Throw Out The Playbook
(3 min read)
It may be the Year of the Dragon, but for the commercials of Super Bowl LVIII, it turned out to be the Year of the Dog.
Well, not really. But with canine companions featured in no less than 9 separate spots, it is one of the trends we saw in this year’s batch of Super Bowl commercials. And why not? Dogs make everything better.
Though Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day in football, there was a surprising amount of the other football. With ties to MLS, Messi, Ted Lasso, Manchester United, Wrexham A.F.C., and UEFA Champions League, soccer was a surprisingly complimentary promotional element to this year’s commercial contributions. Perhaps this was America’s way of gently folding in some soccer ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which takes place in stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico in a few short years.
Perhaps the largest trend of Super Bowl commercials this year is that so many brands used the same playbook.
With the rather subdued 2021 season far away in the rearview mirror, it’s safe to say that the tone of commercials has successfully shifted back to the absurd. Fast-paced commercials with celebrities doing caricatures of themselves was by far the most prevalent play of the game. Ken Jeong and Popeyes, Mr. T and Skechers, Ben Affleck and Dunkin, Aubrey Plaza and Mountain Dew’s Baja Blast, Kate McKinnon and Hellmann’s Mayo… the list goes on, but not even Beyoncé and Verizon could break the internet this time. When we see the same basic formula over and over, it all becomes easy to forget.
But there are a few stand out Super Bowl commercials that viewers may remember.
P.S. In the spirit of throwing out the playbook, we included a haiku for each since you won’t find that in the multitude of other Super Bowl commercial ranking articles.
Michael CeraVe’s Brilliant Pitch
CeraVe plays with their name and the singular drama of beauty/fragrance commercials with a memorable spot that gets better with each viewing, especially for fans of Michael Cera’s portrayal of Allan in Barbie.
Michael Cera’s pitch
Let my cream hydrate you is
the best spot in years
Schwarzenegger’s State Farm Shouting
The action movie icon Arnold Schwarzenegger saves adorable puppies from a burning building before screaming “neighbaaa” in the “choppaaa” with a surprise Danny DeVito cameo, giving us the Twins throwback we didn’t know we needed.
Nothing too crazy
But Arnold doing Arnold
Works well with puppies
Michelob Ultra Brings Messi
The soccer GOAT on a beach ordering a beer? Sign us up. Though he selflessly settles for the assist when his beer is ready, Messi nutmegs a dog in another edit. Plus Jason Sudeikis shows up with a very Ted Lasso-esque cameo before Dan Marino makes an odd appearance.
Miami Messi
Needs a cerveza pronto
Beaches, beer, Lasso
Picard Suprises on Paramount Plus
Despite being a diehard fan of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. (another soccer connection), Sir Patrick Stewart leads the way by suggesting “We throw the child.” It was possibly the best use of pop music in a commercial this year featuring the song “Higher” by Creed.
Patrick Stewart brings
Fantastic delivery
Drew says “And Creed’s here”
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