After ingesting all things Super Bowl, System 1’s Andrew Tindall is now a true believer in ‘feral’ ads. Will you join him?
I’m going to be brutally honest. I’ve never heard someone talk about this in a public forum. Most British creatives, planners, and marketers don’t think the Super Bowl ads are very good. You know what I mean, right?
Many look at American ads and dismiss them as “hollow,” “nonsensical,” or “lacking an idea.” I know some of you reading believe this; Hell, last year, I did, too. It didn’t help that System1’s creative data showed the previous Super Bowl as the worst-performing in years. But in 2025, that was not the case, and I had a marketing revelation. A complete 360. An advertising epiphany. I’m going to share that realization with you. It will explain why the sort of feral advertising we saw in the Super Bowl this year should be here to stay.
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But before that.
My first flirtation with the feral happened when I was about 20, and I helped launch a new flavored drink brand in Ghana. After developing various possible propositions over months, I was so certain this one proposition was the right SKU to launch. It tasted and looked great. It fit the brand promise. It had just enough of the original core brand in it. It was even within budget.
But after watching more than 100 locals drinking through a hole drilled in a hotel wall (honestly what job), it turned out I was totally wrong.
After some expert analysis, projective reasoning and talking to a brand super fan over a cigarette (top tip for research: bring smokes), I learned that nothing I thought mattered actually mattered in the slighted, even flavor. You see, in this specific market. In this specific sub-category of drinks, the main choice driver was *clears throat*... which drink gave the most energy in bed!
I’m not kidding.
When we worked it out, I had to call my mum in shock. The revelation? You are not the customer.
The Super Bowl gave me another realization.
I, too, rolled my eyes at how many celebs were “needed” and how ads lacked a “succinct narrative.” I, like many, had been a creative snob. I’d romanticized legendary UK agencies, the ones that gave us the jingles, slogans, and brand characters that I’d grown up on. But creativity isn’t one-size-fits-all.
Creativity in marketing is about finding and connecting the dots in a way that delivers business results. And that, by definition, requires you to see the world through the customer’s eyes.
This year’s ads were mad, madder than mad, absolutely feral.
CGI seals, flying mustaches, people eating lava. If I hadn’t judged the US Effie Awards and seen the impact this sort of ad can have on a business or seen System1’s creative data firsthand, my simple British mind wouldn’t be able to comprehend it.
Yet, after testing every Super Bowl spot with 10,000+ Americans, I can confirm: this was the highest-scoring Super Bowl in years. More 4 and 5-Star ads than ever.
And here’s the magical part: it’s not just me saying it.
When you achieve market orientation like this, viewing through the customer’s eye: effectiveness follows. As such, we’ve linked these Star Ratings to business outcomes before, and WARC’s ROI US database shows us the power of market orientation.
So, what’s driving this year’s success?
Some top performers used classic creative techniques, character, storytelling, music, and sense of place. Lay’s ‘Farmer Girl’ nailed this, scoring 5.9 Stars. It’s basically a UK Christmas ad in disguise.
But many of the best ads leaned into the feral. Mountain Dew, Pringles, Reese’s, Doritos – these brands threw category norms out the window in favor of extreme lateral thinking and Gen Z chaos. We see Reese’s and Dorito’s (and WeatherTech’s feral grandmas) at the very top of our short v long 2025 Super Bowl chart.
Feral advertising subverts expectations with unpredictable, deeply extralateral ideas. If these ads showed up on TikTok, some 19-year-old would be clapping along, calling it “brain rot” in admiration.
Take Mountain Dew. Baja Blast has a twist of tropical lime. So, the ad? A tropical paradise where Seal sings ‘Kiss From a Lime’ as a CGI seal.
Pure madness. But consumers love it.
I logged into Semrush late last night and sure, Budweiser’s very “normal” campaign with its classic Clydesdale horses has landed it the most follower growth the week prior to Super Bowl with +31,883, it worked. But Mountain Dew has two of the most viral Super Bowl posts, with 12,474 and 74,894 engagements. You have to be feral to be at home on social.
This isn’t new. The Brits have been doing it for years. Jaffa Cake’s ‘Full Moon’ happened because a Jaffa Cake is round like the moon. Where’s the “idea” there? Three’s ‘Dancing Pony’ was a pony moonwalking, right? Compare the Market exists because “market” sounds like “meerkat” in a Russian accent. Cadbury’s arguably was the first mover in this space, with its drumming Gorilla [pictured above]. I hate to break it to you, but that guy was feral, too.
You could argue that these feral ads lack long-term brand-building consistency and don’t compound creativity. Mark Ritson has done exactly that. But it is possible to approach advertising like this consistently. Reese’s has leaned into this style for years at the Super Bowl now. You can be consistently feral. That’s your recurring theme.
This year’s Super Bowl should spark your next marketing revelation, and with it, a reminder that you aren’t the customer. A reminder that creativity comes in all shapes and sizes.
Sure, there’s still a lot a trash that got $7m put behind. But from our data, it’s the best year yet. It is partly down to Americans loving these wild feral ads; fair enough, they now have the right to bear feral ads. I’m pretty sure that’s what the whole War of Independence was about right?
Feral history aside, any marketer who’s had enough revelations will love these ads too.
If you really want to embrace market orientation, you can find all the Super Bowl ads tested over the past six years and analyzed in our report here.
