Super Ads Recap: 2025 Faves and Fumbles

We asked our team to track their reactions in real time during the game, then followed up the next day to see which ones left a memorable impression and which had just been fleeting fun. Here, we break down our team’s take on this year’s commercials.

With so much invested, what actually gets remembered and helps build the brand or move the needle? These spots came up consistently among our team – whether for aligning deeply with an established brand, or for pushing it into new and unexpected territory.

We loved this two-minute feature starring Harrison Ford, who we agreed was perfectly cast, right down to his name. The storytelling was inspirational and the sly, well-aimed shots at Jeep’s rival, the Ford Bronco, caught our eye. Our favorite line? “This Jeep makes me happy—even though my name is Ford.”

The bold simplicity of Nike’s black-and-white ad depicting moments of triumph in women’s sports was a solid comeback (this was the first Big Game ad they ran in nearly three decades!). The spot featuring female athletes known for defying the odds aligned perfectly with Nike’s brand ethos and left a powerful impression on audiences of all ages.

At first glance, WeatherTech and your grandma might seem worlds apart, but its Super Bowl ad proved otherwise. We loved that they stepped outside the box with a hilarious, feel-good spot that showed their products are for everyone. While some have argued the concept was too big a departure for the brand, we liked seeing WeatherTech put some fun in functional. Its lighthearted humor and broad appeal made it a standout in our book.

When you have an audience of millions, you have to take advantage and shoot for the stars. While not bad per se, our team felt these ads had potential to be more impactful and buzzworthy but fell a bit short.

We loved the idea, and the execution was on-brand: frank but cute, not crude. But it aired during halftime when a lot of people are already out of the room. We think a shorter commercial break would have been a more strategic buy.

Team members unfamiliar with this brand were left confused about what this product is. It’s cool that they gave away 100,000 of them, but we think the ad missed the mark with millions of potential paying customers.

This young boy’s boxing-themed fight against cancer gave us “all the feels.” Our only note: The spot follows him home to see his family. We get the poetic intent, but that part felt like a swing and miss to some. We’d have loved to see his family emerge from the hospital WITH him like a proper fighter’s posse.

“If you can see the sky, you’re connected” is an incredible promise, but the spacey sequence at the beginning felt oddly disconnected to us. We think an earthbound opening would have been a more relatable setup to the high-tech Starlink solution and create an even stronger emotional connection with the audience. But with some outlets reporting high post-view activity, the underlying message (and actionable “free-until-July” offer) seems to be moving the needle.

Not every gamble pays off. Sometimes an ambitious ad isn't just a miss—it’s a full-blown head-scratcher. These ads left many of us baffled, unsettled and asking the question: “What were they thinking?!”

Whatever the intended message, we agreed the flesh hats didn’t win our hearts or minds. Across the agency, what people remembered most was that it felt creepy and confusing.

Dancing tongues? No thanks. Although it was a creative take on the sense of taste, most found the awkward visuals unsettling.

We thoroughly enjoyed the DunKings concept last year but the sequel featuring Jeremy Strong submerged in slimy-looking coffee grounds was more turn-off than tasty.

Some commercials deliver the laughs yet fail the crucial test of brand recognition. While they may be memorable in their humor or creativity, they miss the mark in tying their message back to the company or product.

We loved seeing Seal as a seal and even sang along with the karaoke, but despite the catchy and relevant lyrics, Monday morning left many hard-pressed to remember the brand behind this ad.

Eugene Levy’s flying eyebrows were a hit (and the earlier placement stole some thunder from Pringles’ mustaches later on) but it wasn’t enough to make us want Crazy Puffs (or remember who sells them).

Can a funny closer be too effective? Despite multiple references throughout the spot, no one in our focus group could name the brand featured. By the time we got done reacting to Pete Davidson deadpanning “All famous people are aliens. No…I meant really famous people” it was like we’d had our memories wiped by the MIB team.

Lots of us remember the scene. Some of us remember the movie. Very few of us remembered who was behind this particular commercial. It was…mayonnaise, right?

Not every spot lands squarely in the win or lose column. Here are a few ads that received mixed reviews and divided our team members. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they got a reaction.

Several of our team loved how the stark visual style cut through the clutter. Others said the high-contrast motion graphics were hard on the eyes and made for a difficult viewing experience.

A few people thought the ad's opening montage of chest-centric clips was effective as an attention-getting technique. Others found it awkward, distasteful or downright unacceptable to lean into the sexualization of women in an effort to connect with them on this serious topic.

While one teammate admitted they tuned out after spotting the now-familiar spokes duo of Dan Levy and Heidi Gardner, others gave this campaign high marks. Its clever and almost slapstick discussion of a claim the brand can’t make is both entertaining and effective without being deceptive. And, of course, we had to type in homes.comisthebest.com. Didn’t you?

Once again, Super Sunday proved to be a mixed bowl (er, bag) of creativity, risk-taking, and storytelling. Whether it was a standout moment, a missed opportunity, or an outright misstep, this year’s ads sparked plenty of conversation. At the end of the day, the big game remains a high-stakes stage for brands to capture attention—and sometimes, the boldest ideas leave the biggest impact, for better or worse.

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