If one sentence were used to describe Super Bowl LVII, perhaps "lack of climax" would be most fitting. The fierce showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs ultimately lost its suspense due to acontroversial penalty callwith less than two minutes remaining, allowing the Chiefs to win easily. The commercials were equally disappointing. After weeks of hype and evencontroversial buzz, big-budget teasers from brands like M&M's failed to deliver on Sunday.

That night, A-list celebrity cameos and tributes to pop culture classics like "Breaking Bad" and "Clueless" dominated. While this is not a rare phenomenon at the Super Bowl, the degree of similarity in strategy this year was unprecedented, causing even decent ideas to be drowned in a flood of Hollywood faces. Meanwhile, failures that leaned too heavily on a single joke and failed to connect with brand identity felt more glaring than ever.

"The scripts for these ads seem to come from the same brief," said Pepe Aguilar, Executive Creative Director at Gallegos United, in an email.

However, there were still surprises and clear winners. Rihanna earned praise for her high-flying halftime show, the first sponsored by Apple Music. An interstitial ad for streaming platform Tubi made many viewers think someone had accidentally hit the remote. Amazon and The Farmer's Dog effectively used pets to tug at heartstrings, with the lattertopping USA Today's Ad Meter。

QR code and e-commerce service ads continued to permeate the broadcast, extending the pandemic-driven digital trend. Electric vehicle ads were ubiquitous among automakers, injecting energy into this usually conservative category and continuinglast year's heavy investment. Alcohol ads made their debut, and Molson Coors returned to the Super Bowl after more than three decades, drawing attention. Additionally, advertisers and the NFL made progress in recognizing women, such as in the league's ad where flag football ambassador Diana Flores was chased by a group of familiar faces.

Despite this, the few highlights and innovative moves failed to mask the overall stale impression of Super Bowl LVII commercials, which may reflect marketers being in an uneasy transition period amid industry upheavals like the pandemic and the rise of streaming.

"I think most ads this year were particularly bad. Safe, perfunctory, and dull," said Douglas Brundage, founder of Kingsland, in an email. "Brands seem to still be feeling out the national mood, choosing the most conservative path rather than digging into strategy to find opportunities. I hate to see brands waste money like this."

Celebrity Fatigue Sets In

The high price of Super Bowl ads may push marketers to continue relying on Hollywood talent for maximum return. This year's broadcaster Fox reportedly charged up to $7 million for a 30-second spot. But the ads of Super Bowl LVII pushed many commentators to their limit of celebrity tolerance, signaling that messaging needs to change or viewers will start tuning out.

Some creatives resonated, such as Bud Light's "Hold" ad, the first Super Bowl work from new creative agency Anomaly. The ad showed real-life couple Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry goofily dancing in their living room to a catchy hold tune while waiting for a phone call.

"This ad is sweet and relatable, showing that even during endless waiting, a cold beer can make everything better," commented Deb Gabor, founder and CEO of Sol Marketing, in an email.

Dunkin' capitalized on Ben Affleck's well-known andwidely mockedaffection for the Massachusetts coffee chain, with the ad directed by Affleck himself. He later appeared again to promote his new film "Air." In "Drive-Thru," the filmmaker worked the busy drive-thru lane at a local Dunkin', causing customer confusion, and eventually his wife Jennifer Lopez showed up. It was one of the few cases that night where the product and spokesperson were clearly linked, while other ads felt disconnected.

"Ben's famous love for Dunkin' resonates here," said Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative director of DiGo, in an email. "In a celebrity-driven Super Bowl, this ad transcended clichés and also delivered real results for Dunkin'."

Elsewhere, usually likable celebrities faced tests. Serena Williams appeared in ads for two alcohol brands, drawing mixed reactions. The tennis legend appeared for Michelob Ultra (continuing last year's campaign) and Rémy Martin (taking advantage of the NFL's relaxed alcohol ad rules,quoting Al Pacino's speech from "Any Given Sunday").

"As a tennis fan and Serena fan, I wish she hadn't appeared in two alcohol ads," said Craig Brown, Senior Vice President of Strategy at Incubeta, in an email. "I understand it's about money, but she's one of the truly inspiring people on the planet, and I wish she had chosen different endorsements for the Super Bowl."

Hellmann's ad, which used Jon Hamm and Brie Larson's last names for puns, received a lukewarm response, perhaps the most typical example of celebrity wattage failing that night.

"The joke writing was amateur, insight was missing, and the cinematography was uncomfortable," said Myra Nussbaum, President and Chief Creative Officer of Havas Chicago, in an email. "Adding Pete Davidson made it worse."

Emotion and Pragmatism Win

Despite the diminished star power, the two best ads of the Super Bowl were narrative-driven, focusing on man's best friend. DTC pet food brand The Farmer's Dog won the night and the USA Today Ad Meter with its first national Super Bowl ad. The 60-second "Forever" followed a dog and its owner through various life milestones.

"This type of 'time-lapse' ad is hard to execute. Casting and production design must be perfect," said Chris Corley, Executive Creative Director at Dunn&Co, in an email. "This ad had other strengths too. I loved the editing and cinematography. But above all, it had insight into people's relationships with their dogs and family growth."

Similar insight drove Amazon's "Saving Sawyer", a 90-second ad telling the story of areal rescue dogand its family's adventures. The ad was full of nods to the early pandemic days of staying home and cautiously returning to work, and it tugged at heartstrings by hinting the family gave up Sawyer, only to reveal they added a new puppy.

"They are the only internet company that connected emotionally with the audience. In just a few seconds, they perfectly captured the times we live in and the real reasons we buy things," said Steve Merino, Chief Creative Officer at Aloysius Butler & Clark, in an email.

Beyond the pet creatives, The Farmer's Dog and Amazon both tied their ads to brand utility, whether it was healthy dog food or simplified e-commerce. Those ads that incorporated the brand's value proposition stood out by adhering to marketing principles rather than just creating buzz.

"I noticed a stark contrast in strategy among brands this year," said Mark Ray, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at North, in an email. "Perhaps because the world has become more divided in the last five years than in previous decades, brands that are becoming relevant and meaningful are evolving quickly."

Google stayed on brand in its ad, showcasing a 90-second product demo of its latest Pixel phone, which, according to Allen Adamson, co-founder of Metaforce, "focused on the core differentiator"—the photo-unblurring feature.

Beyond Google, automakers led in combining strategy and execution. General Motors partnered with Netflix to continue promoting EV adoption; Kia turned the relatable moment of forgetting a child's pacifier into ahero's journeythat only its latest SUV could solve. Ram, meanwhile, reminded ad makers and viewers with its edgy "Premature Electrification" that utility doesn't have to be boring.

"This is a bold shift from traditional car ads. It works because it's based on a clear problem—skepticism about EV 'durability,'" said James Denman, Head of Innovation and Marketing at Yard NYC, in an email. "By parodying pharmaceutical ads, it conveyed the joke and the benefit in a memorable way."

Do Controversial Ads Start or End Conversations?

In sports terms, Super Bowl ads are often bold attempts that can result in a strikeout or a home run. As usual, many of the most talked-about ads were described by industry experts as both the best and the worst—again testing whether all attention is equal for brands.

This year's most disruptive ad came from Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming service owned by Super Bowl broadcaster Fox. The company caused countless viewers to frantically search for their remotes with its 15-second "Interface Interruption" ad, which superimposed the Tubi browsing interface over Fox Sports commentators. This was followed by a bizarre 60-second spot showing giant rabbits pushing people into rabbit holes, alluding to the "rabbit hole" content in its library.

Although the "Rabbit Holes" ad was named a 2023 Super Clio winner, experts had mixed reviews, praising the attention-grabbing stunt but questioning whether the ad clearly established the Tubi brand or distinguished it from the many similarly named streaming services. For others, the combination of stunt and surrealism achieved its purpose.

"What surprised me most was that one of the streaming services I don't subscribe to had one of the best ads of the night," said Nussbaum of Havas Chicago. "It prompted me to visit the website, discovered it's a free ad-supported service, so I've downloaded it to my devices and will be falling down the rabbit hole with Tubi."

M&M's sent industry observers down their own rabbit hole over the past few weeks with a confusingcandy spokesperson pauseand related controversial rebranding. The campaign began with the candies going on an "indefinite pause," with new spokesperson Maya Rudolph introducing increasingly bizarre ideas, culminating at the Super Bowl.

A 30-second ad seemed inspired by Coca-Cola's "Hilltop" hippie style, featuring Rudolph, her clam-flavored Ma&Ya's, and a group of new spokespeople—confusing for viewers who hadn't followed the past few weeks' story. The pause was then resolved with a 5-second tag and a 15-second post-game press conference-style ad, but it felt awkward. While some experts praised M&M's for mocking conservatives who attacked its "woke" rebrand, others felt the execution failed to capitalize on the pre-game buzz.

"I'm still not entirely sure what M&M's was trying to do," said Merino of Aloysius Butler & Clark. "First, they created a fake controversy by saying they'd remove the candy characters. Then, they joked about making the candies clam-flavored. But in the end, they never explained why they did it."

One of the biggest surprises of this year's Super Bowl was that one of the most talked-about ads wasn't for a brand, but for Jesus. As part of a multi-million dollar campaign, the "He Gets Us" campaign aired a 30-second ad "Be Childlike" and a 60-second ad "Love Your Enemies", using black-and-white images of conflict. Some experts felt these emotional ads resonated with viewers regardless of their religious beliefs, but others questioned the campaign's backers and the decision to spend millions rebranding the image of the Christian savior.

"Online reports that the campaign's backers include conservative and anti-LGBTQ donors remind us of the long-standing rift between the Jesus brand and many of its loyalists," said DiMassimo of DiGo. "However, few questioned the ads' grasp of the brand itself; they resonated and stood out in a commercial bowl that was commercial, celebrity-obsessed, and mostly lazy."