Getting to watch the Super Bowl with my 11 and eight year-old daughters was one of the joys of my month. Mind you, none in my family are football fans, but when you’re the CMO of a market research company, there are less offensive ways to blur your work-life balance.
There was a moment leading into halftime when the NFL’s Flag 50 campaign came on the screen. My eight-year-old was ecstatic and yelled “that shows that girls can do ANYTHING.” It was a moment I didn’t expect going into a four-hour NFL spectacle, but it was appreciated nonetheless.
Reflecting on the game, there was a softer touch to this year’s ads. From Nike, to Novartis, Lay’s and the always-iconic Dove, the girl power shone through the screen more so than in previous years. There was a defined shift away from the male bravado of celebrity-laden parties starring your male-friend’s-favorite athlete. And in a year where women were often in the spotlight in political discourse, brands put them front and center to celebrate/empower them. So, let’s get our girl power on and get into the ads which resonated most with women this year.
Super Bowl LIX’s Top Ads for Women
Zappi tested over 65 Super Bowl ads this year. Each ad is tested with 300 consumers who self-report being likely to purchase a product in the category being advertised to them. So, somebody seeing an ad for soda will be somebody who reports occasionally purchasing soda. Each ad is given a percentile score relative to a benchmark of over 4,000 ads tested by Zappi.
In total, we surveyed 20,000 consumers – approximately half of which were women. These were the year’s most popular ads:
- Budweiser “First Delivery” – 100%
- Lay’s “The Little Farmer” – 99%
- Dove “These Legs: A Dove Big Game Film” –98%
- Nerds “Unleash your Senses” – 98%
- Michelob Ultra “The ULTRA Hustle” – 96%
Just missing the cut were notable ads like Stella Artois (95%), Poppi (94%) and STōK (94%).
A common thread? Two of the top five ads centered around children or the next generation. Lay’s and Dove, in particular, put young girls at the forefront. Budweiser’s spot was a nostalgic, feel-good story about a pony delivering its first beer—far from the rugged cowboy ads of years past. Notably, only Michelob Ultra in this group featured celebrities, a stark contrast to the ads that resonated most with men.
While some brands successfully captured female audiences, others received mixed reactions. The NFL’s Flag Football ad, a high-energy face-off between men and women, scored well with women but fell flat with men, possibly because it disrupted football’s traditional male camaraderie.
The much-anticipated Nike ad spent most of the spot talking about what women are told they cannot do, and toward the end featured female athletes succeeding despite the odds. However, it disappointed and did not perform so well with either women or men. The Nike ad’s stance was hard-hitting, but felt more negative and used most of its time to decry the current state of women in sports. Contrast this with the Dove ad, which accomplished the same thing, but left viewers much more hopeful for a better future.
The biggest surprise? Hims & Hers’ “Sick of the System.” While it wasn’t widely loved among all women, those in the target category—women interested in health and wellness solutions—rated it exceptionally high.
How the Top Ads for Men Differed
The ads that resonated most with men took a different approach. The top five were:
- Stella Artois “David and Dave” – 99%
- Ray-Ban “Hey Meta, Who Eats Art?” – 97%
- Doritos “Abduction” – 96%
- Totino’s Pizza Rolls “Chazmo Finally Goes Home” – 96%
- Doritos “ABDUCTION” – 96%
Just below this list was Pringles (96%), Instacart (95%) and Budweiser (95%).
Unlike the female-favorite ads, which leaned into emotion and next-generation themes, three of the top five men’s ads featured a sci-fi or surreal twist. Doritos’ alien-themed “Abduction” and Ray-Ban’s reality-bending spot played into humor and spectacle, while Stella Artois relied on star power with David Beckham and Matt Damon.
Super Bowl advertisers have a tough job. Within advertising’s biggest moment to reach US consumers, many of them seek to appeal to both women and men broadly.
At the end of the day, the most successful ads promote a product or service in a way that helps people feel seen and understood, but also makes them more likely to go out and buy it. Women and men have different experiences in life, and tend to want different things. The advertisers that understand commonalities as well as differences between genders – and can address them in their advertising strategies – are the ones that will achieve the best results with their brands overall.
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Nataly Kelly is the CMO of Zappi, a consumer insights platform that helps brands win. An award-winning marketer, her latest book is Brand Global, Adapt Local: How to Build Brand Value Across Cultures.
