Beer and the Super Bowl go together like a (Budweiser) horse and carriage.

But in 2026, four years after AB InBev’s 34-year reign as the exclusive alcohol advertiser of the game came to an end, screens across the country are set to be saturated with beverage ads of all kinds on Super Bowl Sunday.

AB InBev is still expected to dominate Super Bowl ad screentime, with two and a half minutes of ads planned across its Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Ultra brands, but the brewer is facing stiff competition from other segments of the beverage industry. In the hard-alcohol category, Svedka is joining the party as the first vodka brand to advertise in the Super Bowl since at least 1989, while Diageo brands Don Julio, Captain Morgan, and Smirnoff all have experiential campaigns planned around the game.

Further still, alcoholic beverage ads will bump up against commercials for drinks that might be more appealing to health- and hydration-conscious viewers, including brands like Liquid I.V., Liquid Death, and Poppi, as well as ads promoting healthier food options and weight-loss drugs.

With many Americans focused on fitness, fiber, and protein over beer and bowls of chips, it raises the question: Is there still room for beer on the Super Bowl stage?

Beer brand execs, as well as the results of last year’s Ad Meter, indicate there’s enduring interest in beer ads, but the legacy football advertisers will have to continue stepping up their game to crack through the noise on Super Bowl Sunday.

“The Super Bowl is a special stage for any brand,” Ricardo Marques, SVP of marketing for Michelob Ultra, told Marketing Brew. “Recognizing that, there’s always, in any given year, a lot going on, always many different brands bringing their very best creative work forward. That’s not lost on us.”

Continue reading here.—AM

Sometimes the obvious answer is the right answer. Case in point: If you’re making an ad about bananas, that ad should probably be, well, bananas.

That’s what the team behind Instacart’s second consecutive Super Bowl ad was thinking when they cooked up a 30-second spot that will air during the first quarter of the game. The ad, starring Ben Stiller and Benson Boone as a faux-’80s Europop duo, finds Stiller jockeying for attention after Boone lands one of his signature flips all while the pair sing a tune about how “Instacart lets you choose your bananas.” (Yes, those are the actual lyrics.)

“People watch it and they’re like, ‘That was bananas,’ and we’re like, ‘Yep, bananas, just how you like,’” Laura Jones, Instacart CMO, told Marketing Brew. “We love the double entendre of the comedy and kind of zaniness of it being bananas, but then also hitting the nail on the head. This is really just an ad about bananas.”

The wacky concept serves as a way for Instacart to communicate a new offering called Preference Picker, which allows customers to select additional details about the products they want delivered to them. And bananas are Instacart’s “most-commented” and “most-sold item,” per Jones, with 1.8 billion bananas sold and 32 million notes about how people want their bananas.

Read more here.—KM

Super Bowl viewers, prepare yourselves to be singing “Livin’ on a Prayer” all week next week.

State Farm, which won the USA Today Ad Meter in 2024 with its “Like a Good Neighbaaa” commercial featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, is back in the Super Bowl this year after sitting 2025 out. This time around, the insurance brand’s 60-second spot, centered around the Bon Jovi hit and another all-star cast, is meant to convince viewers that State Farm’s services are more than just halfway there, Head of Marketing Alyson Griffin said.

“We want customers to feel confident in their insurance,” she told Marketing Brew. “It’s a tricky, often misunderstood category, and we don’t want them to feel like they’re living on a prayer.”

Sing along: The ad parodies the 1986 hit song by introducing the fictional Halfway There Insurance company, with Keegan-Michael Key and Danny McBride playing questionably competent employees. They’re joined by Hailee Steinfeld, whose character is in the market for insurance, as well as the Grammy-nominated group KATSEYE.

The song not only anchors the plot of the campaign, but also makes sense for a Super Bowl ad considering its popularity across sports venues, Griffin said. Plus, she added, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the song’s release—and it’s an enduring crowd pleaser at any karaoke bar.

Continue reading here.—AM

Executive moves across the industry.

• Farmers Pick, a product box company, hired Natasha Aaron, DoorDash’s former director of marketing for Australia and New Zealand, as CMO.
• VML elevated Jason Xenopoulos to the role of CEO of New York and Mel Routhier to the role of North America chief creative officer.
• On, the Swiss apparel brand known for its running shoes, tapped Frank Sluis to serve as CFO.
• Droga5’s worldwide chief creative officer, Pelle Sjoenell, is leaving the agency to “pursue his next chapter,” a spokesperson told Ad Age.
• The Washington Post’s chief advertising officer, Johanna Mayer-Jones, is departing the paper, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported.