturally-relevant celebrities of today, such as Brat-in-Chief Charli XCX, which is in line with their enduring celeb-first strategy,” she said.
“This, in combination with a storyline that was equal parts football and brand, meant Uber Eats was able to raise the stakes for themselves for yet another year.”
McElhinney said the Dove commercial “fell flat” because it failed to offer anything new.
“It didn’t do a good enough job of distinguishing itself from all the commercials Dove made in the early 2010s,” she said.
“My advice to Dove would be to try and be more impactful - rather than just relying on what worked in the past.
McElhinney said it’s getting harder to make a successful Super Bowl ad every year as audiences have grown to expect the most.
“With our collective attention decay, we're harder than ever to keep engaged, let alone impress,” she said.
“The casting feels like picking a sports team in school, where the brands with the biggest budgets are able to secure the most culturally relevant stars of the era and the others are forced to get creative with left-of-field options.”
Tom Wenborn, chief creative tinker at Thinkerbell, said he thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Super Bowl spots.
“Whether it was the election year or a bounce back in economic confidence, it seems to have resulted in more fun, optimism and nostalgia,” he said.
“There was still the same overuse of celebrity cameo, but it felt like there was also a big investment in ideas.”
Wenborn said Squarespace’s ‘A Tale As Old As Websites’ was a stand out this year.
“It had an unexpected celeb, a simple idea, a quirky execution and some cleverness that I think I’m still trying to unpack,” he said.
“I’m almost positive they crafted the script in a way that the US audience would only be able to understand the word ‘Squarespace’ with the rest of the dialogue deliberately Irish enough to give it intrigue and whimsy.”
Russel Fox, creative director at M&C Saatchi Melbourne, also liked Squarespace’s fictional origin story.
“The aul tale’ makin’ websites be easy for all makin’ it did be,” he said.
“From no bother, effortless entertainment. Yoks of award hauls sure seein’.”
Fox wasn't a fan of Lays’ spot featuring a little girl who lives on a family potato farm.
“Why bring in Taika [Waititi] if there’s not a laugh in sight?” he said.
“How were they expecting to land the ‘made by real farmers’ message with a script so make-believe?”
Cam Blackley, creative founder at Bureau of Everything, said a lot of this year’s ads “sucked”.
He said Squarespace’s ‘A Tale As Old As Websites’ was the benchmark because the product plays the hero elegantly.
“It’s beautiful to watch, it compels you to listen and it’s such an easy get,” Blackley said.
“I love the highbrow/lowbrow of this, so well balanced and sure to get attention amongst the assemblage of over lit celebs.”
Blackley was less than impressed by Booking.com’s ‘Get Your Stay Ridiculously Right’.
“Scr*w you for buying the rights to the muppets then mashing them into the other route that was presented,” he said.
“And it’s not even the worst spot tbh, I’ll leave you to plumb the depths yourselves.”
Hayley Noble, junior copywriter at Havas Host, said she loved the WeatherTech commercial.
“The small details like the grey-haired hula girl and the unusual disclaimer make this spot shine. It hilariously proves the efficacy of the product, without a celebrity in sight,” she said.
“Making nannas the star of the show is not only entertaining but on a business level, changes WeatherTech’s target audience from a kind of cliquey group of young people, to anyone with a car.”
Noble felt that Stella Artois’ ‘David & Dave: The Other Brother’ was as hard to digest as a pint of beer.
“The reveal of Matt Damon was so distracting, I forgot what ad we were in,” she said.
“The brand platform also feels disconnected as Beckham doesn’t seem to be enjoying the ‘moment’.
“Ultimately, the spot left me with no specific feelings towards Stella Artois. Just a strong urge to google ‘Matt Damon age’.”
Giles Watson, deputy ECD at DDB Melbourne, said it felt like brands were having more fun than ever.
“Loads of nostalgia, silliness, and big-name celebs (although sometimes they felt a little forced)” he said.
“Overall, it was a great reminder that ads should be fun and not take themselves too seriously.”
Watson said he thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Super Bowl campaigns.
“Honourable mentions go to Reese’s ‘Don’t Eat Lava’ and Coors’ ‘Case of the Mondays’, but for me, Tim Robinson’s showing in Totino’s ‘The Most Snackable Pizza in the Universe’ takes the cake (or pizza pie?) as my favourite,” he said.
“Just like the product it was advertising, it’s deliciously random and leaves me wanting more.”
Watson said Lay’s commercial missed the mark.
‘The little farmer’ used cute kids to try and create an emotional connection between us and a potato… but ultimately had as much emotion as one,” he said.
“Too polished, cheesy and branded - they weren’t able to reach the heartstrings Waitrose yanked for their beloved carrot. For emotional ads, leave it to the Brits!”
Jenny Mak, creative partner at DDB Sydney, said it’s hard to go past the Uber Eats spot.
“‘When football makes you hungry, order Uber Eats’ has it all; celebrity, humour, and most importantly, a narrative that linked the role of the product to the behaviour of the people watching the game,” she said.
“It was relevant, relatable and entertaining as hell.”
Mak told AdNews that she didn’t love the Mountain Dew spot featuring Seal as the famous seal meme.
“While quirky, the ad felt overly gimmicky and lacked the depth to really resonate,” she said.
“The focus on the seal detracted from any meaningful connection to the product, relying too much on absurd humour without adding value to the brand’s message.”
Mak said some brands delivered creative, relevant ads that tapped into the audience’s Super Bowl viewing experience while others relied too heavily on quirky humour that didn't feel connected to the product.
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