Why the Super Bowl still delivers what TikTok can’t for food brand power

Key takeaways: For all the noise around fragmented audiences and creator culture, the Super Bowl remains one of the few moments when food and snack brands still behave as if mass attention actually matters. That belief is no longer fashionable. Thirty seconds now costs more than $7 million. Younger viewers scroll highlights instead of watching full games. Marketing teams are trained to optimize, target, test and measure – fast. From that vantage point, the Super Bowl looks blunt, expensive and slightly irrational. Yet brands keep coming back. Not because they’re nostalgic, but because the event still does something digital-first campaigns rarely manage: it embeds brands inside a shared experience, not just a feed. “The Super Bowl isn’t just a sporting event,” says Amit Singh, chairperson and associate professor of Marketing at Southern Connecticut State University and director of Student Advancement Platform, School of Business. “American football remains part of American identity. People define themselves in terms of the teams they support. Entire towns come together to watch games, and the Super Bowl becomes the pinnacle of that shared experience.” That matters for food brands in particular. Eating is already social. The Super Bowl amplifies that, pulling food, conversation and entertainment into the same room. “It keeps people engaged throughout the game, while still allowing them to interact socially in a safe and enjoyable environment,” says Prof Singh. Even people who barely follow football tend to show up. Watch parties, halftime performances and the ads themselves do much of the work. The game becomes a reason to gather. For brands, that context is hard to manufacture elsewhere. One reason the Super Bowl still works is structural. Football fits television. “The game lends itself to being televised,” Prof Singh says. “There are multiple stoppages, which create natural opportunities for commercial breaks.” Crucially, those breaks aren’t dead air. “People are watching together,” he explains. “The stoppages give them time to talk to one another without missing the game. The commercials become part of the shared experience.” That dynamic sets Super Bowl advertising apart from almost everything else. Viewers aren’t trying to skip ads. They’re waiting to see them. “Super Bowl advertising itself is a subject of study in marketing,” Prof Singh says. “Viewers actually look forward to the commercials.” For food brands, that anticipation is rare. It’s also dangerous if misunderstood. “Just adding humor or nostalgia will make an ad likable,” says Prof Singh. “But likeability doesn’t automatically translate into sales or brand equity.” Every year, the same pattern plays out. A handful of ads dominate post-game chatter. Celebrities trend. Jokes land. But weeks later, many brands struggle to point to anything more durable than fleeting buzz. “The ad still needs to communicate the strategic benefit of consuming the product or brand,” emphasizes Prof Singh. “If that connection is missed, the ad may be liked, but it misses the strategic objective.” Humor is often where things go wrong. “When humor is deployed, it has to connect back to the brand. If the link is weak, people remember the joke but not the product.” Celebrity campaigns carry a similar risk. “Celebrities bring their persona and popularity,” adds Prof Singh. “But if the ad doesn’t clearly communicate why the product matters, consumers remember the celebrity and fail to associate that memory with the brand.” That distinction is uncomfortable for marketers chasing cultural moments rather than commercial ones. But it becomes unavoidable when brands talk seriously about equity. “Brand equity takes time. New brands may focus on awareness, while established brands use Super Bowl advertising to reinforce value and meaning.” Advertising alone, however, cannot carry that weight. “It takes consistent delivery of promised quality, in addition to advertising, to build equity. That’s why brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi built what they have over decades, not campaigns.” Despite years of health-forward positioning and better-for-you innovation, Super Bowl food advertising remains unapologetically indulgent. Prof Singh says that’s not a creative failure – it’s context. “The context in which an advertisement is watched plays a critical role in its effectiveness,” he says. “The Super Bowl is exciting, social and fun. Ads that match that hedonic context are more likely to succeed.” His research points to how consumers organize food in memory. “Reactions like tastiness and deliciousness are stored together in human memory. Health-related evaluations, such as calories or fat, are stored separately.” In other words, indulgent foods feel right in indulgent moments. They require less cognitive work. They fit the mood. Ritual reinforces that fit. “American football and the Super Bowl are strongly associated with ritual,” explains Prof Singh. “Game-day snacking, watch parties and comfort foods all play into that identity.” That’s why legacy brands lean so heavily into the occasion and why newer brands often borrow the ritual to gain relevance. Prof Singh notes that the audience is slowly changing. As more women and health-conscious consumers tune in, some better-for-you brands have begun experimenting with Super Bowl placements. “This is a trend worth watching. But indulgence still dominates the emotional landscape of the event.” That emphasis on emotional safety also explains why food brands tend to avoid controversy during the Super Bowl, even as polarizing ads generate buzz in other categories. “For food brands, negative buzz is generally a risky strategy,” notes Prof Singh. “The objective during the Super Bowl is usually very clear – to increase sales during and after the game.” Food is intimate. It’s consumed, shared and remembered physically, not just symbolically. That makes negative associations harder to undo. “It’s very difficult for marketers to dissociate a food brand from any specific negative association,” Prof Singh explains. “Once those associations form, they tend to linger.” As a result, Super Bowl food advertising remains overwhelmingly positive, often grounded in familiarity rather than provocation. Brands tie themselves to the rituals of the event rather than trying to shock their way into relevance. “American football has a strong association with American identity. The Super Bowl is the finale of the season, and the rituals around it play a significant role in how brands develop their campaigns.” Established brands reinforce trust by leaning into that symbolism. Newer brands, meanwhile, use game-day rituals as a shortcut to cultural relevance – positioning themselves alongside shared plates and watch parties rather than courting backlash. The biggest shift, Prof Singh argues, isn’t whether brands advertise during the Super Bowl, but how they define success when they do. “With advances in analytics, AI and supply chain technology, brands can track the impact of promotions before, during and after the game,” he says. That has turned the Super Bowl into something closer to a system than a moment – linking packaging, pricing, instore execution and social amplification. “The TV spot is no longer the endpoint,” Prof Singh says. “It’s the opening act.” Short-form platforms now extend campaigns well beyond game night, while retail execution determines whether attention converts into sales. “Traditional and digital media are merging. The Super Bowl still plays a critical role – just not in isolation anymore.” In a marketing landscape obsessed with speed, the Super Bowl’s power lies in its refusal to rush. It slows attention down, pulls people together and anchors brands to shared experience. That kind of brand power is harder to measure – and harder to replace.

Why the Super Bowl still delivers what TikTok can’t for food brand power

In a marketing culture obsessed with speed and efficiency, Southern Connecticut State University associate professor Amit Singh argues the Super Bowl exposes an uncomfortable truth about how real brand power is actually built

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