Ads From NFL, Jeep and He Gets Us Are Most Emotionally-Engaging Ads From Super Bowl LIX, According To New DAIVID Research
by on 10th Feb 2025 in News
The NFL’s “Somebody | It Takes All of Us” is the most emotionally-engaging ad of Super Bowl LIX. That’s according to new research from creative effectiveness platform DAIVID, which found the spot, which features NFL players mentoring children, generated the most intense positive emotions of any ad shown during last night’s Big Game. The ad also attracted the highest attention levels of any spot shown.
DAIVID – an AI platform that helps marketers by predicting the effectiveness of their creative at scale – used its advanced testing platform to find out which Super Bowl advertisers had the biggest impact on the hearts, minds, and wallets of viewers. As well as analysing the emotions generated by all the Big Game spots, the creative effectiveness platform also looked at the effectiveness of each campaign on brand and business metrics. Key findings include:
Least effective Super Bowl since 2020
- Overall, ads from Super Bowl 2025 were the least effective for five years. Using DAIVID’s proprietary Creative Effectiveness Score (CES) – a composite metric which combines the three main drivers of effectiveness: attention, emotions, and memory – the average Super Bowl LIX ad scored 6.2 out of 10, which is the lowest average since 2020.
- The average ad generated intense positive emotions among 47.4% of viewers, 3% lower than the US norm and the lowest since 2023. The ads also generated the lowest amount of attention since 2020.
NFL’s “Somebody” is most emotionally engaging ad of Super Bowl 2025
- “Somebody | It Takes All of Us” attracted the most intense positive emotions of the Super Bowl ads. Altogether 55.8% of viewers had an intense emotional reaction to the ad, including feelings of warmth 73% higher than the US average. The spot also scored well above the US norm for admiration (+107%), inspiration (+68%) and pride (+69%). The ad also attracted the strongest levels of attention of any Super Bowl LIX ad – 9% higher than the average US ad for the first few seconds and 13% higher than the norm for the last 3 seconds.
- That put it just ahead of Jeep’s “Owner’s Manual", starring Harrison Ford, in second, which attracted an intense positive emotional response from 54.2% of viewers, and “What Is Greatness?”, from “He Gets Us”, in third (53.3%). Rocket’s “Own The Dream” and Pfizer’s “Knock Out” also made the top 5. Other brands to make the top 10 include Mountain Dew, Lay’s and Budweiser (chart below).
Super Bowl advertisers tried to make us laugh, but serious ads dominate top 10
- Overall, Super Bowl LIX advertisers aimed to make people laugh this year, with 49 of the 65 ads having amusement as their top emotion. However, despite most Super Bowl advertisers trying to be funny, seven of the top 10 spots in DAIVID’s chart are taken up by purpose-driven spots or campaigns that tackle serious themes.
Ian Forrester, CEO and founder of creative effectiveness platform DAIVID, said: “With the vast majority of Super Bowl advertisers trying to make us laugh this year, it’s interesting that brands that stepped away from the usual Super Bowl celebrity/humour trope have attracted the most positivity. It shows just how hard it is to cut-through when so many are trying the same approach. With overall effectiveness also down, maybe it’s time brands tried something different to get people’s attention on game day.”
Follow ExchangeWire