What actually makes a great Super Bowl halftime ad

Every year, Super Bowl commercials dominate conversation, headlines, and TikTok FYPs long after the football game ends. They’re dissected, ranked, memed, and remembered in a way few other brand moments achieve. 

In the lead-up to Super Bowl 2026, one question kept coming up across the Connective3 International Digital PR team: What actually makes a great Super Bowl ad?  

After plenty of debate, a few clear patterns stood out. 

1. When a brand clearly doesn’t belong, it’s clear 

It’s often painfully obvious when a brand shows up with a huge media budget and no real reason to be there. 

The most common red flags our team spotted were: 

• A product that feels awkwardly forced into the storyline 
• A celebrity appearance that adds star power, but zero relevance 
• A concept that could belong to any brand, anywhere, at any time 

An example of belonging done right is Budweiser’s Clydesdales. For decades, Budweiser has used the Super Bowl to reinforce what people already associate with the brand: Americana, nostalgia, tradition, and emotional storytelling.  

Ads like Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” (2013) didn’t rely on gimmicks or random celebrities, instead it felt like a natural extension of the brand’s identity. 

Alternatively, brands that make their debut during the Super Bowl with flashy production and famous faces can often leave audiences asking: “Wait, what was that actually for?” 

For example, streaming platform Tubi’s “Interface Interruption” commercial during the 2023 Super Bowl was designed to be surprising and playful but its bizarre, prank concept confused many viewers about what the brand actually does.  

Rather than clearly tying back to Tubi’s core service (a free streaming platform), the spot leaned so hard into its weirdness that people were reaching for the TV remote instead of paying attention to the brand message. 

2. Audience awareness isn’t optional 

One of the most underestimated factors especially for non-US brands is just how varied the Super Bowl audience really is. 

There isn’t a single demographic watching, it’s:  

• Families chatting through the game 
• Die-hard football fans half-watching the ads 
• Casual viewers scrolling on their phones 
• Party environments where attention comes in bursts 

That’s why humour tends to travel furthest but only when it’s instantly understandable to a broad US audience.  

Subtle sarcasm, niche cultural references, or “you had to be there” jokes often fall flat because they demand too much effort from a distracted viewer. 

A strong example of humour done right is Doritos. For years, Doritos ads have leaned into exaggerated, almost absurd comedy that requires zero context meaning you don’t need to know the brand’s history to get the joke and that’s exactly why they work. 

3. Heavy messaging often misses the mark 

The Super Bowl is fundamentally a high-pressure entertainment moment, fast-paced, loud, emotional, and built around the football spectacle.  

That’s why it’s rarely the right place for complex moral statements or dense social commentary unless a brand has truly earned the right to go there. 

Brands that try to compress serious messaging into 30 seconds without that foundation often don’t create impact, they create confusion. 

So for any brand thinking about tapping into moments like this in 2026…

Whether it’s a major sporting event like the World Cup, an awards show, a national holiday, or a trending cultural conversation remember this: 

Your presence alone is not the strategy.  

Instead of asking: “Can we tap into this moment?” The better question is: “Do we actually understand the moment, the audience, and our role in it or are we just forcing ourselves into the frame?” 

Because when the moment is this big, audiences can tell the difference instantly and once that trust is gone, no media budget can buy it back.