While for some, the office the morning after the Super Bowl might look like standing around the watercooler, coffee in hand, saying “how about that game?” For those of us in advertising, it looks like sitting around a conference table, coffee also in hand, saying “how about those ads?”
At VJ, we are geeks for ads, lovers of all things that make up the ad—the business objectives, the strategic choices, the creative results and the media buys. As we sat around our table, sipping our coffee, there were several key things that stood out to our team about Super Bowl LX’s ads. Here is a quick look at a few of the insights that were brought to the table this morning.
The Celebrity
One thing that stood out to our team was the use of celebrities. It felt like at every turn this year there was an iconic face. Whether it was Emma Stone’s domain-induced psychological tailspin for Squarespace, Kurt Russell’s nod to Miracle as “The Ultra Instructor,” The Backstreet Boys performance in the Times Square T-Mobile store or, of course, the celeb-packed “Good Will Dunkin’” spot, celebrity was a key tactic for brands across the game this year.
Health and Wellness Has Entered the Game
Another major theme our team caught this year was the emergence of health and wellness brands as leaders of the night’s ad buys. Hims & Hers, Wegovy, Make America Healthy Again and Ro, just to name a few, made splashes, but one that particularly stood out to us was Novartis with their “Relax Your Tight End” spot. Not only did it tap into one of the Super Bowl’s key audiences—men over 50—it employed humor to reach that audience with a topic that is both uncomfortable and important.
An interesting dichotomy also emerged as health and wellness ads boomed, while the Super Bowl classic of alcohol ads, in particular beer ads, seemed largely absent, aside from the heavy hitters of Michelob Ultra and Budweiser. Leading our team to begin to examine what this means for future strategy—both in the Super Bowl and beyond.
Generational Warfare
“Good Will Dunkin’.” That’s all we might have to say for this one, really.
With this spot, Dunkin’ sought after the largely forgotten Generation X—planting easter eggs that made the viewing experience feel largely like an inside joke that would fly over other generations’ heads. While Starbucks chases after Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Dunkin’ says with this commercial directed by Ben Affleck and calling together 90s sitcom powerhouses, “Gen X, we are your coffee company, we always have been and we always will be."
An AI Identity Crisis
While we saw an uptick in health and wellness, we also saw AI ruling the night. With commercials from Google Gemini, OpenAI and ChatGPT—AI continues to be the topic of conversation we just can’t let go—even on Super Bowl Sunday.
For our team, though, it was Anthropic’s spot that stood out. With ChatGPT’s introduction of ads (you can read our most recent POV about the announcement here), Anthropic set out to humanize their language learning model, Claude, while capitalizing on the controversial decision by OpenAI to roll out ads on ChatGPT and the often robotic feel of AI responses.
The final whistle of Super Bowl 2026 doesn’t just mark the end of a season, it marks the beginning of a new creative cycle. As the confetti is swept away, the data begins to pour in, and the industry starts to digest which risks paid off and which fell flat. For us at VJ, these aren’t just commercials, they’re part of a playbook wherein we are working to understand how our strategy might change and what it might mean for our clients. The game is over, but the work and the innovation starts now.
A few other ads our team discussed:
Taika Waititi's heartfelt Lay's spot
That first car feeling with Volkswagen
Manscapes’ unforgettable singers
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