50 Ads in 50 States: Google to Showcase Small Businesses at Super Bowl

For Super Bowl LIX, Google will be airing a different regional ad in each state, promoting a local small business and showing how they use Google Workspace and its AI features. Google is also running a larger national ad, bringing its Big Game ad total to 51 this year.

The 50 small business showcase films have been produced by cntrl studio, who also led the post production. The first-of-its-kind project focuses on the hard work and innovation of owners who are driving the US economy and transforming the way they work using Google Workspace with Gemini AI.

“We wanted to show what’s possible with AI in Workspace today, and how real businesses are using it,” said Harris Beber, global marketing lead for Google Workspace, in an announcement on The Keyword. “What better way to show the unexpected ways AI helps real businesses in America than to let them share their stories?”

According to the US Small Business Administration, around  34 million small businesses exist in the US, accounting for 99.9% of all businesses in the country. These businesses also employ over 59 million people – nearly 46% of the nation’s workforce.

On February 9th, Super Bowl viewers in Texas will see an ad featuring Bison Coolers, while residents of Oregon will be introduced to Jacobsen’s Salt Co., and Californians will get to know Hog Island Oyster Co. “If a cattle rancher in Nebraska and a boat maker from Maine are able to leverage AI for success, we think any business of any size certainly can,” Harris said.

In the creation of the campaign, the Google team used AI themselves to narrow down a longlist of customers and summarise interviews to choose the 50 small businesses more quickly.

After confirming the 50 customers, a production crew of 50, split into five teams, had 10 weeks to film in all 50 States. The team then used an additional AI tool, NotebookLM, to find great quotes and voiceover lines for the spots.

“The opportunity to be featured in a Super Bowl commercial is an unbelievable win for us as the underdogs in the cooler business,” said Bison Coolers co-founder and CEO Jeremy Denson. “We’re one of the only remaining family-owned businesses in the space, competing with publicly traded brands and private equity. Google heard our story and gave us the opportunity for exposure that we’ve only dreamt of scoring.”

So whether you’re watching the Chiefs and Eagles from your home in Hawaii, New Jersey, Washington or anywhere in between, you’ll be hearing not just from Google during the Big Game, but from a small business not too far from you.