11 Super Bowl 2026 Ads That Actually Mattered (Marketing Analysis)

Howdy, marketer! 

I hope you’ve recovered from the guacamole hangover.

We just watched brands burn through roughly $7 million for every 30 seconds of airtime. 

The Super Bowl isn't actually about the ROI of that specific Sunday. 

It’s about signaling. It’s about saying, "We have the budget, we have the cultural cachet, and we are part of the conversation."

This year felt different, didn't it? 

We saw a lot of "safe B-grades." 

Brands weren't trying to change the world; they just wanted to make us smile without getting cancelled. So. much. hedging. 

But beneath the surface-level celebrity cameos, there were some fascinating strategic pivots happening.

Today's Treasure Trove

• Pokémon 

• Fanatics Sportsbook 

• Xfinity 

• Novartis 

• Pringles 

• Pepsi 

• Ramp 

• Anthropic (Claude) 

• Base44

• HIMS & Hers

• Instacart 

• Wrap Up

Pokémon 

Pokémon rolled out the celebrity red carpet for their 30th anniversary with Lady Gaga, Trevor Noah, Jisoo from Blackpink, and more. Everyone got their moment to declare their favorite Pokémon. 

Pokémon spent millions on airtime and celebrity fees to tell us they're 30 years old. 

Cool. 

But fans immediately fired back asking why that money wasn't going into game development instead.

This is the risk when you're a beloved brand with a dedicated fanbase - they definitely notice when you're spending big on marketing while the actual product feels stagnant. 

It shows how celebration without substance can backfire.

Fanatics Sportsbook 

Kendall Jenner claims her lavish lifestyle is funded by betting against her exes, leaning into the "Kardashian Curse."

This was easily the smartest strategic move of the night.

In marketing, we talk a lot about "controlling the narrative," but Fanatics actually did it. 

The "Kardashian Curse" - the idea that athletes play poorly after dating a Jenner/Kardashian - has been a negative internet joke for years. 

The ad is provocative, it's self-aware, and it guarantees people will talk about it.

Fanatics created a culturally relevant "story" to bet on (pun intended). It also humanizes Kendall Jenner, which makes the brand feel accessible and "online." 

Xfinity 

Jurassic Park stars (Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum) return, but this time an Xfinity tech keeps the power on.

This is a textbook example of the "What If" strategy. What if the technology they needed in 1993 existed? What if the park actually worked?

Xfinity used borrowed equity from Jurassic Park to demonstrate a simple benefit: when our tech works, disaster is averted.

What I loved about this was the focus on the product benefit. 

Often, celebrity ads suffer from the "Vampire Effect," where you remember the star but forget the brand. Here, the Xfinity technician was the hero who actually resolved the plot. 

If you’re going to spend millions on licensing IP, make sure your product is the reason the story changes. Otherwise, you’re just financing a fan film. 

Novartis 

NFL tight ends relaxing and discussing prostate cancer screenings.

Novartis flipped the script by using context perfectly. 

They bought airtime during a high-testosterone, male-dominated event (football) to talk about a sensitive male health issue, but they did it without the scare tactics.

The brilliance here is the use of the specific position - Tight Ends. 

It’s a pun, sure, but it provides a comedic vehicle to deliver a serious message. 

By having tough NFL players treat the topic casually, they lower the barrier for the audience. 

They are selling the idea that checking your health is a masculine, normal thing to do. 

Pringles 

Sabrina Carpenter builds a boyfriend out of chips and then eats him.

This spot was designed to go viral on TikTok, not just TV. 

Sabrina Carpenter is the "it" girl of the moment, and Pringles knows that her fanbase dissects everything she does. 

The goal here isn't immediate sales lift, but relevance with Gen Z. Pringles is fighting to stay in the consideration set against Doritos and Lay's. 

Sometimes you just need people to remember your brand when they're standing in the snack aisle, and building-then-eating a chip boyfriend is memorable.

Pepsi 

The Coke polar bear cheats on Coca-Cola with Pepsi Zero Sugar, set to Queen's "I Want to Break Free."

For a long time, the Cola Wars felt like a cold war - polite and passive. 

This is Pepsi going back to its roots as the aggressor. 

Using Coca Cola’s most famous icon (the Polar Bear) is aggressive, legally tricky, and absolutely delightful for the viewer.

From a positioning standpoint, this is about attacking the "default choice."

Coca-Cola is the default; Pepsi is the choice you make when you want something different. By showing the bear "breaking free," they frame drinking Pepsi as an act of liberation and pleasure, rather than just a beverage choice. 

They also humanized it with the therapy and kiss-cam angles, tying into cultural trends and viral moments (like the Coldplay concert and cheating). 

Ramp 

Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from The Office) gets overwhelmed by receipts until Ramp automates it.

Running a B2B ad during the Super Bowl is usually a vanity metric. 

However, Ramp used this to signal "Category Leadership." You run a Super Bowl ad to tell Wall Street, future employees, and your competitors that you are the big dog.

Creatively, they used the "Kevin" persona smartly. 

Finance automation is boring and complex. Brian Baumgartner is the universal symbol for "clueless but lovable employee." If he can use Ramp to solve his problems, anyone can. 

The "halo effect" of being a Super Bowl advertiser gives their sales team massive ammunition for the next year, signalling stability and success.

Anthropic (Claude) 

A promise of "No Ads" on Claude, taking a jab at ChatGPT and the cluttered AI landscape.

The AI wars are heating up, and differentiation is becoming impossible for the average user. OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity are all shouting about features. 

Anthropic chose to shout about values…ironically by promising to stay ad-free in their Super Bowl ad.

By focusing on what they don't do (serve ads), they positioned Claude as the premium, ethical, clean alternative. 

It’s a classic "positioning against the category" move. It also provoked a reaction from Sam Altman, which is free earned media. It appeals to the power users who are tired of the commercialization of search and AI.

Base44

"It's App to You" - an office worker builds a budget app via natural language, triggering a viral chain reaction of coworkers building niche apps. One of the few Super Bowl ads doing more than brand awareness.

Base44 (fresh off their Wix acquisition) played this perfectly by focusing on the "magic moment" of product usage. 

In tech marketing, we often get bogged down in features. 

This ad ignored features entirely and focused on the emotional payoff: "I had an idea, and now it exists." By showing a coworker building a dog dating app in seconds, they communicated that this is a creative tool for everyone.

The real strategic hook here was the $50,000 contest at the end. 

This is a brilliant way to force immediate engagement. 

Super Bowl ads usually suffer from passivity; you watch, you laugh, you move on. 

Base44 gave viewers a reason to pick up their phones and actually use the product right then and there. It moves the metric from "Brand Awareness" to "Product Trial" instantly. 

HIMS & Hers

"Rich People Live Longer" - a blunt critique of the health-wealth gap, positioning HIMS' weight-loss meds as the equalizer.

This was the boldest, and perhaps most dangerous, spot of the night. 

HIMS didn't just sell a product; they picked a fight. 

By calling out the US healthcare system, they tapped into deep-seated societal anger. This is "Challenger Brand" behavior. They are positioning themselves as a moral crusader breaking down the gates of exclusive healthcare.

The results speak for themselves - a 650% traffic spike and top 5 engagement according to EDO. It proves that friction creates heat. 

From a marketing lens, it worked: they owned the conversation. But from a brand trust perspective, it’s a gamble. 

They are banking on the fact that the consumer’s desire for access (weight loss) outweighs their concern for traditional pharmaceutical protocol.

Instacart 

Ben Stiller and Benson Boone in a musical showdown, using the "Preference Picker" to select the perfect banana ripeness.

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTleZejhlqk 

Using Ben Stiller and Benson Boone gave the spot a chaotic, high-energy entertainment value that kept eyes on the screen, but the core message was strictly functional. 

It’s a great example of using high-budget comedy to solve a very specific, boring business problem.

Wrap Up

This year, the "Big Idea" took a backseat to the "Big Connection." 

Brands weren't trying to wow us with visual effects as much as they were trying to connect with our existing behaviors - our memes, anxieties, and frustrations.

It’s also clear that the line between "content" and "commercial" is blurred. The best ads were designed to be shared as clips on social media just as much as they were designed for the big screen. 

All in all, the winners will be the ones who actually follow through the promises made in ads.

✌️,

Tom from Marketer Gems