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Advertisers pay up to $8 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot

American brands return to custom, celeb and cheer

OpenAI and Perplexity capitalize on the Super Bowl to promote AI

By Dawn Chmielewski

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev is bringing back its renowned workhorse Clydesdales for a Super Bowl ad that the brewing business says celebrates the "grit and decision" of the American spirit.

The Budweiser business marks a return to tradition, after a disastrous social media promo for its Bud Light brand name in 2023 featuring transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, sparked calls for a boycott.

"We ´ re certainly seeing Budweiser play it safe this year," said Charles R. Taylor, a marketing professor at Villanova ´ s School of Business and author of a book about Super Bowl ads. "Everybody likes the Clydesdales."

The return to safe, familiar and sentimental ground represents a trend amongst some marketers for this year ´ s Super Bowl LIX, a rematch in between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans. Brands are expected to lean on humor, celeb and warm recommendations to America ´ s heartland, reflective of the cultural zeitgeist.

For the very first time, OpenAI and Perplexity will look for to take advantage of the biggest televised occasion of the year, bringing synthetic intelligence into the homes of .

"We ´ re all in this great, happy location, and wish to be entertained," said Gartner analyst Nicole Denman Greene. "So, to insert your brand name in that minute of fandom ... you have to provide innovative that is resonant with that audience."

Super Bowl advertisers are flashing major star power, with an estimated two-thirds of the commercials including celebs.

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reenact their famous deli scene from the 1989 romantic funny "When Harry Met Sally," in a business for Hellmann ´ s mayonnaise that also includes a brief look from "Euphoria ´ s "Sydney Sweeney. Willem Dafoe and Catherine O ´ Hara double-up on the pickleball court to hustle challengers out of their Michelob Ultra beers. Eugene Levy, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Post Malone, Vin Diesel and Kermit the Frog also appear in the 30-second spots.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is expected to air its first commercial throughout the Super Bowl, bringing the race for expert system supremacy to America ´ s bars and living rooms. Meanwhile Perplexity AI is hosting a Super Bowl sweepstakes that offers a $1 million reward for asking questions during the video game.

Greene said AI business are seizing on the Super Bowl ´ s reach to resolve consumer stress and anxiety about the fast-evolving innovation.

"All of the advertisements I have actually seen-- and I can't wait to see all of the imaginative-- it's more about making people see how they can be more efficient, and how their lives could be better," said Greene. "I do not know if that's going to eliminate the worry, because, as people find out more about the abilities, we're seeing in the data, that they get less certain."

This year ´ s video game will have less automobile commercials than in previous years. Stellantis is the only automaker to reveal a Super Bowl advertisement, in which star Glen Powell provides a humorously macho twist on the familiar "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" fairy tale.

Ads hawking beers and snacks return. They will share screen time with newbie endeavor capital-backed Liquid Death, the canned water brand name that purchased its first Big Game ad to promote its Killer Cola and Cherry Obituary.

So far, wiki.myamens.com the most popular Super Bowl advertisement is the winner of Doritos ´ "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, portraying an alien abduction.

"It ´ s off the scale on amusing, on curiosity," said Sean Muller, creator and chief executive of TV advertising measurement company iSpot.TV. "People like the ad." (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; modifying by Ken Li and Diane Craft)