The Super Bowl is not just another sporting event, however popular, itâs a real marketing powerhouse. With ad prices as high as $8 million for a 30-second ad slot, this game still brings a full house of willing advertisers lining up to secure an ad opening every year. The 2025 Super Bowl witnessed 113 million viewers and raked in a record-breaking advertising revenue of $800 million which once again proves the eventâs exceptional commercial power.
The Creative Clicks team has distilled the marketing lessons from the 2025 Super Bowl campaigns to reveal how brands are turning moments into movements and to show how you as a marketer can adapt these tactics to your own efforts.
Super Bowl campaigns that deliver the highest ROI demonstrate that success is built during the pre-game promotion period as much as during the game itself. Teasers, influencer partnerships, and behind-the-scenes clips set the tone and warm up the viewers before the main event. In 2025 the strategic use of social media hints and trailers from brands boosted overall engagement significantly before commercials aired the first time during the game.
Budweiserâs âFirst Deliveryâ achieved the top spot in USA TODAYâs Ad Meter contest after its release. However, the biggest impact of this ad was due to several pre-game teasers featuring a determined Clydesdale foal. Budweiser warmed the audience's emotions through their initial campaign and later built excitement about the entire sequence.
Takeaway: to maximize ROI, it is important to develop data-driven, multi-phase campaigns that optimize conversion funnels before the main launch. Before introducing new products or promotions, implement measurable pre-launch campaigns that combine, for example, social media teasers with strategic partnerships. For example, a case study (with a 6-months span) by Advance Ohio proves that a multi-step strategy can boost conversions by 104% and achieve a 34% lower cost per lead.
The 2025 Super Bowl advertisements established beyond doubt that strategic creative risks yield significant gains. Viral ads achieved success through their combination of emotionally touching content, high production value, and their willingness to experiment with humor and absurdity.
Consider the standout ads from the event:
And on the other side of the spectrum was the most understated and frankly boring ad of the whole game â the first AI ad ever at an event of this scale. Released by OpenAI, this video featured a bland corporate promo that we see every other day on product demos online. The failure is even greater considering that the audience truly anticipated the first-ever AI ad, hoping to see something creative and possibly otherworldly.
Takeaway: well-performing campaigns require a strategic blend of data-driven targeting and exceptionally creative content. To break through the noise of saturated marketing channels, itâs important to create sharable and memorable content that resonates beyond just value proposition. Brands that implement innovative and sometimes bold content formats often report shorter sales cycles and an increased share of voice among key stakeholders.
Brands managed to reach peak effectiveness at events such as the Super Bowl when they time their interactions with the audience to match the micro-events of the game. Millions of viewers are united in the stadium or in front of the screen, with their attention full on the game. The best brands can do is not take the viewers out of the main event but complement it with their promos.
A little history lesson: in 2013 Oreo seized the moment to deliver their iconic real-time ad and tweeted âYou Can Still Dunk in the Darkâ during a power outage at the stadium in New Orleans. The message went immediately viral.
Many brands try to follow this trend without relying on a force majeure: during the 2025 Super Bowl engagement levels surged for Instacartâs âGrocery Stampedeâ Ńampaign. It featured real-time interactive content with brand mascots (Kool-Aid Man and Energizer Bunny) and allowed users to participate in creating content
Takeaway: find out when your target audience is the most active and receptive to ads and maximize your impact during such periods. Your campaignsâ performance will also expand significantly if you match your marketing moves to existing celebrations or seasonal events.
Super Bowl marketing also stands out because it successfully merges different marketing channels into one cohesive strategy. Superior brands synchronize TV-based content, social media platforms, and email campaigns to build an omnichannel marketing flow. 2025 Super Bowl commercials proved that using the same message structure across different platforms helps create better audience response.
T-Mobile and Starlink announced their âNew Era in Connectivityâ with a campaign that spanned across multiple touchpoints. Starting with social media teasers and then their full Super Bowl commercial, topped by post-game interactive content and customer storytelling, they highlighted their main message of being connected.
Takeaway: merging different marketing channels is crucial for success in performance marketing. You need to synchronize your messaging, including tone of voice and visuals, across all channels that your audience uses most often. According to a 2024 study by Nielsen, brands that plan cross-channel campaigns see a 24% increase in brand recognition and a 17% increase in purchase intent, which once again proves the efficiency of omnichannel strategies.
Super Bowl marketing shows long-term effects and adds to brand recognition, rather than an immediate inflow of new customers. Particularly effective campaigns bet on small cultural moments that unite the audience and bring it closer to the brand.
This year, Carl's Jr. brought back some 2000-s nostalgia with a beautiful model in a bikini who shared great news for those who plan on celebrating the Super Bowl with lots of alcohol â football fans will have the chance to claim a free burger the day after the event. At the same time, Coors Light suggested that more beer after a beer-fuelled Super Bowl day is a much better cure. In their ad, the whole country turned into sloths after celebrating too hard.
Takeaway: find that unique connection between the product you promote and its target audience. This will result in a much stronger emotional response and bring more conversions.
The 2025 Super Bowl proved once again that itâs a grand show of marketing genius and a perfect blend of creative concepts and timeless ideas. The main Super Bowl key takeaways:
Your content should start with storytelling because it creates emotional bonds. It should drive real-time engagement to expand your reach. Creativity and omnichannel approach make sure that your message reaches the audience and resonates as intended. And post-campaign analysis and continued engagement allow you to maximize your marketing impact and get the most out of your efforts.
The Super Bowl serves as a strategic model that affiliate marketers and smaller businesses can use to achieve their marketing goals. These approaches can be scaled up or down to fit any advertising budget, even if you donât have access to a full-scale production team or influencer endorsements.
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