Meet the Super Bowl LIX Creative MVPs

Madeline DeWree, group creative director at Grey New York

“We are fortunate enough to have brave and bold partners at Angel Soft and Georgia Pacific, who believed in the power of this idea from its inception. Striking the optimal balance of core brand messaging and strategy while maintaining the optimal impact of the piece is something we explored in depth together, always coming back to the idea that it needed to be as simple and streamlined as possible to truly break through on game day.

“Like any Super Bowl spot, it was a labour of love. When an idea is this simple, it has to be as close to perfect as humanly possible in its execution. There’s just no room for error. We leaned into our partnerships with Psyop, Burson, Optimum Sports and OMD and were able to execute the campaign at record speed, find the perfect time slot (right before halftime, when data shows people need it most) and create something that Grey and our clients feel genuinely proud of.”

Dan: “Some jobs are sprints; this was a marathon! We created a whole year of spots, not just the :30, over a multiple-day, multiple-country shoot. And working with celebrities or IP, you have more stakeholders at the approval level – totally fair, but it definitely adds complexity.”

 

Vic: “We spent eight days filming humans and locations in Thailand then filmed the Muppets over a couple days in LA. Watching them work was a career highlight; the dedication and humour they bring is unbelievable. We had a lot of moving pieces on set, from VFX to photography all at once. This allowed us to be all at the same table figuratively and literally – creating a shared vision that allowed us to craft our storytelling in post-production.”

Brian: “I think writing in an authentic brand voice but also in a true-to-their persona celebrity voice but also trying to inject your own voice is challenging. The brand being Bud Light, and the celebrities being Shane, Post and Peyton, and the suburban setting being my literal backyard made it slightly easier.

“Oh, and testing.

“Writing, testing, rewriting, retesting, re-rewriting, re-retesting, then trusting your fully-tested, thoroughly-vetted gut instincts. And then working with really talented, really funny people from pre to post production.”

Nick: “I think a lot of the things are the same. You set out to make the best work you can that answers the brief. But when it’s the Super Bowl there’s a lot of added pressure from start to finish. So the expectation is you’ve got to make the best, most entertaining, hard-working seconds of air-time ever.

“It was a pretty simple process, really. We started as soon as Super Bowl 58 finished. Locked the idea in June. Then went through rounds of testing and re-writes, writers rooms with Shane, Post, and Peyton’s teams, a fun shoot on a Cul De Sac, several weeks of post production, and with the help of some incredibly talented people, now we’re here talking to you.”

Taylor: “Having one celebrity? Sure, it shakes things up a bit. But three? That’s where things get interesting. Suddenly, you’ve got a bunch of new eyeballs on you and a whole squad of decision makers. But at the end of the day, the idea is still the real star of the show. And it's our job to protect it and not let the creative integrity get lost in the Super Bowl madness.

“It’s all about collaboration, but only with the best of the best. We surround ourselves with people who are on the same page—how do we “win” the Super Bowl? Everyone knows the stakes and how massive the stage is. So, every little detail, from ideation to post-production, gets picked apart and re-picked apart. It sounds exhausting, and sure, it can feel like that sometimes, but that’s the kind of environment where truly great creative work thrives.”

Chase: “For the most part, Super Bowl campaigns have become rather formulaic. You get a song from the ‘80s. You get Peyton Manning. And you pair him with a TikTok influencer born long after Peyton Manning won his first championship. 

“And there’s a reason agencies have done this for years. It works. It checks the seemingly endless boxes this one ad needs to do for a brand. Billions of PR impressions, brand attribution, gen z appeal, you name it. 

“But this creative math formula doesn’t stand out. At least not anymore. 

“We knew if we were going to create something different this year, it would still need to meet all of these hard-to-reach metrics demanded from a big Super Bowl ad. This drove everyone on our team to think more outside the box and build a program around Case of the Mondays, where you never knew what would happen each Monday leading up to the Big Game.

“Plus, Peyton Manning didn’t answer our call.”

Danny: “Super Bowl is always an enormous commitment with a lot of decision makers, but this one required even more time and effort with all of the pieces that go beyond a traditional ad in the same limited timeframe. 

“We did big productions, scrappy productions, package redesigns, still photoshoots, face roller prototypes, web design explorations, sweepstakes giveaways, misspelled print and OOH placements—usually all at once. And keep in mind, this is only considering the work we produced. There were dozens of iterations of the campaign to get us to where we landed today.

“This campaign also required endless travel in order to reach our goals in such a short time. In the past two months, we’ve travelled to South Africa, Los Angeles, New York, London, and Arizona with teams working across four different time zones to deliver on time.”

Dylan: “One of the biggest challenges was creating a compelling story that could be enjoyed by a worldwide audience of millions. In our ad, ‘Abduction,’ you’ll see there is minimal dialogue (except for the in unison ‘Doritos’ at the very end), and we rely a lot on the visual storytelling and comedy. We wanted to maximise every second, so each moment of the commercial is very intentional.”

Nate: “Aside from the creating of the ad, the actual contest piece was challenging. We put everything not only into the ideating, pre-production and post-production, but also into the overall promotion of the ad once the semi-finalists were announced in January. We’ve both done filmmaking contests before, but never of this calibre, and the fact that it’s for a Super Bowl ad, puts the pressure on.”

Dylan: “Overall, it was about a month-long process. We brainstormed over 50 ideas, and thanks to my passion for science fiction we eventually found our way to the alien abduction idea. We workshopped it with a couple of friends who are also filmmakers, and everyone just loved it the most. From there, we quickly moved into preproduction, shooting the mock-up, building our crew, location scouting, prepping all the creative and more. We had a one-day shoot from 6pm to 6am up in a cabin in the mountains with a real practical set with wardrobe and props, and from there dove straight into editing and VFX for about two weeks. We tore up the edit and experimented with new methods as quickly as we could. We ended up submitting the commercial with just an hour and a half left until the deadline.”

Nate: “Once we found out we were a finalist, we definitely got strategic with social media and promoting our work (and the consumer voting) to our fans. We had a good balance of behind-the-scenes and heartfelt content, with comedy thrown in there. Overall, we didn’t want to look back and say we didn’t do enough to get the word out there.”

Jeremiah: “A Super Bowl campaign is more than just an ad—it’s a full cultural moment. Artists Equity Advertising is a dream team and it's truly all hands on deck! The stakes are higher, the audience is bigger, and the conversation doesn’t stop when the commercial airs. From a social media perspective, that means crafting content that builds anticipation before the game, fuels engagement in real time, and extends the conversation long after the spot airs. The biggest challenge is making sure everything feels cohesive—the main commercial, the social rollouts need to work together seamlessly.”

Zoe: “The biggest challenge was not sharing the details with my friends and family! There were so many exciting things in the works for so long, and all I wanted to do was gush about it. 

“The process was insane—so much happening at all times. I think we must have gone through hundreds of edits. It was a true team effort, and seeing it all come together was incredible. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of.”

Rebecca: “One of the biggest curveballs in creating a Super Bowl campaign lately has been the weather in LA. This year, it was the fires; a few years ago, it was relentless fog. No matter how meticulously you plan, something unexpected always pops up. The real challenge is staying flexible—juggling talent, shifting schedules, moving creative, and keeping the team confident that everything will come together. Producing a Super Bowl campaign feels like air traffic control, managing countless moving parts. But at the end of the day, we’re so thankful to do what we do. Pulling it off takes a lot of trust, teamwork, and faith.

“Working on the Dunkin' Super Bowl spot was nothing short of magical. Having Ben Affleck direct and star in the ad was incredible to witness—his creative leadership was inspiring and taught us so much. At Artists Equity Advertising, we’ve brought a fresh Hollywood approach to advertising, redefining production, writing, casting, and art, etc. It’s a whole new vibe, and it’s refreshing.

“This particular spot was a challenge—it took on the competition, which meant navigating legal hurdles—but the process was so fun and light-hearted. None of it would’ve been possible without the legendary leadership of Ben and our amazing executive creative director, Brandon Pierce. Seeing such a small, talented team create something so phenomenal has been my career highlight. The collaboration was remarkable—Ben was learning from us as much as we were learning from him. It’s the project that reminds you why you love what you do.”

“It’s not common to pull off a Super Bowl ad in under 40 days, but thanks to our client partners Duracell and the collaboration with Shadow Lion, we were able to execute. We had a quick and simple idea—get the Duracell Scientist to demonstrate exactly what it means to be “Built Different.” What better way to do that than by featuring the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) Tom Brady—who is very clearly built differently himself. 

“When the opportunity arose to work on this spot, we moved quickly and efficiently. Together,we came up with the concept that Tom Brady is powered by only batteries built differently, Duracell batteries of course.”

Nicole: “When Häagen-Dazs came to us with their creative brief, they knew they wanted to own the idea of slowing down and savouring the moment. How we would do that during the Super Bowl became the question to answer. Our process of coming up with the idea itself flowed naturally – lots of “what if” text messages at random hours of the day. Then it hit us: why not flip the fastest movie franchise in history? Fast & Furious. Only this time, it was “Not So Fast, Not So Furious,” which was another text message joke that made it to the finished spot. From there it was all a big Super Bowl blur. Hägen-Dazs was in, the franchise was in, Park Pictures Director, Lance Acord, was in. We took each chapter of the production process one step at a time, always remembering to have fun and not take it too seriously.”

Erica: “While our big idea for Häagen-Dazs was all about slowing down, the journey to get there was fast and furious. Especially for nice&frank – a two year old agency – we had to be nimble and move with agility, for our first-time in the Big Game. As with any campaign, classic challenges like creative pivots were unavoidable. So, when met with those hurdles, sticking to our instincts and trusting each other was more important than ever. Whenever the going got tough, we upheld our philosophy of kindness and honesty above all.

“From day one our entire team agreed to make this process the most fun and low-pressure it could possibly be. Going into it with that mindset allowed us to remove the traditional 'Super Bowl constraints' and encouraged more freedom to dream and create. Even into the making process, when collaborating with big production partners like Park Pictures and the Fast & Furious franchise, we approached every turning point as a place for collaboration and human connection. I truly believe that emotive humanity shows in the finished work.”

Craig Ross, associate creative director at RPA

“Sometimes, when you’re so close to the work, you start to worry: is this still funny? Is it clear what’s going on to someone seeing it the first time at a bustling Super Bowl party? Does it even make sense? It can be a little difficult to judge and predict how something is going to resonate with America. It’s something you only truly find out on the day, which is what makes it so exciting (and a little nerve-wracking).

“Our objective was to simply let people know that Homes.com has the best info, the best website, and the best search experience. We figured, why don’t we just say exactly that? Homes.com is the best. As anyone who’s worked in advertising can attest, you can’t just make claims like that from a legal standpoint. So, we decided to have fun with that as the premise of our spot: the fictitious CEO and right-hand exec of Homes.com (Dan Levy and Heidi Gardner) arguing with the company lawyer about whether they can say “Homes.com is the best” and proposing a whole bunch of different, creative ways to say it, repeating the very thing the lawyer says they can’t say, over and over again.

“It’s a relatively quiet and simple spot that’s easy to follow, which I felt worked in its favour. When it came to injecting some Super Bowl-level star power to the spots, we didn’t want to rely on gratuitous use of celebrity, like so many Super Bowl ads do. The idea led us to our choice of celeb, which so often isn’t the case. Their appearance needed to make sense and serve the story. We thought, how could the lawyer possibly dispute the claim if it was spoken by the world’s most iconic voice, the voice of God himself, Morgan Freeman. And when we signed the hilarious Taika Waititi to direct, we knew we had all the right ingredients to make something special.

“It was a simple shoot setup (one room, four actors), which allowed us to cover a long list of different ways our spokescharacters could say “Homes.com is the best.” Mumbling it, whispering it, saying it backwards, saying it in “cat,” etc. We realized some lines were funnier on paper, and some were unexpected gems that were improvised on set. The hard part was picking the best bits in the edit to fit in 30 seconds. Fortunately, we had loads of leftover jokes to use for our teaser ads and additional social content.”

Adam: “This was no ordinary spot – partnering with so many brands involved another level of reviews and approvals from usual. The account team and business affairs really had their work cut out.

“The concept started off with the idea of using purely archival footage from some of the most iconic Super Bowl ads ever – think Cindy Crawford for Pepsi, alongside the running woman from the iconic 1984 spot, Budweiser’s Frogs and more. From there, for a few reasons, it morphed into the final spot. We still featured a number of iconic Super Bowl characters – Old Spice Guy, Puppy Monkey Baby the Heinz Weiner dogs, but alongside some old beloved brand mascots who could interact with each.” 

Jason: “The biggest challenge here was because of the sheer amount of brands involved. Every time one Brand Mascot pulled out we would have to change the script, which would have a knock-on effect later on with another scene. This is all fine in the concept stage but when you are in pre-production it can be quite challenging. Also, getting sign-off by so many clients took a little longer than normal, thankfully it all worked out well.”

Dylan: “It was a bit of a whirlwind. To start, the idea itself died, but our clients ripped it back from the advertising grim reaper’s clutches. It started as a campaign that reused old Super Bowl footage to show that Instacart delivers all your favourite brands, but for a variety of reasons, grew into something bigger, with more brands involved. Some of these brands were in from the outset, but we had a lot come and go. We were constantly rewriting the script, trying to work with different mascots in ways that felt true to their brands and the way we all remembered them. In fact, we wrote the teaser spot for the campaign the night before we shot it. Then we rewrote it in the edit. What’s wild is that the spot was only a part of the whole. The team created some excellent experiential and social pieces that had their own set of challenges. A lot of great creatives never get to make one of these, and now that it’s over, I’m just thankful I had the opportunity to be a part of it in the first place.”

Jeff: “It’s important to say that the process was informed by trust between us and Instacart. It’s hard to do anything great without a foundation of trust, so I’m incredibly grateful to our partners at Instacart for giving us that. Once we’d aligned on a narrative we were all excited about, we set off on three tracks simultaneously. 1, developing the storyline and adapting it as brands fell in and out of the conversation, always safeguarding the metaphor that the mascots and characters involved added up to a single, epic grocery delivery from Instacart. 2, talking to brands about their understandably precious IP and what we could and couldn’t do with it creatively, not just in the TV ad but across the 360-degree campaign. 3, talking to Fox, who, from the beginning, kept a close eye on our concept given the sheer number of brands they needed to manage and keep happy on Super Bowl Sunday. It was a lot, but we all fought for the right things and are beyond happy with the result.”

Pat Seidel and Chris Rose, creative directors at Highdive

“The biggest challenge to us is making an ad that your brother, mom, sister in law, grandma, neighbors and deli counter slicer will all enjoy. It’s the only time everyone in your life becomes an ad critic. It’s hard enough to pick out a salsa everyone will like. Luckily, we got a dog in the spot. That always helps.

“The ad was born from a late night brainstorming session with Pat Burke the ECD. We were looking for a way to stir people’s emotions about potatoes, which at the outset felt like a really hard brief but the reality is, there are so many real people behind growing real potatoes. So, telling a human story about a Lay’s family farm was a natural fit. Everyone instantly fell in love with the idea and thanks to an incredible client partnership we were able to move fast. Within a couple weeks, we were blown away to hear Taika Waititi was interested in shooting it. It was a dream come true to work with him. He even made everyone do squats on set to warm up before the shoot day. So we started the day strong and felt a little better about all those trips to craft services.”

Jen: “Super Bowl ads are literally a different ball game from the ads we make everyday. The kind of thinking required has different parameters, such as scale and entertainment value, as well as hitting on relevant branding cues. Your audience is also a guaranteed 150 million or so people, which is a large and varied audience to appeal to as well. It’s one of the only times people outside of advertising judge what we do. It’s really about standing out from the crowd - and that crowd is filled with celebrities and multi-million dollar budgets. It’s a marathon—one that requires serious stamina and endurance.”

Will: “This ad was born from grabbing coffee with a co-worker. I hadn’t yet tried Crazy Puffs, and she had. And when she said, “They’re really good,” her eyebrows lifted. And I thought it would be pretty goofy if they just kept going. So we put on our Super Bowl hats and considered whose eyebrows would have hirsute superpowers, and our list began and ended with Mr. Levy’s. We knew we’d be in great hands with Frank Todaro, who also directed Little Caesar’s first Super Bowl spot. And the wizards from Method were especially wizard-like on a really aggressive timeline. Following the age-old adage that The Empire Strikes Back Yoda is by far the best Yoda, we captured the eyebrows practically whenever possible. Eyebrow and caterpillar puppetry is a beautiful thing to behold.

“Every year, Michelob ULTRA shows up at the Super Bowl with a unique perspective that social lives and active lifestyles are best enjoyed together. That point of view is always our starting point as we begin brainstorming how the creative and overall campaign will come to life.

“We began concepting this year’s spot around this new brand platform, ‘Play For An ULTRA,’ which invites fans to embrace the social athlete lifestyle and compete like pros, because friendly competition means more when there’s something to play for. With this as our guide, we began ideating around concepts that align with this core idea.

“We felt great about this idea because it allowed us to create a really entertaining and fun story about the lengths social athletes will go to win. Then, we could dramatise the friendly competition while keeping ULTRA at the core of the story. Through work sessions, revisions, and crafting, we sharpened the story beats and world-building.

“We loved having legendary Hollywood talent and iconic athletes help bring this story to life. It was incredible watching them work, creating these characters, and competing on the courts. We also loved having a variety of professional athletes as opponents, from gold medal-winning Olympians to professional pickleballers, to an NFL Hall of Famer and a WNBA Champion. It speaks to how accessible and inclusive the sport of pickleball is and feels true to what the brand has been doing for decades.”

“The biggest difference is that, for the Super Bowl, you get to shoot for the moon. Nothing is off the table. And it’s not just about having bigger budgets—it’s about having bigger ambitions. The Super Bowl is the one time of year when the main KPI is simply to be entertaining.

 

“Baja Blast has a tropical lime flavour, so we started thinking about tropical versions of some well known celebrities. When we put together a rough comp of Seal as a seal, everything just clicked, and the script came together pretty effortlessly. That ridiculous comp was actually what sold the idea to everyone: clients, Taika, all of our incredible production partners, and most importantly, Seal. With that many talented people on board, we knew the result would be something special.”

Alec Jankowski and Elaine Kalvelage, creative directors at Highdive

“To us the biggest challenge of making a Super Bowl campaign is keeping it simple. With the bigness of the stage, the caliber of the talent, and the ambition of everyone involved, it can be tempting to throw every single thing you can think of at it. Staying simple enough for anyone that’s half listening in a bar to understand is the real challenge.

“When we pitched MSC Cruises, we looked at the category and immediately knew their.. European-ness is what stands out about them. They’re Europe’s most beloved cruise line, and Europeans know how to travel. They take August off, after all. So to launch them on an American stage, we knew a unique combo of European and American would set them apart. Chip Kelly, David McCradden, and Aaron Cathey helped us crack the line - “Let’s Holiday” - and from there, that European/American combo drove everything from casting (Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore) to the extras’ wardrobes. Matt Aselton, one of the best directors in the business, loved the script and built even more humor and humanity into it. And after shooting on a cruise from Barcelona to Rome, we were feeling a little more European ourselves. Just don’t ask either of us to do a French accent.”

 

“Usually we leave a shoot with what we have in the can and it’s mostly a matter of fitting the right puzzle pieces together, some clean up, and final touches. Not this time. To bring our genius whale to life we shot in an inlet in Vancouver with a giant floating paper-mâché whale bust as a stand-in for VFX (see: our pic). From there we recorded with Kieran several times (who BTW is everything we hoped he would be and more) and worked god knows how many hours with our wonderful VFX company Untold to bring the whale to life. 10/10 work with them if you ever get a chance, they are incredible at their craft. This included many character reviews, performance reviews, and objectively ridiculous conversations about the proper articulation of a 4500 pound sea mammal. It was definitely a lot to orchestrate in such a short amount of time, but in the end was very worth it. Gene (our beluga bust) also had a helluva time at the Vancouver bar afterparty.”

Matt: “It started with a clip of Reverend Jackson reciting his famous ‘I Am Somebody’ mantra to a group of young children. It was so powerful. Every time we finished playing it for people, there was a loud silence in the room. The fact that it felt just as relevant today as it did then, everyone knew it was the perfect way to tell the story of the NFL’s work in the youth space around the country. Seeing the kids from all walks of life light up on set shouting the poem back to our NFL players, felt like one of those moments where you’re doing something that goes a little beyond advertising.

Jason: “Once we landed on the idea we wanted to make sure we highlighted players who are active in their communities so the onscreen moments with the children really rang true. Next, we needed a director that could really bring this home. We knew Savanah [Leaf] would bring it with the visuals but once we were on set we really saw why choosing her was the right choice. She proved to be extremely collaborative and was capable of connecting with the children in a way that we think really comes through in their performances.”

Chris: “The Super Bowl was my gateway into advertising. My family would host Super Bowl parties every year, and seeing the reactions and joys of everyone watching the commercials was inspiring to me. Plus, I love film. So, when it came time to grow up and get a job, making fun little films that make people laugh felt like the best job there is.”

Alan: “We showed this idea in our first-round presentation. The client said, “Great Script! We’ll probably make this one. But we’ll go 20 more rounds to get there.” They were true to their word. But once the idea was locked, it was a completely integrated full court press. Our friends at Weber Shandwick and Burns worked with us lock step day-in-and-day-out to bring the vision to life. We shot at a fully functioning airport that didn’t stop even when the cameras were rolling.”

Chris: “The relatability of needing strength to run through an airport to make your flight was a no-brainer as a script. The client was fully bought in from day-1. But then bringing it to life brought the real challenges. Finding that perfect celebrity talent pairing, making sure their chemistry felt just right on camera, and then getting Juno Temple to run with 270-pound NFL all-pro Myles Garrett on her shoulders … not so simple. But when everything clicks, it’s Super Bowl magic.”

“A big challenge was selling something that felt worthy of the Super Bowl. It was our first Super Bowl campaign and it was for Pringles. We'd dreamed about this, (not the flying mustaches part) - it felt like such a good opportunity and we didn’t want to waste it.

 

“Early on we didn’t even know if it was possible. Like we’d personally never even seen a mustache fly. So a big challenge was training the mustaches to get airborne and then to come back for each take. We trained them with the crumbs left at the bottom of Pringles cans.In all seriousness we got to the idea quite late and didn’t shoot until early December, so it was a bit of a CGI crunch to get the mustaches flapping happily. Hair is difficult and we really wanted it to look convincing and to give the different mustaches different personalities. Like when you see a bunch of different dog breeds chasing each other around the park, they all have their own quirk gait. This was our North Star. Our Director, Steve Ayson liked to refer to the mustaches as “Hair idiots” which to us felt right.”

Lindsey: “The length of time makes it a bit more of a rollercoaster than regular projects. You have more gauntlets to get through to make it to the finish line. Plus, the amount of eyeballs and pressure to come out almost a year later with something great.”

 

Frederick: “For RITZ, we wanted to embrace what consumers know and love us for: offering a snacking experience with just the right balance of buttery, flaky, and salty. We also wanted to make a splash during the commercial break and decided to lean into RITZ’s salty credentials to step up our impact through humor. 

 

“After concept lock, we dove into exploring salty personalities—finding the perfect mix for the spot. Each actor had a unique tone, meaning custom dialogue and jokes tailored to their quirks. That led to dozens of scripts, hundreds of jokes, and probably a few existential crises over the meaning of ‘salty.’ Eventually, we landed on our favorite lineup.

 

“Then came another challenge—bringing the Salty Club to life. What did it look like? How did it sound? Every detail had to be just right. It was a labor-intensive process, but our incredible clients, internal team, producer, and production partners made it a blast. We stayed aligned on vision and somehow still liked each other by the end. That’s a win.”

“We began brainstorming for this campaign toward the end of last summer, and it quickly turned into a creative marathon, cycling through countless ideas and scripts. Yet, a version of this concept had emerged early on and became clear to everyone that it was the one to beat.

“Each year, we challenge ourselves to reinvent how we tell our story and make a bold statement on the biggest stage. Imagining a fictional origin story and traveling back in time was an incredibly inspiring opportunity for the team. We loved the idea of blending the old world with modern technology, creating a rich narrative world that showcased our product’s power to transform any business—even those from a bygone era. And when you bring in talents like Barry Keoghan and Steve Rogers, it truly becomes something magical.

“Production took place in Ireland just before Christmas, during the year's shortest days and in some tough weather conditions. But the breathtaking locations and the incredible local talent made it all worth it. Barry brought our script to life with his signature unconventional style, adding layers to the character in a way only he could. It was remarkable to witness.

“Beyond the ad itself, what excites us most about Squarespace's approach to the Super Bowl is the breadth of creative work it inspires. We treat it as a full-scale campaign that extends well beyond game day, allowing us to continuously develop fresh ideas. Working in-house with such a talented, nimble creative team means we can refine and expand our vision up until the last minute—producing everything from additional spots and animated posters to illustrations, social content, and more. Great work starts with a great team, and I’m privileged to collaborate with some of the very best creatives in the industry.”

 

“Working on a Super Bowl campaign comes with all sorts of unique obstacles, but the two biggest challenges I found were the pressure and the process. 

 

“You know that this ad is going to be debuting on pretty much the biggest stage in the entire world, during the only time of the year when folks are actually publishing ‘Worst of’ lists– so the pressure to make something that, at the very least, doesn’t suck is huge. 

 

“And the process that comes with making a regular campaign gets thrown out the window, too. All of a sudden you have way more people involved at every step of the way, which can be a little challenging at times. But in the end, having everyone involved in the work really ended up serving us well, because you know when you reach the end of the process and have a spot so many people think is hilarious, you’ve done something right. 

 

“The process for making ‘Chazmo Finally Goes Home’ with Totino's Pizza Rolls was a unique one. We worked really closely with Zach Kanin, co-creator of I Think you Should Leave, to get the commercial to the version that aired on Sunday night. We had a bunch of writers’ room sessions together and eventually ended up with a script that everyone, from our team at Dentsu Creative to Totino’s to Tim and Sam themselves, felt was Super Bowl worthy. 

“The shoot was then a truly surreal experience. This was my second time working with Tim and Sam following the Totino’s Pizza Rolls campaign we did with them in the fall, when General Mills first introduced Chazmo to the world, but getting to watch them do their thing on set was as mesmerizing as ever. They really are best friends in real life, so the chemistry they have on set is next level. They were riffing a ton, which made the editing process quite an experience. We had an embarrassment of riches when it came to footage so it was really fun sorting through all of it to try and make sure we were cutting together the funniest spot we possibly could. As it stands the final cuts ended up being probably 50% improv, which is really just a testament to how insanely funny Sam and Tim really are. “

Kaitlin: “Honestly, just believing that we belonged in the room was a challenge. And since this was our first shot at even pitching a Super Bowl spot, there was immense pressure from the start. So yeah, there was a lot of imposter syndrome going around. But we kept our eye on the end game, making sure the concept stayed pure through (minor) evolutions, it always remained the spot we wanted to make. Which is easy to do when you have a great client like Tubi who also believes in those ethos. TBH I think we also pretended it was a ‘regular’ ad up until February 8th to stay sane.”

Patrick: “I get this anxious urge to claw my eyes out every time work goes live. Super Bowl has been that x1,000,000. Keeping the eyes for future use, as of now.”

Kaitlin: “The OG process? Patrick and I, sitting at a random coffee shop in Manhattan, jacked up on coffee, debating the feasibility of birthing a baby with a western hat on. When Patrick said “let’s make it flesh.”

Patrick: See the thing about convincing people to get on board with a bunch of fleshy hat-shaped heads is asking really nicely AND promising to not make it gross. The shoot was smooth sailing. The edit and finish were smooth sailing. What a shockingly smooth body of water this has been. We feel spoiled.”

Ryan: “A Super Bowl brief is gravity—pulling everyone in. The stakes rise, the days stretch, sure, but the playbook remains. Start with a simple, insightful idea. Protect it through the gauntlet. Keep it pure. Hydrate. Sleep. Appreciate your people. Then send it.

“After countless scripts, endless revisions, and brave clients, we were fortunate to team up with Super Bowl veterans, Traktor, to bring our vision to life. A few days on location, many skids, too many wind-blown extras, one downed drone, and a few literal box cakes later, we had a 45-second story worthy of the Super Bowl.”

Spencer: “Without dropping a number, I’ll say that we went through many, many iterations of the script. But the core idea was always exactly what you see in the final spot. Our process was intentionally iterative to maximize collaboration with our visionary directors, Traktor, and the immensely talented Issa Rae. And to capture the all-too-real agony of how filing taxes can feel, we captured every moment in-camera, including driving backwards on a highway with papers flying everywhere. From there, we leaned into VFX–mega shoutout to the amazing team at Daydreamer–for added epicness instead of relying on effects for spectacle.”