Svedka to make Super Bowl ad debut in 2026

When people think of the Super Bowl, they might picture beer and quarterbacks. But during the second half of the 2026 game, spirits company Sazerac will make its Super Bowl ad debut with something a little different: vodka and robots.

In between halftime and the third quarter, Svedka, the vodka brand Sazerac acquired from Constellation Brands earlier this year, plans to air an ad starring its brand mascot Fembot, who was revitalized this summer after about a decade in retirement. Robots also helped with the making of the ad: It was produced and animated with an assist from AI, according to Sazerac CMO Sara Saunders.

While some of the cast and creators of the campaign are robots, the goal is to spark real human emotions on advertising’s biggest stage as the Sazerac team looks to revive the Svedka brand while potentially introducing it to a new consumer base.

“The brand hasn’t had advertising for probably close to 10 years, and so we’ve got a lot of new consumers that will be introduced to the brand,” Saunders told Marketing Brew. “We want to make sure that they understand who the brand is, and that the brand engages them in a meaningful way that emotionally connects to them.”

Do the robot: Svedka’s first Super Bowl ad is a 30-second spot conceptualized by Sazerac’s in-house creative team and created in collaboration with San Francisco-based AI agency Silverside, which helped make Coca-Cola’s 2024 AI holiday ads. It stars Fembot, the robot brand mascot some might remember from Svedka ads of decades past, as well as a new character, BroBot. For the ad, Fembot will learn to dance, Saunders said, although she declined to share much more about the plot.

“We brought her back with AI because we felt like we needed to modernize, and there was something tongue-in-cheek about a robot being constructed in partnership with robots,” she said. “However, the way that we brought her back, and the reason she’s back, is to really remind us all to be human.”

Do it justice: The campaign that will accompany the spot features actress and singer Victoria Justice, who first rose to fame in the early 2000s while she was on the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101. In the lead-up to the Super Bowl, Svedka is working with Justice to encourage people of legal drinking age to submit dance moves on social media as part of a contest. Submissions, which could be used in the final Super Bowl ad, are open until Dec. 14, with a $10,000 cash prize for the winner, who Justice will help select.

Saunders and her team decided to work with Justice after an in-depth audit of potential influencer partners because of her performance chops, appreciation for cocktails and vodka, and “super engaged” fanbase, Saunders said.

“Many of her fans grew up alongside her, just like many of our fans grew up with Svedka,” she said. “We felt like there was a nice parallel in fanbases.”

As is the case with most Super Bowl ads, Saunders said she’s hoping to appeal to a broad audience, and particularly younger drinkers who might not yet have a strong perception of the Svedka brand. The brand will also track awareness and sales in the wake of the ad, she said.

Do it yourself: Prior to Sazerac’s acquisition, the Svedka brand “had experienced substantial decline,” Saunders told us, as Constellation’s wine and spirits portfolio as a whole struggled compared to its beer business. Since the acquisition, Svedka has started advertising again and has been “gaining substantial momentum,” Saunders said, which is why the Sazerac team decided to give it the Super Bowl stage.

The Super Bowl buy is not only a first for Svedka, but for Sazerac as a whole, although Saunders said her team has been considering a Super Bowl campaign since AB InBev’s decades-long run as the game’s exclusive alcohol advertiser expired in 2022. Svedka is the first vodka brand to advertise in the Super Bowl since at least 1989, though Crown Royal and Rémy Martin advertised in 2023. No liquor brands appeared in last year’s game, according to data from iSpot.

“When we acquired [Svedka], it felt like the right time to invest and really shake things up,” Saunders said. “We lovingly refer to it as the No. 1 vodka of 2055, and to get there, really we need to make some big bets.”