• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 10, 2025

If Rule No. 1 of Super Bowl advertising is “Offend no one,” this year’s Big Game was a masterclass. In a volatile cultural climate, marketers aimed to play it safe – and many of the rankings proved that safety is exactly what most consumers crave right now.

Budweiser’s “First Delivery” ranked highest in USA Today’s Ad Meter because who could argue with an adorable baby Clydesdale? Lay’s “Little Farmer” came in second, and might as well have been written by the same ad team: Who could argue with an adorable little girl nurturing her very own spud?

Comedic edge and high-wattage celebrity pushed Michelob Ultra’s “Ultra Hustle” and Stella Artois’s “David & Dave” into third and fourth place, respectively. The former stars oldsters Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe as cutthroat pickleball hustlers, and the latter, the unlikely discovery that soccer legend David Beckham and actor Matt Damon are twins separated at birth.

Two NFL ads -- “Somebody,” featuring NFL players' efforts to inspire kids, and “Flag 50,” starring a gutsy new girl who shows off unbeatable flag-football feats -- ranked 5^th and 6^th.

Plenty of viewers evaluated the night's spots differently, of course. Novartis’ saucy “Your Attention, Please” ranked first in the Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review at Northwestern University, the first time a pharmaceutical ad has ever charmed that panel. (The ads are ranked by the school’s marketing profs and students in its advertising and marketing programs.)

“Novartis took a risk to break through the clutter with its unexpected focus on breast cancer screening,” said Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing and co-lead of the school's Ad Review, in the announcement. And what started out as playfully risqué ended with a serious message: Comedian Wanda Sykes urging people to get screened for breast cancer.

The Kellogg team also gave high marks to Michelob’s “Ultra Hustle” and Google Pixel’s “Dream Job,” showing a job applicant drawing on his parenting skills to find new work.

Those viewers also praised “So Win,” Nike’s return to the Super Bowl after 30 years, as “triumphant.” The spot stars WNBA stars Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu and Olympic gold medalists Jordan Chiles and Sha’Carri Richardson, showcasing the challenges women face in competition.

Dove also ran a spot that resonated with many. “These Legs” showed a three-year-old girl earnestly running down the street, in contrast to the body-shaming and discouraging messages she’ll face by age 14.

Those worked, Calkins writes, because those ads are “consistent with the equality-focused messaging these brands have had in the past.”