The celebrities among the Most Liked Celebrity Super Bowl Ads represent sitcom actors, models, singers, movie stars and much more. These ads achieved Likability and Attention scores significantly above the average for Super Bowl ads from the past eight games. Congratulations to the brands on this list for not only picking the right celebrities, but for also making Super Bowl-worthy creative.
| Rank | Brand | Ad Title | Length | Likeability Score | Celebrity | Year |
| 1 | Acura | Transactions | 1:00 | 759 | Jerry Seinfeld & Jay Leno | 2012 |
| 2 | Toyota | Joy Ride | 1:00 | 758 | Terry Crews & The Muppets | 2014 |
| 3 | Snickers | Game | 0:30 | 753 | Betty White | 2010 |
| 4 | Snickers | The Brady Bunch | 0:30 | 748 | Danny Trejo & Steve Buscemi | 2015 |
| 5 | Got Milk | Morning Run | 0:30 | 746 | Dwayne Johnson | 2013 |
| 6 | Kia’s | Hero’s Journey | 1:00 | 743 | Melissa McCarthy | 2017 |
| 7 | RadioShack | Goodbye ‘80s | 0:30 | 742 | Hulk Hogan, Dee Snider, & other '80s characters | 2014 |
| 8 | Mercedes-Benz | Soul | 1:00 | 739 | Willem Defoe, Kate Upton & Usher | 2013 |
| 9 | Skechers | Go Run Mr. Quiggly | 0:30 | 735 | Mark Cuban | 2012 |
| 10 | Honda | Mathew’s Day Off | 1:00 | 734 | Mathew Broderick | 2012 |
Successful celebrity ads use their stars in a way that is relevant and integrates them into the brand’s story.The top celebrity spots all had polarity scores below the average for celebrity Super Bowl ads, showing low levels of disagreement among respondents as to the ad’s performance. The lowest polarity score of the group was RadioShack’s “GoodBye ‘80s.” Featuring various stars from the ‘80s, viewers could find one or two characters in the ad that they remembered fondly. The ad got its point across in a clear, clever and humorous way. Viewers also scored this ad the highest in Change among the ten most-liked celebrity Super Bowl ads, showing they recognized RadioShack was reinventing its ‘stuck in the ‘80s’ brand.
Both Honda and Snickers have ads on the list that recycled Hollywood content in a fresh, attention-grabbing way. Snickers’ reinvention of a scene from the Brady Bunch was a hit with viewers. The Characters were named the top Single Best Thing about the ad by 41% of viewers, represented in the chart below.
Single Best Thing Chart for Snickers’ “Brady Bunch”
Without Matthew Broderick the Ferris Bueller scenes wouldn’t have worked in Honda’s “Mathew’s Day Off,” and might have actually confused viewers. Capitalizing on a Hollywood classic and its star, Honda scored significantly above Super Bowl advertising norms across every metric we measure, but especially for Likeability and Relevance.
Honda’s “Mathew’s Day Off” Component Scores Gap-to-Norm Chart
Other times, celebrities probably should’ve passed on their Super Bowl opportunity. With one of the least liked celebrity Super Bowl ads, viewers didn’t understand the connection of Jeff Bridges to the brand and the ad’s message in Squarespace’s “Dreaming With Jeff.” However, the creative did have a higher than average polarity score - some viewers really enjoyed the ad and Jeff’s presence.
While celebrities aren’t the main attraction of the Super Bowl, they add extra excitement to the ad bowl in the days before the big game. Follow along with Ace Metrix on Twitter, @Ace_Metrix, to find out how this year’s famous faces performed with viewers.
