Welcome to the 2026 Super Bowl Ad Awards For The Non-Poetic! Super Bowl LX is history, and the Seahawks are Super Bowl champions! And it’s time to reveal our judging panel’s (me and Office Dog) top honors for this year’s Super Bowl ads.
Everyone has their opinions of the best and worst, funniest and failures, award winners and money wasters, noteworthy and not worthy. But our Super Bowl Ad Awards may stray wildly from the standard accolades for Super Bowl ads. Our goal is to recognize the Super Bowl ads that stuck and the ones that sucked. That means highlighting the ads that resonated with the person who watched the game first, the commercials second and had a beer or two (from the viewpoint of an advertising guy who worked Super Bowl promotions in bars for 15 years). So, without further non-poetry…
The “Best Ad With The Worst Timing” Award
At the 1st half 2:00 minute warning, Coinbase ran a fun, catchy ad that featured cheesy graphics, all type and a fun soundtrack. It didn’t have much to do with crypto, but it was attention-getting and memorable, which is what you want a Super Bowl ad to be. Unfortunately, the Coinbase ad that told us “Crypto is for everybody!” ran just days after the value of Bitcoin dropped by 22%. So, I guess, if you’ve got the financial wherewithal to take a 22% hickey on a wildly unregulated, risky investment (that, in spite of the name, is a Russian hacker’s wet dream), then sure, crypto is indeed for you, too!
The “Please, Just Go Away!” Ad Award
For the second year in a row, the Uber Eats Super Bowl ad featured Matthew McConaughey. This year’s Uber Eats ad featured Matthew McConaughey annoying Bradley Cooper to note that “Football is Food” was also overdone and lame. The little joke of McConaughey finding food in everything football was, at best, OK … the first time. But the fourth or fifth use, Cooper and all of America were annoyed. Football may be food, but for the money spent and the star power involved, this spot was a flop.
The WTF Award
Last year, I said the He Gets Us message is tired and hasn’t evolved. This year, the concept did evolve. But, instead of trying to make us think, the He Gets Us group decided to get preachy and decree the concept of always wanting “more.” The irony here is that, while encouraging people to seek “more” and buy less, He Gets Us bought an $8 million Super Bowl ad to convey that message. Of course, Jesus also warned that neglecting the poor is comparable to neglecting him. I’m thinking $8 million could help far more poor people than spending it to buy a preachy Super Bowl spot.
Honorable Mention
The Liquid IV ad that segued from singing toilets to being told to check the color of our urine. Trust me, there are better ways to highlight the features and benefits of Liquid IV, and create demand for it than blowing $8 million on a Super Bowl ad to have singing toilets tell you to watch the color of your urine.
The Office Dog Honors Award
This award honors the best use of animals (preferably monkeys) in a Super Bowl ad. However, monkeys are passé in Super Bowl ads and, with a couple of exceptions, dogs were a rare commodity too. While the Redfin/Rocket Mortgage ad featured a lost doggie being reunited with its tween girl owner, Ring used its Super Bowl ad to introduce a new app called Search Party that leverages Ring doorbell cameras to help find lost dogs. The spot tried to tug heartstrings and wasn’t all that memorable. However, it did feature dogs and it will work to burnish the image of Ring cameras.
The Super Bowl Ad Award For The Non-Poetic Water Cooler Winner
Overall, this year’s Super Bowl ad selection was fairly dull, uninspired and not all that memorable. In fact, only a few spots managed to rise above the mediocrity. The T-Mobile spot was amusing and the Pepsi’s confused polar bear had a fun pop culture callout. But, rising slightly above the rest, was the “Good Will Dunkin'” Dunkin’ Donuts spot featuring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and several other big names recreating Good Will Hunting as a 90’s sitcom. It was overdone and overblown, but the star power and the final payoff at least made it memorable. That’s a low bar, but it’s my pick to be the one that everybody talks about on Monday morning.
So, there ya’ go… my Super Bowl Ad Awards for 2026. Some good, some bad, some creative, some cliché. Feel free to leave your thoughts, picks, pans, favorites, and failures in the comments. And, until then, when does the 2026 football season start?