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Photo collage featuring Super Bowl ads that reference poop, including Jason Kelce standing with a shovel near a steaming mound of manure, William Shatner wearing a bandolier made of mini Raisin Bran boxes, and a can of beer from Columbia Sportswear made with bear poop
Brand Strategy

This Super Bowl, the ads are in the toilet. Literally

“People will talk about the s--t ads,” one expert said. Whether that talk will lead to long-term results is another story.


Backstreet Boys pose mid song in front of a crowd of customers as film crew capture it on camera.
Brand Strategy

Double duty: How a filmmaking company made a Super Bowl ad while shooting a feature film

Panay Films took on a Backstreet Boys–led T-Mobile spot at the same time it filmed “Somedays,” starring Billy Bob Thornton, Ariana Greenblatt, and Pamela Anderson.


stills from Yorgos Lanthimos' ads for Squarespace (Emma Stone screaming in a black-and-white ad) and Grubhub (an ornate dinner table with a fish-eye lens)
Brand Strategy

Why Grubhub and Squarespace tapped the same director for the Super Bowl

Award-winning director Yorgos Lanthimos, who has previously made ads for brands like Gucci and Jameson, is making his Big Game debut with the two brands.


Two stills from Super Bowl spots by Squarespace and Volkswagen.
Brand Strategy

As AI dominates the zeitgeist, some brands are going retro for the Super Bowl

Squarespace, Volkswagen, and Instacart used film and tube cameras for the vibe, aiming to heighten drama, capture realism, and reflect brand commitments to quality, marketers told us.


A muscular man with long silver hair flexes his arms in a still from a Super Bowl ad from 'He Gets Us' airing in the 2026 Super Bowl
Brand Strategy

‘He Gets Us’ wants to be more than ‘the Super Bowl ad about Jesus’

The campaign is returning to Big Game for the fourth consecutive year.


Collage image of Adobe, Acura, and Canon's onsite activations at Sundance Film Festival, featuring the Adobe House facade, Acura car on display, and Canon popup.
Brand Strategy

Starstruck: Why brands sponsor film festivals like Sundance

Acura, Adobe, and Canon have all been indie filmmaking supporters for many years, and their relationship to the industry continues to evolve, execs told us.


Two stills from Super Bowl ads. In one, William Shatner sits in a purple control room with "America: Low on Fiber" on three screens behind him in an ad for Raisin Bran; in the other, Kathryn Hahn throws her fist in the air while standing on a San Francisco streetcar track in an ad for Oikos
Brand Strategy

Can health messages break through during this year’s Super Bowl?

Doug VanDeVelde, chief growth officer at WK Kellogg Co, seems to think so, telling us, “it’s fiber time.”

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