February 4, 2025 – The NFL “Somebody | It Takes All of Us” is the early pacesetter in the 2025 Super Bowl ad battle after generating the most intense positive emotions and the highest levels of attention of any Big Game spot released so far. 

That’s according to new research from creative effectiveness platform DAIVID, which looked at the early Big Game commercials most likely to have the biggest impact on consumers’ hearts, minds and wallets. 

With some Super Bowl advertisers releasing their ads early ahead of this weekend’s Big Game, DAIVID – an AI platform that helps marketers by predicting the effectiveness of their creative at scale – analyzed all the ads released online so far to see which is generating the most buzz ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. 

Key findings include: 

Positive emotions 

> “Somebody | It Takes All of Us”, which features NFL players mentoring children, attracted the most intense positive emotions of the Super Bowl ads released so far. Altogether 55.8% of viewers had an intense emotional reaction to the ad, including feelings of warmth 73% higher than the US average. The spot also scored well above the US norm for inspiration (+68%) and pride (+69%). The ad also attracted the strongest levels of attention – 9% higher than the average US ad for the first few seconds and 13% higher than the norm for the last 3 seconds. 

> That put it just ahead of Budweiser’s “First Delivery”, which 50.2% of viewers had a positive reaction to. The primary emotion to Bud’s ad was amusement, with 30% of viewers predicted to feel intense amusement – making it 38% funnier than the average US ad. Amusement levels rose throughout the ad and peaked at the “Horse Walking Into A Bar” joke. 

Overall effectiveness

> NFL’s “Somebody | It Takes All of Us” also scored the highest for overall effectiveness. Using DAIVID’s Creative Effectiveness Score (CES) – a composite metric which combines the three main drivers of effectiveness: attention, emotions and memory – the ad managed a score of 6.56 out of 10. That put it ahead of Michelob’s “Ultra Hustle” (6.46) and Reese’s “Don’t Eat Lava” (6.46) in joint second. The average CES score is 5.8.

> Budweiser’s “First Delivery” and WeatherTech’s “Whatever Comes Your Way” (6.40) were joint fourth, with Pringles’ “The Call of The Mustaches” in sixth. It means only one ad in the top four most effective ads so far are celebrity-driven.

Humor 

> Super Bowl advertisers are aiming to make people laugh this year, with 14 of the 19 ads tested having amusement as their top emotion.

> The ad that has so far generated the most laughs is Bud Light’s “Big Men on Cul-DeSac”. Bud Light’s ad is 59% funnier than the average US ad. However, it is short of last year’s funniest Super Bowl ad, Paramount+’s “Paramount Mountain”, which was 84% funnier than the US norm. 

Brand recall

> Michelob’s spot “Ultra Hustle” generated the highest correct brand recall so far – 39% higher than the US average. This was driven by repeated Michelob ULTRA mentions and frequent product visibility throughout the creative.

DAIVID CEO and founder Ian Forrester said: “With these early Super Bowl releases we see once again that Super Bowl advertisers are focused on the use of humor as their core emotion. It’s interesting that our early front runner from the NFL took a different tack, with warmth, admiration and inspiration the top three emotions.

“With the flood of Super Bowl ads imminent, I believe brands that break away from the typical humor-driven approach will stand out. By tapping into one of the 26 positive emotions beyond amusement, they can create a more impactful and memorable campaign.”

Top 10 Most Emotionally Engaging Super Bowl 2025 ads (Feb 3)

Top 10 Most Effective Super Bowl 2025 ads (Feb 3)