• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

Svedka vodka primarily used artificial intelligence (AI) to create an advertisement featuring its “Fembot” mascot in the brand’s first Super Bowl commercial, scheduled to air Feb. 8.

The brand is owned by Sazerac, acquired by Constellation Brands in early 2025. It’s not clear which of the AI platforms the company used to create the ad, but according to reports, it did work with Silverside, which also helped Coke make one of its holiday spots last year.  

There are others that used AI to entertain. Almond Breeze, for example, in a 2026 campaign features the Jonas Brothers and makes fun of AI gimmicks, ultimately concluding that the product is good without "all that AI gimmickry."

In the middle of last year, experts predicted that by the end of 2026, nearly 40% of all ads will be AI-generated. I predict the percentage will be much higher.

Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and others -- which are expected to air ads during Super Bowl LX -- will use some AI to create the ad. Or at the very least, they will highlight features in their respective technologies.

Selling AI to all brands and consumers cannot be easy, although the technology is growing at a pace that makes it difficult for many to keep up with the changes.

Some have fears about the technology’s downside such as data-sharing or financial-privacy concerns. Others are concerned that AI will take jobs previously performed by humans.  

One thing is certain -- there are as many or more Super Bowl ad fans as those who love to watch the game. Now that brands will begin to use AI to create the ads, there is no holding back on the price of creativity.

It will be interesting to see how consumers react to this year’s AI created Super Bowl ads. CivicScience data showed that last year just 6% of Super Bowl viewers reported that they were more likely to purchase or use AI tech after seeing ads for AI tech during the game.

On the other hand, one-quarter of viewers were less likely to use AI following the ads they saw.

One possible explanation, per CivicScience, as much as 83% of Super Bowl viewers were at least "somewhat" concerned about the proliferation of AI tools, outpacing the general population by six percentage points or 77%.

Last year, AI companies highlighted their technologies, but this year I think we will see many more ads that have been created by brands.

At least System1 believes to know what consumers want to see — storytelling. And they want to laugh.

System1 today released its Big Game Hall of Fame ranking of consumers’ favorite Big Game ads of the 2020s, based on emotional-response data they have accrued from testing and scoring 425 ads from between 2020 and 2025.

The company polled more than 60,000 people to find the answers, but these ads were not created with AI.

1. Lay’s, “Little Farmer” (2025) — 5.9 stars 
2. NFL, “Somebody I It Takes All of Us” (2025) — 5.6 stars 
3. Huggies, “Welcome to the World, Baby” (2021) — 5.4 stars 
4. Disney, “Disney100 Special Look” (2023) — 5.3 stars 
5. Jeep, “Groundhog Day” (2020) — 5.2 stars 
6. WeatherTech, “Whatever Comes Your Way” (2025) — 5.2 stars 
7. Doritos, “Cool Ranch” (2020) — 5.1 stars 
8. Samuel Adams, “Boston Dynamics” (2022) — 4.9 stars 
9. Doritos, “Push It” (2022) — 4.9 stars 
10. NFL, “Flag 50” (2025) — 4.9 stars 

System1 tests every Big Game ad with consumers. The testing predicts long-term growth potential through a star-rating system it calls “Star Rating,” and short-term sales potential, “Spike Rating,” based on how people feel when watching the creative, how intense these emotions are and how quickly and how well the brand is correctly identified by viewers.  

Big Game ads last year averaged 3.0 stars out of a maximum 5.9 stars -- slightly higher than the 2.3-star average for all U.S. advertising.

The average for the top-performing Big Game ads from the past six years exceeds these metrics, securing 5.2 stars or ‘Exceptional’ long-term growth potential. 

Storytelling helped them accomplish this, and that’s what AI does best — tell stories.

In other words, narratives with a clear beginning, middle and end as well as characters who interact with one another and emotional peaks and valleys are most effective.

These ads introduce moments of tension or sadness, as long as they are resolved and replaced with positive emotions by the end.