Brand Strategy Lessons from Super Bowl Ads

The Super Bowl isn’t just American football’s championship game. It’s also one of the world’s biggest stages for brand messaging.

In 2024, the average 30-second Super Bowl ad cost $7 million —and that doesn’t even include production costs. So how do brand managers know if they’re getting a good return on that huge investment?

In this episode, Bentley University assistant professor of marketing Shelle Santana discusses the evolution of corporate branding, using lessons from classic Super Bowl ads, like Budweiser's iconic Clydesdale horses.

She shares how to choose the best, measurable goal for an ad campaign, while also accounting for the risks that can accompany bold storytelling—like controversy or online backlash. She also explains why some brands release their ads ahead of the game, while others don’t. (Hint: It’s about social media engagement, and ultimately expanding the ROI on your ad investment.)

Key episode topics include: strategy, brand management, sales and marketing.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Super Bowl Ads Sell Products, but Do They Sell Brands? (2019)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

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