The 5-Second Successful Blip

Hello!

Before we get into some of postgame analysis, I want to direct your attention to our Top 10 ads of the game list (tweet at @griner whether he's right or wrong, please) and our hub where you can watch all the ads in one place. OK, onto the analysis:

Reddit's simplistic ad

Last night, Reddit made waves for the simplest of Super Bowl ads—yes, simpler than that Oatly ad. It had 11 lines of text on a static image for five seconds. It aired in only a handful of markets. The ad claimed Reddit spent its entire marketing budget on this ad—and they weren't kidding. Despite Reddit being a massively popular platform, it hasn't dabbled much in brand marketing, and thus has a minuscule budget. Reporter Patrick Kulp takes you inside R/GA and Reddit's strategy for this surprise winner.

Let's Talk About Jeep

The ad was the most divisive in Adweek polls on social media on Super Bowl Sunday. On Instagram, 50% of respondents said they loved the ad while another 50% hated it. Twitter was similarly divided: 33% loved it, 35% hated it and 33% said it was “meh.” Serious ads had their struggles all night, and with a $20+ million investment, getting a lukewarm reception might be a tough pill to swallow for Jeep.

And despite Bruce Springsteen being a beloved musician, he came out of the game with a split reaction: about half of the 26,000 mentions of The Boss were negative. Commerce editor Lisa Lacy dives deeper into whether this ad should be called a success.

In-house Super Bowl ads

In-house is great when you need to pivot your preexisting campaigns during the first week of a pandemic. Perhaps it's not as great when making a Super Bowl ad. On the USA Today Ad Meter, the highest rated in-house ad was Bass Pro Shops at No. 24. Three of the bottom six ads on the meter were also made in-house. So why did so many brands go in-house for the most expensive ad many have ever bought? Agencies deputy editor Minda Smiley explores the trend.

Emotional winners

A few brands laid out some winning strategies to woo consumers emotionally. Huggies with babies, DoorDash with Sesame Street and M&M's with funny nods to 2020 managed to resonate with consumers the most. Here's more info on what viewers were drawn to.

Bruce Springsteen’s first Super Bowl ad was loved and hated in equal measure

Few succeeded.

Eight commercials were created internally, perhaps signaling a larger shift in the industry.

System1's annual report has almost no holdovers from last year.

'We can have a mackerel slap fight,' one campaign promises Will Ferrell.

The brand's 'Certain Is Better' ad scored 7.38.

'It was really disorienting.'