Super Bowl Archives: Top Celebrity Ads

Every brand may have different objectives for their Super Bowl ad investments: Some hope to establish brand awareness, while others aim to surprise and entertain, or  connect emotionally – and there are even ads actually trying to sell a specific product during the game. With so many goals in mind, evaluating success cannot be limited to a single measure or ranking. That’s not to say Creative Assessment data doesn’t correlate with other viewer-driven measures of success (it does). But general population viewers may also disagree with pundits and other industry experts:

Each year brings a plethora of industry rankings, yet historical data can inform and inspire, and create excitement for what’s to come. As a result, we’ll venture into iSpot’s Super Bowl creative effectiveness archives in the weeks leading up to the Big Game, to bring you a range of insights on trends, spotlight ads, and viewer response.

Celebrities Reign For Brands and Viewers

If you’re recalling more and more Super Bowl ads featuring celebrities, your memory is correct. In a clear bid for attention, Super Bowl brands have indeed turned to celebrities at increasing rates, with this trend particularly evident from the past three Super Bowl Sundays, where 66-to-75% of all in-game ads featured at least one celebrity.

The reason is obvious: Celebrities can provide immediate recognition, which helps the brand capture attention early with a very distracted audience. Two memorable Super Bowl ads that did just that were “Jeep Jurassic” (featuring Jeff Goldblum) and Universal Parks’ “Vacation Quarterback” (with Peyton Manning). Attention Scores for these ads were higher than the five-year Super Bowl norm of 679, although second-by-second engagement was low for Jeep until Goldblum was seen:

High Attention SB ads with Celebrity:

Of course, marketers have other means of grabbing attention, too. Dogs and amazing scenery worked just about as well in the case of WeatherTech’s “Lucky Dog” and Norwegian Cruise Line’s “Free to Be: Six Offers” Super Bowl spots:

High Attention SB ads without Celebrity:

The Rise of Multi-Celeb Super Bowl Ads

If just one celebrity can deliver impressive results, why not add more? Another rising trend over the past three years has been the use of multiple celebrities in a single Super Bowl ad. While just 20% or fewer of Super Bowl ads between 2010 and 2017 featured multiple celebrities, the 2021 and 2022 games saw about 33% of spots employ multiple celebs.

It’s a not-so-masked attempt to expand connection and Likeability with a broader section of the audience, and the data supports this strategy. Gameday ads with multiple stars have earned stronger Likeability Scores than those with a single celeb (+10% last year). 

And while celebrity selection can make or break an ad given the polarizing nature of many famous faces, success has often been linked to the purposeful choice of celebs that span genres and/or generations. Moreover, multiple celebrities can expand a brand’s reach exponentially, with social engagement before and during the game.

Ads employing female celebrities represented 35%-40% of Super Bowl spots in each of the past three years. 74% of SB ads (2010-2022) featuring female celebrities were perceived as Funny, vs. 58% of those without.

Fun Fact: Super Bowl All-Stars Beyond Peyton Manning

The most oft-used celebrities employed by Super Bowl advertisers since 2010 include (yep, you guessed it) Peyton Manning, who’s appeared in a record five ads across four brands and has the strongest appeal among millennial males 21-35. Another renowned sports figure, LeBron James, also resonated well with this audience. 

Millennial females were the best audience for the most-seen female celebrity in Super Bowl ads: Missy Elliot. Tracy Morgan and Serena Williams rounded out the Super Bowl Celebrity All-Stars, both resonating most strongly with females 36-49.

And the Winners Are: Most Likeable Celebrity Super Bowl Ads 2018-2022

The 2020 Super Bowl delivered four of the top ten most Likeable celebrity ads of the past five years, and 2022 also had two entries on the list. All but one in the top ten relied on the pull of multiple celebrities, and seven out of ten placed strong bets on humor to capture the audience (with Funny being one of the top two emotions sparked by the creatives). Not surprisingly, Arresting visuals and overall creativity (“Love It” reactions) were also common for celebrity Super Bowl spots since 2018.

However, only one featured Manning, perhaps suggesting that the Hall-of-Famer’s no longer a guaranteed win for Big Game ads.

SB Year	Brand	Ad Title	Single/Multiple Celebs	Female Celeb(s)	Likeability Score	Top Two Emos
2020	Doritos	The Cool Ranch Ft. Lil Nas X & Sam Elliott :60	Multi	No	798	Love It, Arresting, Funny
2020	Jeep	Groundhog Day :60	Multi	No	792	Funny, Arresting
2022	Frito-Lay	Push It :60	Multi	Yes	791	Funny, Love It
2022	Nissan	Thrill Driver :60	Multi	Yes	787	Curiosity, Exciting
2018	M&M’s	Human :30	Multi	No	786	Funny, Love It
2020	Hyundai	Smaht Pahk :60	Multi	Yes	779	Arresting, Funny
2021	Cheetos	It Wasn’t Me :60	Multi	Yes	774	Funny, Audio
2018	Universal Studios Resort	Vacation Quarterback :30	Single	No	762	Arresting, Love It
2020	Planters	Tribute :30	Multi	No	758	Nostalgic, Funny
2018	Mountain Dew Soda	Doritos Blaze vs Mtn Dew Ice :60	Multi	No	755	Arresting, Love It

Want more Super Bowl insights ahead of the game? Visit our Super Bowl Ad Center for a deeper look at some of the best 2023 teasers and emerging pre-game trends as well as real-time updates and analytics on Game Day. 

*Super Bowl ads are defined as airing whistle to whistle (in-game) in these statistics. 

**Note that some statistics range from 2014-2022, the point at which iSpot began reporting a more complex mix of performance metrics (such as emotional reactions).