Super Bowl reviewed: a look at the ads that touched down in 2025

We've just been through that time in the year when the world's adlands look over enviously to the USA, ogling at the budgets, energy and furore of that time when the public seems to actively seek out our industry's work. 

We’re on the news, in the group chats, strangers hush a bar to silence when ads appear. There’s nothing quite like it in global advertising.  

The most original big game advert I can think of in recent years was the Coinbase bouncing QR code. 

While advertising is always somewhat formulaic, in the broadest sense, the Super Bowl commercials can really be a tick box exercise when it comes to their execution.  

a) Land product early and clearly 

b) Use a celebrity or cute animal. Or both.  

c) Reprise with a joke (don’t be too funny, though) 

I’m being facetious. There’s nothing wrong with landing the product early, nor having a good reprise. It’s just noticeable that so many commercials are being structured in this way. The most original big game advert I can think of in recent years was the Coinbase bouncing QR code that aped the old DVD bouncing logo. Intrigue alone crashed their website. That might be asking too much to expect all the Super Bowl 2025 commercials to be as original, as captivating and as intriguing, as the Coinbase one, but hopefully there will be some that break the mould. Let’s find out… 

Michelob Ultra has enlisted the talents of Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara as a dastardly duo hustling sport ‘stars’ at a game of pickleball – that miniature tennis game made popular by retirees and people who aren’t fit enough to play real tennis. They’ve got the product being poured within two seconds of the start, before the pair trade pickleballs in various scenarios, coming away with a hoard of booze that could substantiate endless Super Bowl parties.  

Squarespace is becoming a Super Bowl stalwart. 

I like it when a celebrity is used in an unexpected way, and seeing these two Beetlejuice Beetlejuice co-stars tearing the field apart makes for an entertaining watch. Is it as good as previous Michelob Ultra Super Bowl ads? The bowling alley commercial of 2022 had a cool factor they haven’t quite reached since, but the competitiveness of their new platform is one that can lead to some unexpected things. 

Squarespace is becoming a Super Bowl stalwart, and its latest offering featuring Hollywood’s new favourite Irishman, Barry Keoghan, jumps directly off Keoghan’s performance in The Banshees of Inisherin. It teams him back up with his co-star, Don Mosley who, if you didn’t already know, is the donkey in the film.  

In this commercial we see Keoghan helpfully building his equine friend a new website, using the Squarespace platform, to help him garner more film work. It’s fun, irreverent, and full of the low-key charm and energy that Keoghan is becoming renowned for. And it’s ticking all three boxes – the brand is introduced at the start before we quickly get into a product demo. There’s a celebrity, plus a celebrity cute animal (bonus box ticked?) and there’s a knowing reprise at the very end where Keoghan loses some of his hard built website. Phenomenal.  

Stella Artois kicks off with a pint being poured before we see England’s favourite celebrity, David Beckham, sitting down in a moody bar with his parents (played by actors) who reveal a twist to the platitudinous Beckham story – he’s got a long lost twin brother, also called David, who resides somewhere in America.  

Budweiser is the quintessential Super Bowl commercial brand, never needing to deviate too far from their annual roll out of their Clydesdale horses.. 

It’s a strong start, but then the tone quickly turns almost slapstick as it’s revealed the twin brother is played by Matt Damon, who is having a BBQ when the real David Beckham turns up on his doorstep. There are a few awkward interactions, a strange chicken wings gag when Becks gets preposterously confused with it actually being buffalo meat, before Matt Damon wallops an American football into the stratosphere.  

It almost feels like two commercials in one, with the dry humour of the bar scene, contrasting quite sharply with the more ridiculous humour in the backyard. There’s also a mini-reprise where Matt Damon asks Beckham if he’s as famous as Matt Damon, to which he replies, “Maybe Ben Affleck famous’. Those two can’t fart without mentioning each other.  

Budweiser is the quintessential Super Bowl commercial brand, never needing to deviate too far from their annual roll out of their Clydesdale horses. In this beautiful commercial, a young foal delivers a lost barrel of Bud, travelling cross-country to ensure it reaches its destination in time.  

Totino’s went meta in their teaser, imploring us to not look at any other ad before unveiling their full ‘banned’ commercial. 

There are some well-timed witty gags that give this Bud commercial a lighter feel, in contrast to some of their previous more twee outings. And they tick the boxes, with their three opening shots all featuring the Budweiser name, there are cute animals galore that might even constitute being a celebrity, and there’s a neat reprise that squeezes in a crowning of the foal to remind you who the King of Beers really is. Tremendous. 

Finally, there are few Super Bowl ads that bucked the trend. NerdWallet, the financial tool app, had a talking beluga whale to demonstrate the genius of their service. Totino’s went meta in their teaser, imploring us to not look at any other advert before unveiling their full ‘banned’ commercial where an alien being set to share Totino’s Pizza Rolls across the universe is horrifically crushed to death in the doors of their spaceship.

And the mortgage site, Rocket, also released a film that had a more heartfelt message about homeownership and the American dream. Cinematically shot, without a hint of celebrity, but full of poise and reverence for the emotional journey home, plus being soundtracked to a cover of John Denver’s classic, Country Roads (which has become somewhat of a sporting anthem in stadiums across the world) it pulled at the heartstrings and tied into the occasion probably better than any other commercial over this Super Bowl weekend. And it didn’t tick one of the boxes in the process. Bravo.