Congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams on winning Super Bowl LVI, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. The Rams were led by Cooper Kupp, who capped off his record season with Super Bowl LVI MVP honors.
But how about the game wrapped around the game, the one where advertisers flex their creativity to earn bragging rights for the top Super Bowl commercials.
It’s a fierce battle for sure as the reported cost of a 30-second commercial for Super Bowl LVI was a record $7 million. The price is sky high, but the Super Bowl always guarantees a HUGE audience so the draw for any brand to make a splash is always there.
It’s tricky as the creative process is very subjective. It’s also hard to impress everyone with such a diverse audience tuning in to watch – and judge. Which brands pulled it off and generated a return on their investment on Super Bowl Sunday? The team at SWBR has our thoughts on which commercials stood out, but we’d love to hear from you on what commercial gets your vote as the best.
Below are the commercials that stood out for us:
Dave’s Pick: Toyota | Start Your Impossible
Why It Won: It was the most inspirational commercial of the night. It highlighted the Paralympic Games and its athletes by telling the story of two remarkable brothers.
What I Liked: This commercial captured the essence of why we love sports. We want to see athletes overcome the odds to achieve their goals and claim victory. This spot featured an uplifting story about two Canadian brothers working together. One brother helped the other who lost his eyesight at a young age, and together this tandem has won 10 Paralympic medals.
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ET’s Pick: Nissan Presents | Thrill Driver
Why It Won: Nissan put Eugene Levy in an action movie and he played his part just as we would all expect him too. Having Eugene’s mature yet funny, American Pie father persona play out in an action movie is solid gold.
What I Liked: I loved the mix of Eugene Levy and Dave Buatista, the collision of these two actors just felt great. And the story left me laughing out loud!
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Jackie’s Pick: Intuit QuickBooks & Mailchimp | Duality Duets
Why It Won: It included my favorite song “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled featuring Ludacris, Rick Ross, T-Pain & Snoop Dogg while making messaging short and sweet by letting business owners know they can win with this duo.
What I Liked: This commercial showed the diversity of businesses and how these softwares can work for everyone. It’s easy to “set up and grow” when you have this combination.
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Elizabeth’s Pick: Rocket Mortgage | Barbie Dream House
Why It Won: As a society, the last two years have cast a heavy and often overpowering weight on our shoulders that we continue to carry nearly every day. So, when a company like Rocket Mortgage casts the dependably hilarious Anna Kendrick to bring back some good old-fashioned entertainment value into our lives, it’s a pleasing merriment of the right sentiment at the right time. Not only did she deliver as an engaging comedic lead, but the content of the creative itself – art imitating life in the form of addressing the U.S. housing crisis under the guise of a faux Mattel commercial – was one that easily resonated with me.
What I Liked: As an 80s baby and 90s child, the tribute to all of my favorite childhood toys – Skipper, where have you been hiding? – tugged at my nostalgic heartstrings more than Ken’s googly eyes for Barbie. And, with the refinance market expected to dry up this year as interest rates continue to rise, it was a brilliant idea to seize upon a super-sized audience as a sales mechanism for locking in new customers who are looking to buy in this tight, ultra-competitive market.
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Michael’s Pick: Frito Lay | Flamin’ Hot
Why It Won: Doritos and Cheetos chips have done it again with their “Flamin’ Hot” spot. What can be better than empowering jungle animals to beatbox, sing and talk? All to the wrapping of “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa.
What I Liked: I felt this commercial entertained me the way I would expect a Super Bowl commercial to do. This magical moment started by a sloth eating some Doritos that had fallen to the ground. It just kept building from there. Soon the entire jungle was involved “unleashing your flamin hot!” What’s not to like about a commercial that can make a sloth look really cool.
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Mikala’s Pick: BMW USA | Zeus & Hera
Why It Won: I loved this commercial almost instantly because the art direction pulled me in. The reference to Greek mythology snatched my attention and the goofy yet frustrating scenarios that Zeus found himself in kept my attention. As a lover of puns, the icing on the cake was the tiny pegasus aptly named Peggy. I open-mouth cackled when she appeared on screen.
What I Liked: The choice to incorporate fantasy into modern day is always fascinating to me. The interesting visuals pulled me in and the humor kept my attention. I didn’t feel like I was being advertised to; I felt like I was just watching a quick, humorous story. Advertisements that are able to grab the viewer’s attention, set up an enjoyable narrative, and quickly show off the product are incredibly effective.
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Jessica’s Pick: GM | Dr. EV-il
Why It Won: Wow! As a massive Austin Powers fan (don’t judge me), this instantly took the cake as my favorite Super Bowl commercial. Bringing back the core cast, playing off of previous jokes, and making you laugh along the way made it easy for me to want to watch this commercial over and over again. It was a painfully “beautiful” reminder that it’s been TOO LONG since we’ve been graced with Dr. Evil and Scotty Don’t!
What I Liked: Absolutely everything. The only way they could have perfected this one was to have Austin Powers zipline in, trying to save the day. And one mw-ha-ha laugh from Dr. Evil wouldn’t have hurt either.
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Tyler’s Pick: Toyota | Keeping Up With the Joneses
Why It Won: Well, considering I am a truck guy, as soon as this commercial aired, it piqued my interest immediately. And I’ve got to say, the newly redesigned 2022 Toyota Tundra looks great (it’s even making me consider trading in my Ford F-150)! I thought that it was really refreshing to see a car commercial that did not feature an electric vehicle, as many others throughout the night did. The commercial featured one of the famous celebrity Joneses, Leslie Jones, driving in the TRD Pro trim, which has yet to hit dealer lots.
What I Liked: I liked all the fun plays on the name “Jones.” The commercial featured Tommy Lee Jones, Leslie Jones, and Rashida Jones driving through the mountainous terrain chasing each other in different trims of the new Tundra, all while “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones played in the background. The commercial also had dedicated license plates to the name “Jones” and a sign leading to “Jones Pass,” all adding to the plays on Jones. To me the most memorable part of the commercial was the vehicle, Toyota really hit a homerun on the redesigned Tundra. It was long overdue; it had not been redesigned since 2007.
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We’d love to know what commercial was your favorite during Super Bowl LVI, and if you’d like to make a video or commercial to help your company stand out from the crowd, contact SWBR and we’ll get started right away.
