Super Bowl Ad Review: Touchdowns, trends and takeaways
This content was originally published in Poets&Quants.
By Sargam Prakash ’26 Two-Year MBA and Kaitlyn Dipasupil ’27 Two-Year MBA
Every year at the Super Bowl, millions of dollars in brand storytelling take the field. At the Kellogg School of Management, this commercial break is our main event. The Super Bowl Ad Review (SBAR) is one of Kellogg’s most cherished, flagship events, where more than 70 students apply classroom tools in real time to evaluate every ad of the night.
Guided by Professors Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker, the event blends game day energy with academic rigor, turning 30-second spots into case studies on what drives attention, builds brands and gets consumers talking.
From fans to marketers
While we have varying levels of interest in sports, the Super Bowl is the one time a year when we’re glued to the TV — you guessed it — for the ads (and halftime show)! The next day always has a buzz: hallway convos debating the funniest commercials, the best celebrity promos, and the way a handful of campaigns are still referenced years later.
While exploring business schools, we were enamored with Kellogg. Not only is it one of the top marketing schools, but iconic events such as SBAR bring together like-minded peers for a valuable experiential learning experience. We are grateful to be a part of the team who helps make this event happen.
How SBAR comes to life
The Kellogg Marketing Club (KMC) is comprised of 50 MBA student leaders who strengthen Kellogg’s marketing community by providing career support, academic programming, alumni connections, and hands-on learning opportunities. One of the key responsibilities of KMC’s Signature Events Committee is putting on SBAR.
SBAR is a highly anticipated event for students across all Kellogg programs, and preparation begins far before game day. In the fall, the Signature Events Committee collaborates with faculty to prepare our application and academic programming surrounding the event. Interest in SBAR continues to grow, and this year we had over 200 applications for 70 panel spots. The week before SBAR, we host a pre-event, where we discuss what trends to look out for this year, re-watch previous Super Bowl ads that were effective/ineffective, and train panelists on the ADPLAN framework.
ADPLAN is the anchor of SBAR. It is a Kellogg ad-evaluation framework developed through Professors Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker’s advertising strategy research. Training the panel on this framework ensures our evaluation is grounded in precision, not just popularity. This tool helps students go beyond general enjoyment of an ad, instead focusing on strategic and business effectiveness. On game day, students are given 10 seconds to grade each ad on a scale from A-F based on ADPLAN, with each grade compiled to produce SBAR’s final rankings.
Read the original article in its entirety on Poets&Quants to see this year’s ad touchdowns and fumbles and to learn more about how they were evaluated using the ADPLAN framework.
Read next: Ask a Super Bowl advertiser: Chris Brody of M&M’S