If you stayed up for Super Bowl LVII on Sunday it’s estimated that you would have seen over 70 in-game ads at a cost of a cool $7m per 30-second slot. This would have exposed you to an obscene amount of one of advertising’s most trusted and used assets, the big name celeb.
From multiple Adam Drivers, to Serena Williams fronting not one but two different booze brands and Ben Stiller just being Ben Stiller, we gorged on a celeb heavy evening, even by Super Bowl standards. But the big question is, who got the most out of their star studded cast?
T-Mobile
T-Mobile won the award for the most random celebrity casting. In one ad break they gave us Bradley Cooper trying to sell his own Mum a phone plan, in a slightly awkward and not overly entertaining kind of bloopers reel. We were then served John Travolta resurrecting Danny Zuko with the cast of Scrubs, which was so completely bonkers and cheesy it ended up actually working.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLJoQRS48KQ
Why not an EV? | GM x Netflix
General Motors has teamed up with Netflix to put more electric vehicles on the small screen. It feels like a really big idea and a super interesting partnership. They bring it to life with the brilliant casting of Will Ferrel, who shows us where we’re likely to see electric powered car scenes, from Stranger Things to Squid Games. The comedic timing of Ferrel matched with Netflix production budgets make for an epic 60 seconds.
Rémy Martin | Inch By Inch Featuring Serena Williams
Having already seen Serena Williams playing golf with Brian Cox in the Michelob Ultra spot, we were more than ready for a bit more of the tennis legend. To put a non-actor into one of the most iconic sporting monologues in history and not really change it or add anything except put your cognac logo on the end felt lazy and a waste of Serena’s talents.
NFL Super Bowl LVII Commercial || Run With It
The NFL used their airtime to promote the women’s game, with an exhilarating chase scene starring Mexican flag football star, Diana Flores. What we love about this ad is that the opening live interview felt like part of the broadcast, so when the ensuing star studded chase began the viewer was hooked in. The agility of Flores and the brilliant cameos of Billie Jean King and Mr Beast among others, make it a stand out contender for best use of celebrity.
(You’ll have to watch it here for some reason known only to the client.)
Adam Burns is a creative director at Dark Horses.