With some 30-second spots exceeding $10 million, the Super Bowl remains one of branding’s most consequential stages—where companies launch products, shape perception and fight for cultural relevance in real time. From Benson Boone’s backflips to celebrity cameos, Siegel+Gale experts Jason Cieslak, Lisa Kane and Mei Wing Chan spoke to ADWEEK to weigh in on the ads from Super Bowl LX.
Mei Wing Chan, Creative Director
Humor, exaggerated characters, George Clooney, and a catchy tagline may not be enough to reach an audience for whom DoorDash has become a verb, and Uber Eats is firmly embedded in their ride-sharing app. Hinging the free delivery offer (for orders above $50) on brand differentiation may sound tempting, but is it worth the effort to download another app when customers are only ordering their favorite coffee or sandwich, not a full-on feast?
The spot is snappy and plays with the dining metaphor, but in today’s mood, it has an echo of “eat the rich” vibes, reinforced by the unpleasant characters feasting in a stuffy, wood-paneled setting. Who is the audience supposed to identify with, those caricatures or George Clooney, an actor and director living in Italy with freshly acquired French citizenship?
Lisa Kane, Executive Group Strategy
Instacart’s “Bananas” Super Bowl spot is pure joyful nonsense. And honestly, it’s hard not to enjoy it. In a moment when the world feels very heavy, there’s something refreshing about an ad that refuses to take itself too seriously.
On first watch, the chaos makes the new preference‑picker feature tough to catch. But maybe that’s the point: It’s sticky. The more the spot loops in your brain, the more you realize what you’re actually singing about. For the Super Bowl, you need to be both unforgettable and understandable. “Bananas” delivers cultural relevance and attention-grabbing fun, and with repeated views, the feature benefit lands, too.
Jason Cieslak, Global President
Uber Eats’ value prop aligns well with the hardcore football fan who likely adds more pounds from September to January than they’re willing to admit! I suspect this is part of the insight driving this creative approach. Fewer fans at bars, with an increasing number of them enjoying football from the privacy of their own homes.
But I don’t think this is a breakthrough ad. Especially since the campaign has been running all season. To some football loyalists, we’re tired of it. And Bradley Cooper’s Eagles were eliminated a long time ago. If anything, the Super Bowl represents a culmination of the campaign on football’s biggest day. I suspect there’s a hope of some latent awareness or repeat usage from earlier in the season to carve out the lion’s share of impulse cravings on Sunday. But there are so many other brands that go way over the top, looking to grab attention and be the talk of the office Monday morning. What is good about this ad is that it’s directly relevant to the day and the game, so I suspect this isn’t about memory… It’s about action and orders. If that ends up being the case, this will be a huge success, delivering some real ROI and setting the stage for future customer relationship nurturing to turn impulsive customers into loyal ones.
The bigger trend is trying to directly connect the massive spend to a tangible and positive business impact, and in this case, actual sales. Long are the days when a brand spends $10M on creative and media for a one-time shot at infamy; CMOs and the C-suite don’t tolerate that anymore.