The Super Bowl 2026 ads weren't just a showcase of big budgets and celebrity cameos. They were a snapshot of where marketing actually is right now and where it's heading. The commercials that landed didn't just pull attention. They tapped into nostalgia, used celebrity the way culture actually uses celebrity, and made each spot feel like part of a bigger story that already existed in the cultural conversation.
The standouts (Levi's, Squarespace, Uber Eats, Pringles, Dunkin', Pepsi, Jurassic Park, Xfinity, Lay's, Budweiser, Claude, and more) all shared a pattern. They weren't trying to create moments. They were plugging into moments that were already moving.
Lay's ran a father-daughter story centered around potato farming and passing down legacy. People were openly saying online they cried. That's not an accident. It's a brand using family nostalgia and generational identity to make a bag of chips feel meaningful.
Budweiser leaned into the American icons lane again, with the kind of emotional storytelling they basically own at this point. It's nostalgia, yes, but it's also brand equity built over decades. They're not borrowing emotion—they've earned the right to it.
Xfinity's Jurassic Park spot showed how nostalgia can double as a product demo. The ad doesn't spend time explaining the movie because it assumes you already know it. That shared knowledge is the shortcut.
Viewers remember that Jurassic Park fell apart because the technology failed, and the commercial flips that memory into a solution. Instead of chaos, you see a version of the park where everything runs smoothly because the connection never drops. The joke lands quickly, but underneath is a clear product promise: reliability changes the outcome.
By borrowing a story audiences already understand, the brand makes the benefit obvious without spelling it out. You're not watching a demonstration. You're watching a familiar problem get rewritten with a better ending.
Nostalgia as Emotional Americana
Nostalgia as Problem-Solving
The commercial leaned into that idea, staging a fake argument between Bradley Cooper insisting the game is about football and Matthew McConaughey (who feels like the human embodiment of American sports culture) arguing that no, it's about selling food.
The joke works because it's a conversation people actually have. Everyone watching understands both sides of it. It didn't need a complicated setup. It just exaggerated a truth we're already aware of. And it kind of made you a little hungry while watching, too. Good job, Uber Eats.
Meta-Awareness as Strategy
By the time the Super Bowl spot ran, audiences were already invested. It wasn't an introduction. It was a punchline. It was the payoff. And Pepsi didn't drop the joke after the broadcast. Keeping the bear as their profile photo on Instagram made the whole thing feel ongoing, which made it stick.
It turned a commercial into something people could pick sides on, argue about, and carry into the week after the game. It honestly felt like choosing between Edward and Jacob (and if you know, you know).
When the Story Starts Before the Spot Airs
Levi's also played this well by centering the spot around Doechii and making it feel like an identity moment, not just denim shots. The celebrity wasn't the strategy. The cultural fit was.
Celebrity as Culture, Not Celebrity as "Look Who We Paid"
Nostalgia as Cultural Shorthand
Dunkin' is the most obvious example. They took Good Will Hunting and turned it into a '90s sitcom world, complete with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Jason Alexander, Alfonso Ribeiro, Jaleel White, and Ted Danson. It worked because it didn't need to be complicated. You recognize the aesthetic instantly. You catch the references immediately. And it's fun because the ad assumes you're in on the joke.
What made it even better was seeing Ben Affleck stand so proudly for Dunkin'. This is brand consistency in the best way. He's been the face of this relationship for years, and it still feels authentic because he never tried to make it cool. It just is.
Squarespace did something similar, but in a completely different tone. Emma Stone played out the frustration of trying to buy a domain that's already been taken—a moment so many people have lived—and Squarespace turned it into a cinematic short film. Dramatic, specific, and instantly relatable. That's how you use a shared experience without explaining it.
It was restrained, smart, and positioned Claude as the alternative in a space that's quickly getting crowded and chaotic. That kind of clarity matters when everyone else is leaning into spectacle.
The AI Category Shows Up
And the reason nostalgia keeps working isn't because people are out of ideas. It's because culture is fragmented, and shared references are one of the only shortcuts left that instantly connect millions of people at once.
The brands that understood that didn't just make ads. They made entry points into conversations people were already having or wanted to have. That's the difference between being seen and being remembered.
What This Means for Brands
https://www.superbowl-ads.com
Dunkin' "Good Will Hunting" Sitcom Ad
https://www.adweek.com/creativity/dunkin-rewinds-to-the-90s-with-star-studded-super-bowl-sitcom/
Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola Bear Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPHI2zNf_ww
Uber Eats "Football vs. Food" with Bradley Cooper & Matthew McConaughey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCrs1hsCBTE
Xfinity Jurassic Park Spot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKwxWPp2dhw
Lay's Father-Daughter Legacy Ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4EkP55njL4
Anthropic Claude Super Bowl Ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQRu7DdTTVA
Additional Super Bowl Ad Coverage
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/08/super-bowl-60-ads-news-live-updates.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/arts/television/super-bowl-ads-ranked-2026.html
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