Five Super Bowl LVII TV Commercial Trends

Super Bowl LVII provided a nail-biter finish between The Eagles and The Chiefs. Between plays, however, I’ve always found the ads to be of interest, as a career marketer. The 2023 Super Bowl advertising lineup (costing brands $7M for a 30-second spot) provided an entertaining break from the football game, (some more so than others of course). As I watched the ads, I noticed five trends that differentiated the 2023 advertising themes from previous years. After reviewing the entire commercial lineup, I was able to categorize a vast majority of the TV spots into one (or more) categories, as outlined below:

Nostalgia

Nostalgia in advertising has long been a trend, but it was the first trend that stood out early in the game and it quickly stood out as a theme for 2023. Brands including GM (with Netflix), Workday, Michelob Ultra, Uber One, PopCorners, Rakuten, E-Trade and Disney all pulled from the 1960s through the 1990s pop culture to connect with audiences.

Collaborations

Over the years, brands have partnered occasionally, but this year stood out with an unusually high number of collaborations. Most notably, Netflix passed on their own dedicated spot and instead partnered with GM and Michelob Ultra. Marvel also with Heineken to promote the latest Ant Man romp while encouraging us not to drink and shrink.

Multi-Celebrity Endorsements

Some of the first advertisements were celebrity endorsements, but 2023 differentiated with ads that featured multiple celebrities, not just one spokesperson. Examples of ensemble casts include ads from ?Doritos, Dunkin, Squarespace, Uber One, PopCorners, GM (with Netflix), Pepsi, Michelob Ultra, Bud Light, NFL, Workday, Planters, Hellmann’s, DoorDash, T-Mobile and Paramount (rather poorly).

Sentimentality

Pulling emotional heartstrings can be effective for brand retention, so it’s long been a standard creative direction. Unfortunately, my research shows that emotion (like humor) in advertising doesn’t meaningfully impact purchase behavior. Regardless, these brands felt sentimental storytelling was worth the effort: The Farmer’s Dog, Crown Royal, T-Mobile, Rémy Martin, Molson Coors, M&Ms, Google Pixel, WeatherTech and Kia.

Animals

Living in Portland, I’ve learned residents in our city value pets more than humans (at least in terms of fundraising for charitable donations). I’m guessing this is not usual and a handful of brands agreed by featuring animals in their advertising. The beauty of using animals is that they can play to both sentimentality and humor as themes. One of the top-rated ads of the Super Bowl was a spot by The Farmer’s Dog that effectively combined animals with sentimentality. Busch Light, Amazon and Jeep took different approaches, with similar outcomes.

NFTease

What we didn’t see much of this year (unlike last year), were crypto or metaverse brands. No surprise there, but I was a bit surprised that more brands didn’t feature QR codes in their ads. Only one brand featured a QR code front and center. Limit Break offered up a limited number of free NFTs, so the application was on-point, although somewhat confusing, creatively speaking.

Best in Show

After watching (and in some cases rewatching) the top ads, as determined by marketers, the media and the public, I believe the winning spots were produced by the following brands: Doritos, Dunkin, GM/Netflix, Workday, The Farmer’s Dog and Crown Royal. You can review the top spot ratings via AdAge , Billboard , USA Today , CNBC and The Washington Post . To see all ads (in order), check out this compilation of Super Bowl LVII commercials on YouTube and judge for yourself.