The 2026 Super Bowl is a face-off of epic proportions – and not just the Seahawks versus the Patriots.
This year, brands duking it out to have the most talked about commercials spent as much as $10 million on a single spot, per Variety.
It’s a star-studded affair, with old-school A-listers like Matthew McConaughey, Laura Dern, Ben Affleck and George Clooney — and stars geared towards younger audiences, like Kendall Jenner.
“It really feels like the money’s back,” Zoe Kessler, the Executive Creative Director at Johannes Leonardo ad agency, told The Post. “People are going for it — not just with celebrity, but also the scale of things feels much bigger.”
Will Trowbridge, founder and CEO of the agency Saylor, told The Post that everyone will tune in “hopefully to watch the Patriots win. But it can go so much farther. This is the one time in year that people actually are tuning in for ads instead of waiting to be interrupted by them. It’s an amazing time for the best and most prolific brands out there to go make the most entertaining content they can.”
Here are the best of the 2026 ads, according to experts.
XFinity
Original “Jurassic Park” stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum reunite for an ad spoofing the 1993 classic — speculating about how it would have been different if they’d had Wi-Fi back then.
“Guys, that could’ve been bad,” Dern quips when the park’s electrical systems go back online.
“One of the plays you see is themes on nostalgia, celebrities that are well liked or well known,” Professor Derek Rucker, professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, noted of this year’s ad crop. “It’s a way for brands to say, ‘We don’t want to set off any political landmines or other landmines.”
He cited the spot “a great example of a throwback.”
Instacart
Unlikely duo Ben Stiller and Benson Boone team up as retro Eurovision-style performers in this nostalgia-fueled ad, directed by “Being John Malkovich” filmmaker Spike Jonze.
Calling it “pure entertainment” and “pure nostalgia,” Magda Tomaszewski, Group Business Director at RGA, noted that it’s an example of a brand leaning into “true entertainment marketing and really thinking about how they can create truly entertaining spots that aren’t just advertising a product, but actually entertaining audiences.”
Trowbridge was also impressed.
“The fact that Spike Jonze made it gives it artistic credibility, combined with Ben Stiller — one of millennials’ favorite comedians — combined with GenZ’s favorite pop star … It makes for an incredible combination that will hopefully pull in audiences from all over and give them all a sense of meaning,” he noted.
Rocket Mortgage
Lady Gaga stars in this simple, black-and-white ad for Rocket and Redfin, singing a cover of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” from “Mister Rogers Neighborhood.”
Experts singled it out as the ad that most overtly nods to current events, with a subtle message about community amid events like ICE raids and protests across the country.
“Brands are never going to be polarizing, but … I was really touched by that. It’s really powerful. It’s not political, but it is … And they didn’t overthink it,” Kessler noted. “I thought that was really sort of charming and classy the way that that came together.”
Trowbridge agreed, praising the brands for providing “an entertaining piece of content rather than an ad that interrupts my experience.”
Fanatics Sportsbook
Kendall Jenner stars in the ad for Fanatics Sportsbook, poking fun at the Kardashian family’s alleged dating curse. The 30-year-old — who dated several NBA stars in the past — jokes that any basketball player who dates her “hits a rough patch.”
She then shows off a fabulous home, vintage car and private jet, suggesting she won them by betting on her exes’ failures.
This ad “feels really smart,” said Kessler, noting that it seems to be targeting “people that are not normally involved [in betting], like the girlfriends of the people that would normally be on Fanatic sports book.”
She said this ad is notable because it has, “clever celebrity usage. I don’t think people always nail it with celebs. There’s a time and a reason to use somebody very specifically. But when an idea is not built around that person, it feels sort of frivolous. The Kendall Jenner one feels really specific.”
Grubhub
George Clooney stars in an ad for the delivery brand, which features a table of oddball guests dining at a lavish estate — only to be served the unwanted last course, “the fees.”
Clooney swoops in when no one wants to pony up, offering, “Grubhub will eat the fees.”
“The one that I thought was a bit unexpected was George Clooney in Grubhub,” said Tomaszewski. But she praised the “head-turning” casing, noting, “here I am, talking about it!”
Trowbridge also gave Clooney high marks, saying, “getting this level of star power is going to impress.”
Uber Eats
The delivery brand has become known for its big game ads — past years have featured celebs like the Beckhams, Charli xcx and Matthew McConaughey.
The latter returns this year, joined by Bradley Cooper and Parker Posey, fresh off her career invigoration from “The White Lotus.” McConaughey tries to sell the others on a conspiracy theory that football is really about … food.
“I really continue to enjoy the Uber Eats campaign,” said Tomaszewski. “It’s always entertaining to see what celebrities they’ll bring into the mix and what [storylines will] unravel.”
Dunkin’
Ben Affleck returned for his fourth Super Bowl spot, featuring the coffee brand he most frequently gets papped carrying. This year, he was joined for a teaser by a slew of ’90s stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Alexander and Matt LeBlanc. (Artists Equity, Affleck’s production company with Matt Damon, also produced the spot).
“Seeing some of our favorite celebrities poke fun at themselves. I think that really just shows creates relate ability more than anything,” said Tomaszewski.
Affleck is the frequent subject of memes, with photos of him pucking up Dunkin, and she noted that she’s been noticing more “internet culture” showing up in ads.
“Dunkin Donuts has had a really great stretch working with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company. I’m curious to see what they come up with. The teaser has definitely sparked my interest,” added Tomaszewski.
