Touchdowns, Trends & Takeaways: A Closer Look At Kellogg’s Super Bowl Ad Review

Every year at the Super Bowl, millions of dollars in brand storytelling take the field. At the Kellogg School of Management, this commercial break is our main event. The Super Bowl Ad Review (SBAR) is one of Kellogg’s most cherished, flagship events, where more than 70 students apply classroom tools in real time to evaluate every ad of the night.

Guided by Professors Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker, the event blends gameday energy with academic rigor, turning 30-second spots into case studies on what drives attention, builds brands, and gets consumers talking.

FROM FANS TO MARKETERS

While we have varying levels of interest in sports, the Super Bowl is the one time a year when we’re glued to the TV — you guessed it — for the ads (and halftime show)! The next day always has a buzz: hallway convos debating the funniest commercials, the best celebrity promos, and the way a handful of campaigns are still referenced years later.

While exploring business schools, we were enamored with Kellogg. Not only is it one of the top marketing schools, but iconic events such as SBAR bring together like-minded peers for a valuable experiential learning experience. We are grateful to be a part of the team who helps make this event happen.

HOW SBAR COMES TO LIFE

The Kellogg Marketing Club (KMC) is comprised of 50 MBA student leaders who strengthen Kellogg’s marketing community by providing career support, academic programming, alumni connections, and hands-on learning opportunities. One of the key responsibilities of KMC’s Signature Events Committee is putting on SBAR.

SBAR is a highly anticipated event for students across all Kellogg programs, and preparation begins far before game day. In the fall, the Signature Events Committee collaborates with faculty to prepare our application and academic programming surrounding the event. Interest in SBAR continues to grow, and this year we had over 200 applications for 70 panel spots. The week before SBAR, we host a pre-event, where we discuss what trends to look out for this year, re-watch previous Super Bowl ads that were effective/ineffective, and train panelists on the ADPLAN framework.

ADPLAN is the anchor of SBAR. It is a Kellogg ad-evaluation framework developed through professors Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker’s advertising strategy research. Training the panel on this framework ensures our evaluation is grounded in precision, not just popularity. This tool helps students go beyond general enjoyment of an ad, instead focusing on strategic and business effectiveness. On game day, students are given 10 seconds to grade each ad on a scale from A-F based on ADPLAN, with each grade compiled to produce SBAR’s final rankings.

GAME DAY

This year, there was an electric buzz in Kellogg’s White Auditorium with students expressing their excitement about the ads and Bad Bunny’s halftime show performance. Throughout the night, students debated which brands dominated and what ad would come out on top. However, the moment a commercial break hit, the room would quiet and all eyes would be on the giant screen in the auditorium as students prepared to grade the ads.

SBAR stands out in that students must evaluate the ads immediately. They cannot revisit their scores — their initial watch is included in the panel’s final rating. It was thrilling to see the entire room react to an ad at the same time, whether laughing with Anthropic’s Claude commercial or groaning at Coinbase’s karaoke ad.

KELLOGG’S TOUCHDOWNS & FUMBLES: THE RESULTS

Touchdowns

Google Gemini: Google’s emotional ad took first place, scoring high on net equity and linkage. Professor Rucker noted that Google “didn’t need to change its positioning, just show it in an updated way,” stemming from its first Super Bowl ad back in 2010. The ad beautifully showcased its capabilities while emotionally resonating with the audience.

Novartis: Novartis returned to the Super Bowl this year, focusing on prostate cancer screening awareness this time. It built on its winning playbook with a pivot to a new audience, weaving in humor and sports-relevant references. It had a clear call to action, and was a shining light in a night packed with healthcare ads.

Anthropic (Claude): In a crowded category, Anthropic stood out by being concrete. It demonstrated the positioning of its brand clearly and with humor, and drove home its benefits compared to competitors.

Fumbles

Coinbase: While distinct, Coinbase’s ad had no clear messaging or brand linkage. We could not tell what the brand was advertising, what the message was, or why it chose this method to convey its message. The panel was left confused and unsure of the main takeaway, earning the ad one of the two F’s of the night.

AI.com: AI.com represented the other F grade from the panel, with the ad exhibiting no brand linkage or distinction (nor being attention-grabbing). We did not know the brand until the last second and there was no clear message conveyed.

Svedka: The brand missed the mark on positioning and linkage. It was unclear what the message was and it did not build on Svedka’s net equity.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

This Super Bowl was an exciting year for ads, with plenty of brands making a debut and returning favorites bringing their A-game. Artificial Intelligence was a particularly packed category, and several brands worked to make functionality feel concrete, rather than abstract. Healthcare also stood out, and the spots that resonated most with our panel were ones that managed to educate while still entertaining through a meaningful and distinct message. Across categories, emotion remained powerful, with nostalgia in particular helping brands earn attention quickly and leaving viewers genuinely moved.

For Kellogg students, the learning didn’t end on Sunday night. Nearly 100 students came together just two days after the game to debrief results with Professors Calkins and Rucker – and to hear from professionals at Meta and Novartis who helped bring their campaigns to life. This post-event offered a rare look behind the curtain, deepening our understanding of the creative process, strategic choices that shaped execution, and what it takes to align stakeholders to deliver a spot at Super Bowl scale.

Ultimately, the panel’s highest-graded ads earned strong marks across the ADPLAN framework — capturing attention, standing out from the pack, and critically linking the message back to the brand. As categories continue to saturate, differentiation will only become more essential. The ads that win will be the ones that pair distinct delivery with strong linkage, clear messaging, and emotional resonance, keeping the Super Bowl the showcase of the best of the best.

DREAM TEAM: MAKING SBAR POSSIBLE

Behind the scenes, the Super Bowl Ad Review has an amazing team that brought the event to life.

A huge shout-out to the incredible team who made this year’s event a success. Special thanks to the Kellogg team — Sarah Clarke, Mo Fagan, Mary Naset, Mia Rattner, Joy Trehan, and Vidya Narashimhan — for ensuring that logistics, communication, and marketing ran smoothly. And, of course, a heartfelt thank you to our professors, Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker, the masterminds behind the Ad Review.

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Sargam Prakash is a 2nd-year student in the full-time MBA program focused in Marketing. In the Kellogg Marketing Club, she serves as the Signature Events VP and SBAR Lead. She has previously worked in advertising and last summer interned at PayPal on the Integrated Marketing team. She intends to pursue a marketing position after graduation.

Kaitlyn Dipasupil is a 1st-year student in the full-time MBA program focused in Marketing and Healthcare. In the Kellogg Marketing Club, she serves as a Signature Events Director and SBAR Lead. She previously worked at McKinsey, where she plans to return after graduation.

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