The Kansas City Chiefs weren’t the only winners of this year’s Super Bowl, with several advertisers earning top ratings for their commercials during Sunday night’s game.
Top-ranking ads included those from Google Pixel, T-Mobile, Kia and PopCorners, according to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, which ranks commercials each year in its Super Bowl Advertising Review.
Advertisers showed their commercials to an audience of 113 million viewers this year, the largest in six years, according to Deadline.com.
“Brands played it safe”
The big game also featured a handful of losers who missed their chance to wow viewers with their ads, Kellogg said. The stakes were high for advertisers who paid $7 million for a 30-second ad during Super Bowl LVII this year — and who could spend a total of between $10 million and $15 million after production costs for a spot, noted Derek Rucker, a Kellogg professor and co-head of the school’s advertising review.
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A great ad can help boost a brand’s image and even boost sales, like Apple’s legendary “1984” ad that ran during Super Bowl XVII in 1984. Likewise, a bad ad can damage a brand, such as the infamous 1999 Just for Feet commercial that was decried as racist.
This year’s crop of Super Bowl ads featured no big hits or misses and was generally light and upbeat, Rucker said.
“What I was expecting at the outset was that it was going to be a relatively safe year: mostly upbeat tones, and that’s mostly what we’ve seen,” Rucker said. “Brands played it safe.”
The Kellogg ratings, which range from A to F, are based on an academic framework that measures ads based on marketing qualities such as differentiation and positioning, with a panel of business students applying the metrics to the ads. This year’s crop of ads does not include ones rated “F” by the panel.
Winners: T-Mobile, Kia, Google Ads
Many of the commercials played on nostalgia, tapping into cultural references from the 1970s, 80s and 90s. One of this year’s winning ads was a T-Mobile commercial starring John Travolta, who starred in the film “Grease” more than 40 years ago, singing the musical’s hit “Summer Nights” with new lyrics that emphasized the brand’s capabilities.
New Year. New neighbor. | Advertisement for Big Game Day 2023 | T-Mobile Home Internet by T-Mobile on YouTube
Another winner: Google Pixel 7, which showed the phone’s ability to enhance photos by deleting unwanted elements and improving focus after a picture is taken. That ad performed well because it clearly represented what the technology can do for consumers, Rucker noted.
Official Google #FixedOnPixel SB Commercial 2023 starring Amy Schumer, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doja Cat from Made by Google on YouTube
Another top commercial: a Kia commercial showing a father taking his Kia Telluride on a bumpy ride while driving back home to retrieve his baby’s binky, which was accidentally left behind.
“It’s a fun ad, it’s engaging. They show you what the brand is capable of,” Rucker said. “Some people might think that Kia is not a very robust car, but it shows that it can drive off-road.”
Binky Dad | The 2023 Kia Telluride X-Pro All-Terrain AWD SUV from Kia America on YouTube
Some of the Kellogg School winners also received top ratings from USA Today’s ad counter, which ranked the T-Mobile commercial starring John Travolta at #7. USA Today’s top-rated ad came from The Farmer’s Dog, a company that makes dog food. what the newspaper noted was “the first ‘sentimental’ ad to hit #1 since 2015.”
Forever (Super Bowl): 60| The Farmer’s Dog by The Farmer’s Dog on YouTube
The humorous Netflix/GM commercial starring Will Ferrell earned an A from the Kellogg School, as did the PopCorners commercial starring the stars of Breaking Bad, reprising their roles as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman—but this time with addictive snacks from drugs.
Why not an electric car? | GM x Netflix by General Motors on YouTube
“PopCorners was super branded,” Rucker noted. “You bring in characters that you can recognize, but the product is the focus of the conversation.”
PopCorner’s Breaking Bad Super Bowl Ad | Breaking Good 60 by PopCorners on YouTube
Losers: M&Ms, Remy Martin
This year’s underperforming ads included spots for M&Ms, which has been embroiled in some controversy over its ‘Spokescandies’ this year, and Rémy Martin Cognac.
USA Today’s ad counter also gave these two spots low scores, placing them in the bottom 5 of all ads shown during the game.
The M&M spot, which comes after the brand announced it was indefinitely pausing its Spokescandies, featured comedian Maya Rudolph in an ad for ma&ya’s candy-coated clam bites. But a separate ad that airs at the end of the game features the Spokescandies saying they’re back.
M&M’S Super Bowl 2023 by M&M’S on YouTube
“Basically, there’s a whole backstory where they said we were going to remove the characters and replace them with Maya Rudolph,” Rucker said. “You misrepresented your brand intent. Now it’s ‘Just kidding.'”
In the Rémy Martin ad, Serena Williams spoke about what it takes to win, but without making a clear connection with the cognac brand until the end.
Remy Martin | Inch by Inch with Serena Williams from Rémy Martin Cognac on YouTube
“They have Serena, but this ad could have been about anything,” Rucker said. “Rémy Martin is almost an afterthought.”
The lowest rating in the USA Today Ad Meter rankings was for U2’s commercial for a live performance that featured spheres floating above the earth. The ad struck many viewers as odd timing given the reported Chinese spy balloons being shot down over the US
U2:UV Attention Baby Live At The Sphere (Super Bowl Edit) by U2 on YouTube
Here are the ads by grade level, according to the Kellogg School.
A
Google Pixel 7
Doritos
Disney
KIA
T Mobile
About One
Netflix/GM
SquareSpace
popcorners
B
Bud light
The Farm Dog
skechers
R.A.M.
CrowdStrike
Hellmanns
Pepsi without sugar
pringles
immersion
Booking.com
MARINE
WeatherTech
Amazon
planter
C
Michelob ULTRA
Molson Coors
Avocados from Mexico
Rakuten
jeep
Tillamook
Bass pro shops
working day
Intuitive TurboTax
E*Trade
Xfinity
DoorDash
Support healthcare
Heineken 0.0
Outstanding+
royal crown
Temu
bush light
D
peacock
Fluffy
maiden voyages
fan duel
tube
He gets us
Eleven
M&M’s
Remy Martin
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