If you're going to pay 7 Million, you'd better have the right Super Bowl ad strategy

At the start of November, Fox had a sale: 30 second SuperBowl ads for $7 million dollars… and they sold out. 

The Super Bowl attracted 115 million viewers last year, and a lot of brands decided they didn’t want to miss out on this exposure. Some brands are coming back for their 10th, 11th or even 12th year in a row, like Sketchers. 

Although we don’t get to see how SuperBowl ads affect their bottom line, they must see some value in it if they’re such repeat customers. 

Reese’s is coming back for their second year. Hershey’s VP of Brand Strategy and Creative Development, Ryan Riess (lol how perfect) said “The positive reception of our 2024 ad from customers and consumers helped generate great commercial success for the brand and Reese’s Caramel Big Cups. For 2025, we knew we had to go bigger and bolder.” 

So what will brand ads look like this year? Last year was a complete celebrity takeover, and it's been said that people felt that companies relied too heavily on this, instead of actually creating a connection between their product and the audience. 

Don’t get me wrong, some used just the right recipe and blend of celebrity, creativity, and cultural connection, and they hit it out of the park; like CeraVe’s commercial with Michael Cera, who fans called “The best Super Bowl ad in years”.

Why audience insights matter

The stakes for Super Bowl ads are incredibly high. If you’re investing $7 million for a 30-second spot, you can’t afford to miss the mark. That’s why understanding your audience’s values, interests, and behaviors is the non-negotiable first step for crafting an ad that resonates. Audience insights ensure that creativity is data-driven, giving campaigns a better chance to succeed.

So how can brands get it right like CeraVe did? They can use Audience Intelligence as a starting point and let their audiences tell them what they are looking for.

In this blog post, we're going to use Audience Insights to dictate what we think certain brands should do for their Super Bowl ads, by listening to the data and using it to guide our creative angle.

Mountain Dew 

This will be Mountain Dew’s 7th Super Bowl commercial. The only hints we’ve seen online is that this year's campaign, which is being created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, will “encourage friends to have a damn good time and enjoy a refreshing Mountain Dew as they cheer on their favorite team during football season”.

Mountain Dew, like most brands who advertise during the big game, are no strangers to using celebrities. Last year they featured Parks and Rec stars Aubrey Plaza and Nick Offerman. 

By analyzing Mountain Dew’s target audience using Audiense, we can use insights into what this audience is most interested in, to inspire a commercial that is guaranteed to connect with what they love most. 

Celebrity Preferences: They share a love for Dwayne Johnson, Robert Downey Jr, Christina Aguilera, John Cena (who they used in their 2021 Super Bowl ad), Hugh Jackman, Mr. Beast, Snoop Dogg, and Kelly Clarkson.

Interests: Their main shared interests are sports, society, and pets.

Media Habits: On any given night you can catch this audience watching Netflix, DisneyPlus or ESPN

Values: In terms of their values, they consider both helping others and tradition to guide a large part of what they do. They think it is important to take care of the people around them. And they highly respect the groups they belong to and follow their guidance.

Social Platforms: This audience spends the majority of their time on TikTok, Snapchat, Twitch, and Discord, which makes sense since a lot of these audience members identify as “gamers”

To see the full Mountain Dew audience report and all of the audience insights included, click here. 

The commercial 

Based on the data, and a little creativity from our side, here is what we think the commercial should look like, based on what the audience insights tell us: 

The commercial starts off by showing friends all watching the football game in a living room with their dog. One friend goes to the fridge and realizes there’s only one Mountain Dew left - they yell back to the friend group saying “only one Mountain Dew left?!” game day is ruined. The friend’s voice carries, and the lights start to flicker. 

Robert Downey Jr. then blasts through the wall and appears and says “Game day without the Dew? That just won’t Do.” and starts assembling a vending machine filled with Mountain Dew 

Then the friends hear the doorbell ring, it’s Mr Beast at the door, who says the same thing “Game day without the Dew? That just won’t Do.” and he waves a huge transport truck to offload hundreds of boxes of mountain dew at the house. 

Snoop Dog then pops up from underneath the floorboards of the house, brushes the dust and dirt off himself, and says the same thing “Game day without the Dew? That just won’t Do” and starts installing a Mountain Dew dispenser right in the living room. He then pours a mountain dew into the dog dish for the dog and says “I dew not forget about my Doggs” and gives the dog a wink. 

Finally all celebrities sit down with the friends from the house, all cheersing their cold bottles of Mountain Dew. 

And at the same time all three celebrities say “Never Dew game day without the Dew”.

Why it works: 

Simple, this commercial works because it incorporates a theme that is based on their main values of “helping others” - the celebrities all band together to help this friend group get more Mountain Dew when they’ve run out. It also folds in their interest in sports, society, and pets. And finally the commercial features three of their top celebrity influencers. 

Yes creativity was used to piece all the insights together, but this commercial is based on data - and is guaranteed to resonate with the Mountain Dew audience. 

Jeep 

Jeep sat out of the 2024 Super Bowl commercials but is coming back for 2025. Their agency Highdive is keeping the details of the campaign a secret, but it could look similar to their past Super Bowl campaigns like the “Electric Boogie” which promoted their electric 4xe model driving past animals in nature dancing to a catchy tune. They didn't feature any celebrities in that commercial. 

For this years commercial inspiration, we’ve taken a look at Jeep’s target customer using the Audiense platform, and here’s what we’ve learned about them: 

Demographics: Most of their USA audience resides in Chicago and LA, and the majority of them are also married with children 

Interests: Their main interest categories are Sports, Education, and Work 

Personality Traits: They are active, particular, and sentimental 

Inspirations: They are inspired by many different tech CEO’s like Bill Gates ad Tim Cook 

Music Preferences: They listen to Luke Bryan 

Knowing all these details we have what we need to get the creative juices flowing and come up with a commercial idea.

View the full Jeep audience report here.

The commercial 

The commercial shows a family of four driving in the Jeep in LA, the first scene is the kids getting dropped off at school, the next scene is the family pulling up to a campsite. The third scene depicts the family on a road trip, while the dad is using the latest tech the Jeep has to offer to schedule work calls and monitor the tire pressure. In the next scene the dad is picking up his daughter and her friends from football practice. Next you see a clip of the couple sitting on the tailgate enjoying the stars to a Luke Bryan song. Then there is a scene with the two kids asleep in the back. All different scenes are supposed to be sentimental and show a family that is active and on the go. 

The tagline is “Every Jeep is built to carry what matters most - family, memories, and everything else needed for adventure-filled life.” 

Why it works:

The commercial connects with Jeep’s audience through themes of family, sentimentality, and adventure (all values they share). It also showcases their main interests in sports, education, and work. There are themes of technology, which show Jeep’s latest features. Then you hear the Luke Bryan song, connecting with the audience further as we know they are Luke Bryan fans. 

GoDaddy

GoDaddy hasn’t been back to the Super Bowl in eight years so the stakes are high. Their first Super Bowl commercials back in 2005-2015 were very provocative and they really tried to create that brand awareness - and it worked. 

This year they will use that 7 million dollar ad spot to promote their new AI tool Airo. Airo was launched in 2023 and is a tool that helps small businesses establish their online presence more quickly. Quality meats is the agency working on the campaign. This commercial likely won’t be provocative like the ones they ran in past Super Bowls but instead really focus on how they’re serious about helping small businesses succeed. 

With this in mind, and with Audiense insights on GoDaddy’s target audience we’ve come up with an idea for the perfect commercial. But first, let’s review the audience insights: 

Demographics: GoDaddy’s audience is 70% male

Top Interest Categories: Work, Sports, and Finance are their top interest categories, as well as Travel, and News

Their choices are driven by a need for efficiency 

Personality Traits: They are analytical, genial, and social

Decision Drivers: They are very deliberate, they carefully think through decisions before making them and they thrive in and enjoy fast paced environments

Inspirations: They look up to entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Marc Cuban, and Gary Vaynerchuk

View the full GoDaddy audience report here.

The commercial 

You have a young male entrepreneur sitting in the airport on his laptop working on his small business website. They are calling his name over the intercom that his flight is leaving soon. The scene shows just how quickly this entrepreneur is able to set up his company website using GoDaddy’s AI tool Airo, just in time to make his flight. 

When he gets to the front of the check in line, the flight attendant informs him he’s been bumped up to first class, and when he sits down he realizes he is sitting next to Marc Cuban, who sees his laptop open and says “Hey, nice website”. 

The Tagline says “GoDaddy: The fastest way to bring your dreams to life.”

Why it works: 

It shows a young male entrepreneur who is traveling, and at the same time trying to work at a fast pace - GoDaddy’s audience can relate to the young entrepreneur, and his interest in traveling and working. 

The commercial shows just how quick and easy it is to put up a website as someone who is living that fast-paced lifestyle. 

Then it shows GoDaddy’s favorite entrepreneur, complementing the website - showing that dreams happen fast (the website is put up fast, and the dream of sitting beside your favourite entrepreneur happened so fast too). 

It plays at the dream all entrepreneurs have, to run a successful business, while showing how easy and quickly this dream can be realized with the help of GoDaddy. 

Data-driven insights for the win 

When it comes to advertising at the Super Bowl, the stakes are high and creativity and celebrity overkill aren’t enough. It’s the data-driven insights that guarantee a campaign will be a success. 

Understanding your audience's values, interests and behaviors can unlock the key to crafting a memorable commercial that resonates and delivers real results. 

Whether it's Mountain Dew leaning into humor and camaraderie, Jeep celebrating family and adventure, or GoDaddy championing efficiency for entrepreneurs, each concept we went over aligns with the specific desires and motivations of their target audience.

At $7 million a pop, brands can’t afford to miss the mark or rely on one creative idea. By combining audience intelligence from a tool like Audiense, with a strong creative strategy, brands  can ensure their investment not only entertains millions but also strengthens their connection with consumers. 

The Super Bowl is more than just a game; it’s a chance for brands to show audiences that they understand and celebrate what matters most to them.

Find out what matters most to your audience, and sign up for Audiense today.