Here's What You Can Expect from Super Bowl Commercials this Sunday

Celebrities Abound

There are always tons of celebrities in ads, and the star power seems to go up and up every year.

"It's celebrity on steroids right now," Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter's Jessica D. Collins said. While that is not necessarily new or surprising for the Super Bowl, she added, "it's just going to be so heightened this year."

That means big names like Arnold Schwarzenegger starring in a State Farm ad, Ice Spice making an appearance for Starry, Christopher Walken facing imitations of himself for BMW, and Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner Usher showing up in an Uber Eats' spot.

Many ads have stuffed multiple celebrities in ads. Beyond the TV show reunions, Michelob Ultra features soccer legend Lionel Messi, "Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudeikis and retired Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. BetMGM features Vince Vaughn, Tom Brady and Wayne Gretzky. And Paramount+ touts a star-filled lineup, including Drew Barrymore, Sir Patrick Stewart and Creed.

Squarespace also hired a big name for behind the camera with Martin Scorsese directing his first Super Bowl ad for the domain hosting site.

While star-power is exciting, it's always possible to overdo it. Advertisers can risk viewers remembering what stars they saw in a commercial but not the brand name, University of Minnesota associate professor of marketing Linli Xu notes.

One organic way advertisers can pull off celebrity appearances is to choose a featured star that already has a connection to the brand, Collins said, or tap into a recent pop culture moment.

"A lot of times you'll see a celebrity just show up and you're like, 'That person would have never used that product. Why are they there?'" she said.

Some Serious Moments and Surprises

Of course, this year's Super Bowl commercials won't all be laughs.

Robert Kraft's Foundation to Combat Antisemitism has said it will run an ad featuring Martin Luther King Jr.'s speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones. Dove's ad focuses on the fact that low body-confidence leads to girls quitting sports. And Google's heartstring-pulling ad follows a blind man as he uses "Guided Frame" – Google's A.I.-powered accessibility feature for the Pixel camera that uses a combination of audio cues, high-contrast animations and tactile vibrations – to take pictures of the people and places in his life.

As always, there will still be some game day surprises. Some advertisers such as Amazon have stayed mum on any plans. Upstart e-commerce site Temu has reportedly bought several ads. In a presidential election year, it's possible we might see a candidate ad. And while there have been no indications of such, many wonder if advertisers will capitalize on this year's Taylor Swift buzz in some way.

Regardless of whether or not she makes her way into the commercial-side of the big game, marketers say advertisers are taking note of the "Taylor Swift effect" and trying to reach everyone, not just sports fans.

"We have people that have never watched Football a day in their life now watching the entire game – not just for the ads, but for the game itself and for the celebrity sightings," Collins said.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the names of Jennifer Aniston, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wayne Gretzky and Martin Scorsese.