The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in dominating fashion, 40-22, to win Super Bowl LIX. But for a group of Michigan State University faculty members, the main draw wasn’t the football — it was the ads.
For the 28th year, faculty in the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences ranked the ads that aired during the big game.
Robert Kolt, professor of practice emeritus in the MSU Department of Advertising and Public Relations and creator of the ad-watching tradition, said faculty rank ads based on creative messaging, strategy, production quality, branding, ad execution and level of uniqueness and memorability.
“Most of the ads this year were fun and funny, but there were some good serious spots too,” said Kolt. “There was something in this game for everybody to like.”
According to the MSU faculty, this year’s top ads were:
- Michelob ULTRA: “Pickleball Hustle”
- Mountain Dew: “Seal as a seal”
- WeatherTech: “Grannies”
- Google: “Dream Job”
- Novartis: “Your attention please”
Some advertisers paid as much as $8 million for 30 seconds of national TV time this year, and the FOX network said there was a waiting list to get a commercial for the game.
“The Super Bowl is the biggest television audience and event every year, and the game has historically been a showcase of top-quality ads for the advertising industry. “Now, the challenge is to measure if the ads and investment worked. Good ads have to actually make a sale for the advertisers and increase business.”