When it comes to the NBA All-Star Weekend, the league is helping brands have a solid game plan beyond just signage in and out of the venue.

👍 "Toyota’s best move this year is the quieter one—proof that a single, well-told story can outshine a perfectly polished montage." Read @audreygkemp.bsky.social's Super Bowl hot take 👇

In early February, Scott Galloway declared war on the American economy. But is it successful? Mark Ritson writes about it in this week's column.

👎 "The decision to not cast [Dan] Levy makes [Heidi] Gardner’s appearance fall a bit flat—it’s their chemistry that makes the ads stand out." Read Lauren Johnson's Super Bowl hot take 👇

America typically takes 20-30 years to revive past trends, '80s nostalgia brought back '50s diners, '90s fashion revived '60s bellbottoms. Super Bowl 60's advertising embraced '90s nostalgia, targeting younger Gen Xers and older millennials now at peak spending power.

CES, Davos, and the messaging in the Super Bowl ads this year made it clear: AI is no longer a capability story. It is an operating model story. Shiv Singh, CEO of Savvy Matters and co-founder of AI Trailblazers, wrote about the 10 trends he sees converging now.

There's Super Bowl ads and then there's Olympics ads. Catch all the ads from the Winter Olympics in our tracker here.

Mark Mwachiro spoke to two TV reporters on the ground in Pima County, Arizona—@cnn.com's Ed Lavandera and NewsNation’s Brian Entin—to get their perspectives on covering a story with an almost personal connection.

Bathroom humor has become an unexpected trend in this year's Super Bowl ads, with brands like Liquid I.V., Manscaped, and Raisin Bran embracing toilet-centric comedy to break through the noise.

Food52's bankruptcy auction split the once-integrated content-to-commerce company, valued at over $300 million in 2021, into three pieces.

FanDuel has hired former Paramount+ marketer Ari Avishay as SVP of marketing. He will be responsible for FanDuel's brand, creative, and consumer insights strategy across its portfolio, which includes FanDuel Sportsbook, and FanDuel TV. https://bit.ly/4bOh3Rf

Dentsu has named Takeshi Sano its new president and global CEO as it reshapes its leadership team, the company announced. Sano, currently CEO of Dentsu Japan and deputy global COO, will step into the role on March 27, 2026, replacing Hiroshi Igarashi. https://bit.ly/4ajKmKs

In 2026, Americans crave nostalgic '80s and '90s tracks, cute animals, and Americana. Budweiser mastered this formula, winning the USA Today Ad Meter for the second consecutive year with "American Icons."

OpenAI launched ads in ChatGPT on Feb. 9 for U.S. users on free and Go ($8/month) tiers, requiring advertisers to commit at least $200,000 for the early test.

🧵 Excuse us while we 😭🥹 Apple Music captured Bad Bunny’s groundbreaking Super Bowl Halftime Show through the iPhone lenses of fans around the world and added another chapter in its long-running “Shot on iPhone” campaign.

EXCLUSIVE | Despite major AI companies like Anthropic advertising during Super Bowl 60, neither ranked in the top 20 most cited ads across AI chatbots.

Everything that's old is new again, and sometimes it really hits! “Mom Song 2:0: The End of Adolescents,” created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, builds on the idea that Old Spice has the ability to mature boys into men. https://bit.ly/4rRngRe

🧵 Pinterest shares fell around 20% in after-hours trading after the company reported a fourth-quarter earnings miss and weaker-than-expected first-quarter revenue guidance. Here are the numbers:

AI agents are moving beyond answering questions — they’re starting to complete tasks like booking flights or making purchases. This week, Google unveiled WebMCP, a protocol designed to help websites keep up with this shift.

Reports are swirling that WPP plans to move its creative agencies under an umbrella called WPP Creative. WPP is expected to outline more details about its strategy at an investor day on February 26.

BBDO led Super Bowl 60 with six ads for brands including Pepsi Zero Sugar, Instacart, Pringles, Budweiser, Oikos, and Wells Fargo—more than any other creative agency.

Super Bowl advertising is shifting from TV-only moments to real-time cultural participation, with brands leveraging platforms like TikTok's Clubhouse activation to generate platform-native content through athletes and creators that amplifies campaigns before, during, and after the game.

Bad Bunny made history as the first artist to perform entirely in Spanish at the Super Bowl halftime show. His Puerto Rican tribute drew 140 million viewers and sparked a 35% surge in Spanish learners on Duolingo, while U.S. searches for "Spanish class" jumped 178% within 24 hours.

Super Bowl 60 featured celebrity-packed ads. With ad spots costing $7-10 million, A-list talent typically earned $3-5 million, though fees have declined—most celebrities made $1-3 million this year.

Super Bowl 60 featured celebrities like Ben Affleck, George Clooney, and Matthew McConaughey. While 62% of ads featured celebrities,, total celebrity appearances rose to 103 across 66 ads as brands packed multiple stars into single spots.

Entries for the 2026 ADWEEK Tech Stack Awards are open. From products that enable advertisers to reach and capture audiences to martech platforms that transform how businesses operate, this annual list recognizes the top tech companies in advertising.

Kraft Mac & Cheese partnered with comedian John Mulaney for its "Best Thing Ever" campaign to create 50 real-time reactive ads during the Super Bowl, 20 video spots and 30 static ads, critiquing other advertisers' commercials and social content.

The Super Bowl LX ads showed improved racial diversity, with 68% of spots representing multiple racial or ethnic groups — up from 57% in 2025. However, celebrity talent remained predominantly white, and LGBTQ representation declined for the second consecutive year. https://bit.ly/4bQJi1E

While many brands competed for attention during the Super Bowl, McDonald's targeted the morning after with "Horizontal Breakfast," a campaign from Wieden+Kennedy New York that literally turns its creative sideways to match exhausted fans still on their couches. https://bit.ly/3MF51iO

"The NFL's long-term growth strategy focuses on converting global sports fans into American football fans, making them feel seen, included, and connected to the brand – not just appealing to existing U.S. fans.," writes Zappi CMO Nataly Kelly.

Amid the celebrity sightings, 1990s nostalgia, GLP-1 ads, sports betting promos, and AI overload at Super Bowl 60, the Backstreet Boys staged an unexpected brand battle.

Brandlight raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Pelion Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Cardumen Capital and G20 Ventures. View the pitch deck below 👇 https://bit.ly/4krZski

They say 2016 is back but what about 2005? Carls Jr. is taking a page out of its old, sexually suggestive marketing playbook, reviving “I Love Paris,” its original Paris Hilton–fronted car wash campaign that made headlines and sparked calls for censorship in 2005. Read more👉 https://bit.ly/4rQ2txr

Some Super Bowl 60 advertisers outperformed inside AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini even when their social media engagement lagged, according to a new analysis from Emberos’ AI Influence Index.

Despite a relatively uneventful game, Super Bowl 60 scored huge ratings for NBCUniversal, averaging 124.9 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+, based on official live + same-day Nielsen big data + panel. Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/3O17eWm

Genspark's Super Bowl ad was pulled together in only five weeks. The spot enlisted Matthew Broderick to reprise his Ferris Bueller’s Day Off persona and urge viewers to take the Monday after the game off. Agency: Magnetic

Microsoft spotlighted Copilot in an aptly football-themed ad during the Super Bowl, demonstrating how NFL insiders can use the generative AI chatbot to develop charts based on historical stats. Agency: Panay Films https://bit.ly/3MoBuK2

With the NFL coming off record-setting ad sales for Super Bowl 60 and sports continuing to drive massive audiences for publishers, Amazon is expecting an increase in multi-sport buys across Prime Video as it heads into the upfront, touting the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, The Masters, and NWSL.

The only thing more powerful than hate is love ❤️ Bad Bunny used his Halftime Performance to display a powerful message of love, speak about immigrants, and amplify voices.

There were some buzzy ads, some not-so buzzy ads, and a very not-so buzzy game that aired during the Super Bowl this past Sunday. But how many of those ads will actually drive sales?

Bad Bunny llevo al mundo a Puerto Rico! 🇵🇷 More than anything, his Halftime Show sold millions of viewers on Puerto Rico itself, defining its history, creativity, and identity in a way that emotionally connected with a global audience.

According to iSpot, 23% of Super Bowl commercials—15 out of the 66 ads—featured AI.

Data and measurement company EDO has calculated the incremental consumer engagement of each celeb who appeared in a Super Bowl ad, seeing how much more searched and engaging they were than the average.

Were we excited to see Lady Gaga? Yes. Were we surprised? No. Bad Bunny has expressed his admiration for Lady Gaga for years, so to have her join him for his big Super Bowl moment can only be described as "living the dream."

The ADWEEK newsroom had some ~thoughts~ about this year's Super Bowl ads. What are the commercials that left you scratching your head? https://bit.ly/45T8l0o

i-Health has expanded its relationship with Dentsu, naming the agency its media and creative AOR as it looks to modernize its portfolio and reignite growth. The business will be led by dentsu X, with an integrated team spanning Dentsu Media and Creative. https://bit.ly/4qwX6SL

Influential and Publicis Groupe Sports have launched Influential Sports, a new integrated offering that connects brands with sports fans through creator-led marketing. We sat down with Suzy Deering, CEO of Publicis Sports, to discuss why they started this venture now.

Cadillac F1's Super Bowl ad, anchored by JFK’s famous “We Choose To Go To The Moon” speech, showcases engineers working behind the scenes to bring the Cadillac F1 car to life. Agency: Translation

AI.com, an AI platform founded by Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, aired a #SuperBowl ad imploring viewers to create a handle for the website. Unfortunately, all the traffic from the commercial crashed the website, with viewers airing their grievances on social media.

Pokemon celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Super Bowl with a star-studded commercial featuring Lady Gaga, Trevor Noah, Charles Leclerc, Young Miko, Jisoo, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Lamine Yamal. https://bit.ly/46gH7RB