Reflecting on the Super Bowl: RPA’s Joe Baratelli on Why the Big Game Is “As Anthemic As Ever”

In an era of media fragmentation and competition for attention spans, does the Super Bowl still offer bang for brands’ bucks? Of all the people to pose that question to, Joe Baratelli is one of the best. 

The executive vice president and chief creative officer of RPA has experience of Big Game ads stretching back more than thirty years, with a dizzying diversity of brands stretching right up to 2025, where Homes.com’s ads tickled audiences with the help of Morgan Freeman and Dan Levy. 

So with the dust having settled on the Super Bowl for another year, LBB caught up with Joe to reflect on how brands are making the most of the moment, and whether those precious slices of screen time still provide as unique an opportunity as ever for brands looking to get seen… 

LBB> Joe, first things first – would you agree that Super Bowl advertising is as big and as anthemic as ever in 2025? And why?  

Joe> It’s the biggest live event of the year, every year, and continues to gain a bigger audience. It’s a touchstone; as media has become more fragmented, there are just fewer and fewer communal events like this these days. Having one out of three people viewing, commenting, and having conversations, across the country, all at once is something people crave. It’s in our nature as humans.

LBB> You’ve written for LBB in the past about ‘The Super Bowl Moment’. But can any brand have a ‘Super Bowl Moment’? Or do you need to be of a certain size, and have an existing level of awareness, to effectively take advantage of it?  

Joe> There is a cost, and you need to be able to scale. It can’t be for every marketer, but for reach and awareness it can’t be beat. I don’t know the CPM or individual ROIs for companies, but in most cases it’s way worth it. A relative bargain that a regular-season game can’t match. 

Because there is so much attention leading up to and around the broadcast there are ways to leverage the media surrounding the game… To tell a story: One of our clients, Intuit QuickBooks, wanted to be the number-one ally for small business, but had a relatively small annual budget for what they wanted to achieve. We had a bold idea. Put all their media chits down on Super Bowl Sunday. Intuit was going to make, and air, a Super Bowl spot for a real small business. We created a nine-month social PR campaign promoting the ‘Small Business Big Game’ contest, with QuickBooks giving tips along the way. We had incredible engagement for months leading up to the game as people voted for their favourite businesses. We did that twice and achieved great ROI for QuickBooks. 

Not to mention what it did for GoldieBlox and Death Wish Coffee. Talk about having to scale.

LBB> Let’s talk about your work for Homes.com on this year’s Big Game. It’s very much a continuation of last year’s ads – what made you decide that was the right route to go down?  

Joe> At RPA we’re big believers in long-lasting creative platforms that build equity over time. The idea has always been to create a world that has the ability to tell stories. Consistency in characters allows for rich storytelling. Be it to introduce, to educate, to claim advantages over competitors, whatever the strategy calls for. 

Last year we were introducing Homes.com as the new entry into a crowded market of home shopping sites. We needed to explain the differentiation and advantage of having more and better neighborhood information. ‘We’ve done your homework.’ This year it was a continuation of awareness, which helps that we have the same characters, but also taking a proactive leadership role in the category.  ‘Homes.com is the best.com.’ Said by people you may already know. 

LBB> And can you tell us how you first built up this world, and a little about the characters within it? Dan Levy knocked it out of the park as a misguided son of a tycoon, for instance…  

Joe> We created the story around what points we wanted to tell: New site, not the same as the others. Doing real research, and working hand-in-hand with sellers, to make a better consumer experience. 

The idea of an overeager leader taking on the status quo by going the extra mile in a fun, overly passionate way. Dan Levy and Heidi Gardner had done a humorous video for SNL calling out the drawbacks of the way other home sites operate. That led to us and our clients wanting to leverage their comedic talents. Creating characters and worlds for them to play in is something we’re really good at.

LBB> What was the biggest challenge you encountered in bringing these ads to life, and how did you overcome it?  

Joe> The scheduling of busy celebrities is always a challenge. We have a close-knit business affairs team, and a good reputation of working with ‘Hollywood.’ Our group always seems to get it done. We are a long-standing part of the community here in LA, after all. 

LBB> How have you found the reaction – both to the Homes.com ads this year, and to this year’s crop of Super Bowl advertising generally? 

Joe> The results have been positive, for sure. I can say the clients are very excited about the preliminary returns so far. I think we zigged while others zagged, in that our two spots were in a contained setting with a simple message repeated in a funny way the audience could relate to. Plus, a memorable cameo with Morgan Freeman and his legendary voice. 

There are so many different ways to evaluate Super Bowl work. A lot of the popular vote goes for the zany. Industry pundits, experts, etc., are looking at the marketing issues to be solved. Attention is crucial but we can't necessarily look at one survey or another, so we have to rely on what the agreed KPIs are. Right now, I’d say things are looking up for Homes.com.

LBB> Do you see any new trends coming up in Super Bowl ads, or is the playbook largely the same?  

Joe> Some type of connection through storytelling is always the goal. Be it heartwarming, serious or comedic, getting the audience to remember, engage and hopefully react, is and will always be the goal. Coming up with new ways to stand out in and around the game is the challenge. I think we’re back to more fun (less preachy) work overall. 

The trend I see is trying to instantly get people to act. Using multiple screens, interactive tasks of scanning a bar code or figuring out a puzzle or finding easter eggs. Personally, I’m always too distracted to do anything in the moment, but millions seem to jump on those actions. 

LBB> Finally, looking to the future – as audiences and media channels become ever-more fragmented, are you both confident that the Super Bowl will continue to be a uniquely tentpole moment?  

Joe> Absolutely. For sure. While we can be precise and more targeted with specialised media, nothing can beat the collective community interest across the nation when it comes to Super Bowl ads. Advertising that gets people talking is priceless. That proposition will only become more valuable as time goes on. 

As long as football continues as the popular sport it is, I believe the championship game is only going to become bigger and more valuable for brands to make an indelible mark.