Super Bowl 60 saw the Seattle Seahawks claim victory over the New England Patriots, but there were plenty of other winners — and losers — off the field during the game, with some brands scoring with their commercials and others fumbling their attempts for a loss. 

    The stakes are high for advertisers, with 30 seconds of airtime fetching as much as $10 million in Sunday’s game. Brands pay additional millions to craft their commercials, hire celebrity spokespeople and market their ads before the game. 

    The most effective Super Bowl ads this year delivered an emotional or humorous punch while also clearly conveying the importance or utility of their products, according to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The annual post-game ad breakdown ranked Google’s spot for its Gemini artificial intelligence service as the best this year because it tugged at the heartstrings while also showing how the platform could be used to picture a newly bought home with fresh paint, a redecorated child’s bedroom and a cozy garden.

    “This ad captures what Google has historically done best: pairing genuine emotional storytelling with a clear illustration of how the product fits naturally into people’s lives,” said Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing and co-lead of the Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review.

    Coinbase, meanwhile, earned a failing grade from Kellogg’s ad review for using a Backstreet Boys song with karaoke-like lyrics. The ad failed to show viewers what Coinbase does or why they might want to use it, the business school said. 

    Best: Google Super Bowl ad

    New Home | Google Gemini SB Commercial 2026 by
    Google on
    YouTube

    Google’s ad, titled “New Home,” touted the tech giant’s AI capabilities, showing a mom and young son using its Gemini app to depict what their new house would look like with a new garden and different colored walls. The ad oozes cuteness, featuring an adorable baby, a charming house and a faithful family dog.

    The Kellogg panel, which ranks the ads with grades from A to F, gave the Google ad an “A.” 

    Worst: Coinbase Super Bowl ad

    Everybody Coinbase by
    Coinbase on
    YouTube

    Coinbase’s ad got a failing grade from the Kellogg review panel because the pared-down commercial was unclear about what the crypto exchange does — or even that it has anything to do with cryptocurrency. 

    Full ratings for Super Bowl 60 ads

    Below is the full list of Super Bowl commercial ratings from the Kellogg panel, which rates the commercials on their marketing effectiveness.

    A-rated adsGoogle
    Bosch
    Novartis
    Anthropic (Claude)
    Michelob ULTRA
    NFL
    Pepsi
    TurboTax
    Levi’s
    B-rated Super Bowl adsFanatics Sportsbook
    Lay’s
    Ring
    Xfinity
    T-Mobile
    Uber Eats
    Hellmann’s
    Microsoft Copilot
    Squarespace
    Grubhub
    Wix
    Budweiser
    Pokémon
    Meta
    Liquid Death
    Red Bull
    C-rated Super Bowl adsApartments.com
    Homes.com
    Liquid I.V.
    Toyota
    Dove
    Universal Orlando Resort
    Pringles
    Blue Square Alliance Against Hate
    Hims & Hers
    Wegovy
    Nerds
    Base44
    Ro
    Dunkin’
    Bud Light
    Toyota
    Genspark
    State Farm
    DraftKings
    Boehringer Ingelheim
    Cadillac
    Kinder Bueno
    WeatherTech
    Amazon (Alexa)
    OpenAI
    D-rated Super Bowl adsRitz
    The MAHA Center
    Poppi
    Instacart
    Redfin/Rocket
    Salesforce
    He Gets Us
    Svedka
    Volkswagen
    F-rated Super Bowl ads

    Alain Sherter

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