Who Showed Up and Did They Actually Sell Anything?

By Meghan Stoneburner, Director – communications 21

There were more than 100 commercials during the 2026 Super Bowl game. Some made you laugh, some made you emotional and others left you wondering why in the world they spent $8-10 million dollars on that. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in advertising, but not every brand uses it and those that do don’t always focus on communicating their brand clearly. Sometimes, it feels like the goal is simply to create a memorable moment, whether the product is a part of it or not.

The Industries That Dominated the Night

Super Bowl LX wasn’t just focused on Bad Bunny and Green Day…oops, I mean the Seahawks and the Patriots. As always, it was also about the ads. In 2026, some industries leaned heavily into creating a memorable moment with their commercials, while others made a more deliberate effort to connect creativity back to their brand.

As only the second Super Bowl game to have zero touchdowns in the first 3 quarters, this year’s big game also broke another record – costing advertisers a whole lot more for their spotlight. In 2025, a 30-second Super Bowl ad averaged around $7 million, with some companies paying closer to $8 million. In 2026, that price jumped, with the average cost being $8 million, and some companies paying as much as $10 million for a single spot.

This year, the top industries placing these multi-million-dollar commercials were tech, food and beverage and entertainment, specifically television shows, movies, channels, networks or programming. The Olympics alone took six commercial spots. And yes, to answer your question, they do pay for each commercial individually. No BOGO deals and no bundles!

Memorable Moments vs. Memorable Messaging

Going into this game, I watched every commercial with one question in mind: Is it better to be memorable or to have brand recognition? For each commercial, I determined when in that ad I could clearly state the product or service being promoted. For some brands, the reveal comes at the very end, creating a memorable commercial that has nothing to do with the product. Meanwhile, some companies focus solely on their offering, building a link between the product and the commercial. The best brands do both!

Take Lay’s, for example. The potato chips offered a tearjerker for viewers, featuring an aging farmer who passes down his land to his daughter. After years of sharing chips during their lunch breaks, it’s time for the farmer to hand the reins over to someone younger. This commercial shows Lay’s chips being consumed, but it has nothing to do with the product and everything to do with the emotions stirred by this sentimental ad.

Squarespace went dramatic with a capital D, showing Emma Stone breaking computer after computer because she couldn’t find an available URL using her name. It simply encourages people to get their domain before they lose it, which does nothing to showcase the benefits of using Squarespace. This is a prime example of a memorable moment but not memorable brand messaging.

Some tech companies found a unique way to directly talk about their products, like Xfinity turning connectivity into the hero of Jurassic Park, with an oddly calm Xfinity guy who shows up to plug in the router that fixes the dinosaur security system, saves the day and changes the whole concept of the movie franchise. This commercial is a hysterical way to highlight the importance of a strong internet connection, while also creating a new ending to a much-loved movie.

While others leaned into popular references like T-Mobile giving us one of two appearances by the Backstreet Boys during the Super Bowl ads, some companies went hysterically low budget like Coinbase, a crypto company, rejoining the commercial game with an ad that simply showed the lyrics to a Backstreet Boys song, meant to inspire fans to sing along at home, karaoke style. What does the ‘90s boy band have to do with crypto and cell service? Nothing. But everyone loves a Backstreet Boys appearance! Who would have guessed we would see two of them this year?

The F&B industry was front and center, giving us commercials that combine both brand recognition and memorability. A guilty polar bear made the universe laugh when he attempted to enjoy a can of Pepsi and ended up in a Coldplay scandal. Dunkin’ Donuts used de-aging CGI in the best way possible, bringing together ‘90s celebrities for a sitcom remake called Good Will Dunkin’. The coffee company is the location of the commercial, but they never actually talk about the product.

All the Budget, Still the Same Ad

Not every brand treated the Super Bowl like a once-a-year opportunity. One of the GLP-1 medicine commercials used the same Serina Williams ads they’ve used for months now, as did Uber Eats, which rehashed the “Football was created to sell food” campaign we’ve all seen. The thought of spending $8-10 million to show the same ad seems like a waste of both money and the opportunity to do something different.

Not every brand stuck the landing. Liquid I.V. leaned into shock humor by encouraging viewers to “check their pee,” complete with a parade of flapping toilets. This approach was definitely memorable and while the message of hydration eventually surfaced, the extreme visuals distracted from Liquid IV’s actual value, leaving viewers remembering the toilets more than the solution.

The Difference Between Being Talked About and Being Understood

Super Bowl ads don’t just compete for attention but compete for clarity. Being talked about the next morning doesn’t always mean your audience understands what you offer, why it matters or why they should care.

The strongest ads of Super Bowl 2026 proved that spectacle and strategy don’t have to be at odds. Creativity can entertain without overpowering the product. Humor can coexist with clarity. And emotion can strengthen the brand messaging – We’re looking at you, Lays. On the biggest advertising stage in the world, memorability is easy but leaving viewers with clear understanding is harder. In a media landscape where attention is fleeting, clarity remains one of the most powerful tools a brand can use.