NFL’s Super Bowl Ad Inspires and Scores High Marks with Consumers

The biggest night in advertising may not be taking place until February 9th, but the NFL and its longstanding agency partner 72andSunny have already scored major points with consumers. The NFL’s Super Bowl LIX ad, 'Somebody | It Takes All of Us,' scored an ‘Exceptional’ 5.6-Stars on System1’s predictive ad effectiveness scale, making it the first five-Star ad since the 2023 game. The ad features NFL players mentoring children through the NFL’s various partnerships, like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Special Olympics and the InSide Out Initiative, helping them reaffirm their confidence by reciting the powerful affirmation 'I Am Somebody'.

Each year System1, The Creative Effectiveness Platform, tests every Super Bowl ad among consumers with its Test Your Ad platform. Consumers note their emotional responses (happiness, surprise, neutrality, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and contempt). Based on this data, the ads are rated from 1-Star to 5.9-Stars, a measure predicting their potential to drive long-term brand growth.  

Since 2020, only six gameday ads have hit the five-Star level – the work from the NFL, Disney in 2023, Huggies and McDonald’s in 2021, and Doritos and Jeep in 2020.

“We’re honoured to be recognised for our ‘Somebody’ Super Bowl LIX campaign, which was created to show the NFL’s commitment to empowering youth and supporting the development of the next generation of leaders,” said Tim Ellis, chief marketing officer, National Football League (NFL). “Seeing the campaign’s impact validated by System1’s industry-leading technology reinforces the importance of storytelling at the NFL that focuses on universal causes that transcend the game and bring people together.”

"At 72andSunny, optimism and humanity are north stars, and nowhere is that more evident than in our years-long partnership with the NFL." said Glenn Cole, co-founder and chairman of 72andSunny. "The fact that our 'helmets off' work together, including 'Somebody' for Super Bowl LIX, has consistently received high ratings from System1's ad effectiveness scale is further proof that creativity rooted in humanity doesn’t just resonate, it delivers results."

In 2024, Super Bowl ads averaged 2.7-Stars, down from 2023's 2.9-Star average but above the 2.3-Star average for all US ads. The NFL’s commercial from 72andSunny, Born to Play achieved 4.3-Stars and landed in 6th place on System1’s ranking of top gameday ads.

System1 also measures the intensity of consumers’ emotions to predict the short-term sales potential of ads in the 8-10 weeks post airing. 'Somebody' scored ‘Exceptional’ with a Spike Rating of 1.34, making it the ad to outscore going into the game.

“Our research on consistency has shown that agency tenure, consistent positioning and tone of voice, and cross-channel consistency leads to better quality creative and more very large brand and business effects,” said Jon Evans, chief customer officer, System1. “The NFL and 72andSunny are following the formula for success, regularly developing work that emotionally engages audiences while staying true to the brand. They’ve certainly set the bar high for this year’s Super Bowl ads!”