The ultimate list of the 13 best Super Bowl commercials of all time
Why 13? Why not?
Love the Super Bowl, hate the Super Bowl.
In Europe, it’s definitely more exciting to watch the halftime show and the ads than the actual game (why is football called like this when the ball is carried with the hands?).
It’s the biggest media moment of the year, all the eyes on the telly - last year 124 million Americans watched it.
Let’s be clear, being there it’s already a win. The exposure is massive. The point now is, not to fuck it up.
Unfortunately lots of brands got into the nasty habit of making a celebrity the centerpiece of the ad, rather than their product. The next day, lots of PR is assured; but how much will people remember Arnold Schwarzenegger or Cardi B? And how many will remember what the brands were so desperately (and not cheaply) trying to shove down America’s throat?
So I spent days watching some vintage Super Bowl ads - where the game wasn’t that popular, and the ads weren’t that bad, and built my ultimate ranking of the 13 best ads ever.
One rule only: one ad per brand.
#13 Volkswagen - The Force (2011)
I normally despise pop culture in advertising, but I had to make an exception of this. A kid hooked on Star Wars, and dreaming to be the second most evil villain of the galaxy (nobody beats Palpatine)? Irresistible.
In this case, the partnership between Volkswagen and Star Wars works perfectly, in a commercial that leverages humour from the first to the last frame.
#12 Jeep - Snow Covered (1995)
Let’s keep on talking about great car ads. This Jeep commercial is incredible in portraying the quality of the product WITHOUT SHOWING IT FOR A SINGLE SECOND. Sorry if I’m shouting, but let’s think about it. There’s not even the need of any cheesy copy.
If this much snow is going to fall, I’m definitely hooked on a jeep (and kudos to the driver for respecting that stop sign).
#11 Tabasco - Mosquito (1998)
Surprise! Those fools at the media department spent the whole budget of the year buying a slot at the Super Bowl at the last second (didn’t come cheap). You’re left with a 100$ and 1 day.
You need to express that your product is damn hot, but you have literally no cash for it.
Wait a second, here comes the illumination. You have a weird cousin that knows how to do some basic special effects and amend a video. You hire the aforementioned cousin both as actor and as editor.
You deliver a scrappy thing in four hours work.
Still better than 99% of the ads you’ll see next Sunday.
#10 Reebok - Terry Tate Office Linebacker (2003)
This ad is wild. There’s no mercy even if you’re a woman (would this be even approved today? I hardly doubt so).
The short films feature Lester Speight as "Terrible" Terry Tate, an American football linebacker who "gives out the pain" to those in the office who are not obeying office policies.
It’s all about the ‘Hey Janice’ spelled with the sweetest voice after having disintegrated a distracted Richard.
The full series is a joy to watch (including a nasty tackle on the about-to-become president Donald Trump 8 years ago)
#9 Fenty Beauty - Rihanna Halftime Stunt (2023)
I know, this is not properly an ad, but it’s the cheekiest hijacking of the Super Bowl I’ve ever seen. During the Halftime show, Rihanna applies a touch of her make-up, live, in front of a billion people. There’s not even need to show the brand - people will either know or google it.
Fenty Beauty’s Top February 2023 Metrics at a Glance (original article here)
$44.1M EMV: the highest total among all competitors, and the brand’s first No. 1 leaderboard ranking in the U.S. market
72% MoM growth: the sharpest growth among its top 10 competitors
12.4k brand mentions: the greatest share of voice among all competitors
5.5k content creators: the largest community among all competitors
If you want to watch the full show, the stunt starts at 8:19.
#8 Budweiser - Frogs (aka Bud Weis Er) (1995)
Let’s start with a controversial bit: I can’t stand Bud’s horses ads. Too cheesy, I feel my heart melting.
At the same time, nothing screams more 90s than 90s Budweiser commercials. The frogs started a franchise, that ended up with Frogs Fired.
It appears to be simple, but behind this commercial there’s a huge work of animatronics. It was placed as first commercial of the Super Bowl that year - a 100% view rate expected. It was a landslide indeed.
I t's creative, it's funny, the name of the product is clearly stated, it makes you want to buy the product, and 30 years later people still clearly remember it.
Fun fact: it was directed by Gore Verbinksi, who also directed something else you might remember: The Ring.
I love this other Budweiser ad more, but the Frogs one is probably more historically groundbreaking.
#7 Tide - It’s A Tide Ad (2018)
Despite having booked a celebrity, I have to admit: this ad is brilliant.
The system is clever: Tide hijacks all the other ads making us think how clean and spotless everyone’s clothes are… so it must be a Tide ad.
It probably would have worked also without David Harbour too.
#6 Doordash - All The Ads (2024)
The best ad of the last 10 years? A good, ol’ competition. Straight from the brain of a maniac.
Doordash wanted to show how they could ‘doordash pretty much anything’. So how about creating a hyper complex competition? But the price is so yummy that it was hard to miss… Doordash delivered to one lucky winner a huge prize: all the products that were mentioned in the 2024 Super Bowl ads.
The winner had just to enter the correct code (found on Reddit, took me a while):
DOORDASH-ALL-THE-ADS-2024-PROMOCODE-DOORDASHCANDOORDASHPRETTYMUCHANYTHING-ANEWKIAEV9-REESES-PEANUTBUTTERM&MS-HOPEYOUHAVEADVR-FANDUEL-DINAMITA-MOUNTAINDEWBAJABLAST-BMWi5-POPEYESCHICKEN-YOUTUBETV-OREO-DOVE-LIVEDASHLOVE-HOPE-YOU'RE-NOT-MISSING-ANYTHING-DOORS-IAMNOTGOINGTOREADALLOFTHISBUTYOUGETTHEIDEA-MORE-BAJA-BLAST-ANYONE?-MAYONNAISE-LOTS-AND-LOTS-OF-MAYONNAISE-PERSONAL-WEBSITE-CREATION-TECHNOLOGY-WHERE-ARE-YOU-GOING-TO-PUT-ALL-THIS-STUFF?-YOUR-GARAGE-IS-TOO-SMALL-OH-IT'S-STILL-GOING-INTO-THE-YARD-WOW-LOOK-ANOTHER-CAR-IT'S-A-VERY-LONG-PROMO-CODE!"YOUR-DOOR-TO-MORE:A-SHORT-ESSAY-ABOUT-STUFF"-FOR-TOO-LONG-COMMERCIALS-HAVE-SIMPLY-ADVERTISED-GOODS-AND-OR-SERVICES-BUT-NEVER-HAS-A-COMMERCIAL-GOTTEN-YOU-GOODS-AND-OR-SERVICES-FROM-ALL-THE-OTHER-COMMERCIALS-VIA-THE-CORRECT-APPLICATION-OF-AN-EXTENSIVE-ALPHANUMERIC-PROMOTIONAL-CODE-LIKE-CHEESEBURGERS-MIDSIZE-GERMAN-AUTOMOBILES-STARRY-38230-90580AM8028HS7A8D99-ET-CETERA-YOU-GET-IT-HOWEVER-THE-DESIRED-OUTCOME-RESULTS-IN-AN-INFLUX-OF-MULTIPLE-AUTOMOBILES-WHICH-CAN-BE-OVERWHELMING-FOR-THE-SENSES-BECAUSE-THE-NEW-CAR-SMELL-OF-ONE-CAR-IS-QUITE-INCREDIBLE-BUT-THE-NEW-CAR-SMELL-OF-MULTIPLE-NEW-CARS-HAS-THE-POTENTIAL-TO-CREATE-A-SENSE-OF-EUPHORIA-UNATTAINABLE-ANYWHERE-ELSE-IN-THE-NATURAL-WORLD-THE-SAME-IS-TRUE-WHEN-ONE-OBTAINS-THE-SNACKS-FROM-ALL-THE-ADS-AS-WE-HUMANS-OFTEN-FEEL-DECISION-PARALYSIS-GIVEN-SO-MANY-DELICIOUS-OPTIONS-AT-THE-SAME-TIME-AND-THEN-HAVING-ACCESS-TO-TURBOTAX-EXPERTS-MAKES-THINGS-SO-INCREDIBLY-CONVENIENT-THAT-ALL-OTHER-ASPECTS-OF-LIFE-BECOME-LESS-CONVENIENT-BY-COMPARISON-THIS-IS-BOTH-A-CONUNDRUM-AND-THE-BEST-THING-TO-EVER-HAPPEN-TO-YOU-BUT-MOSTLY-THE-BEST-THING-TO-EVER-HAPPEN-TO-YOU-AND-SORRY-ABOUT-ALL-THE-DASHES-JUST-KIDDING-HERE-ARE-LIKE-FIFTEEN-OR-SO-MORE-BUT-YOU-WILL-NEED-TO-COUNT-THEM-TO-SEE-IF-THAT-IS-CORRECT-DASH-DASH-DASH-!!!!!
I told you, it’s work of a maniac.
#5 Doritos - Finger Cleaner (2014)
Doritos’ Crash The Super Bowl is an incredible opportunity for any Doritos fan to submit their ad for the Super Bowl. This can be only pulled out by a brand like Doritos: lots of brand love, lots of fans, for sure lots of talented fans.
Writer and director Tom Noakes has scored something of a hit with his entry to the Doritos Super Bowl competition. You know almost instantly that this spot is going somewhere disturbing - but as we all know, that's exactly why you can't look away.
A body shop worker goes to wipe his Dorito-becrumbed fingers on his overalls, and is told to use the "finger cleaner".
What’s inside of the mysterious hole in the wall?
#4 Coinbase - QR Code (2021)
Love it or hate it, the most brilliant low-budget ad ever.
Those were the years when the QR code became instantly the most used tool ever - and not only in marketing: did you remember a physical restaurant menu in those years?
Coinbase used the hypnotic technique of making the QR Code bounce across the screen with all us rooting for it to finally hit the bloody corner.
An instant hit without a doubt, regardless of the future of the company.
#3 Monster.com - When I Grow Old (1999)
A punch in the gut.
How many of you (of us?) are right now yes-men/women, clawing our way in middle management, filing all day, being replaced on a whim, doing anything for a raise, being paid less for doing the same job (or more than one), underappreciated?
A longer version is available too (more optimistic).
#2 E-Trade - Monkeys (2000)
Two weirdos and a chimpanzee clapping at the Cucaracha. 20 seconds of well built nonsense, and a killer tagline: We’ve just wasted 2,000,000$.
#1 Apple - 1984 (1984)
So much was written and said about this ad, I can’t add much value.
Just remind that, without Steve Jobs balls and genius, this wouldn’t have gone live: the Apple board of directors rejected it, thinking it was weird.
Of course it was, and that’s why it became such a piece of history: Apple crushed through the years market leader IBM positioning itself as creative and rebellious against the corporate monkeys.
Can we still say it’s the case?
And on this joyous note, I’ll call it a day.
Feedback is gold, so please please pretty please let me know what you think of this article, and which are your fav Super Bowl ads ever.