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February 6, 2026
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6 minute read

Superbowl Marketing Lessons for B2B

Author: Christina Clark

Every year, the Super Bowl becomes marketing’s most analyzed moment. Millions are spent. Millions are watching. And countless opinions follow about which ads “won.”

For B2B and mid-sized businesses, however, the Super Bowl isn’t a playbook to copy because the budgets, scale, and context are completely different from your reality. But it does reveal truths about what works and what fails in marketing when spectacle outpaces strategy.

 

Spectacle Is Easy to Admire. Strategy Is Harder to See.

The most effective Super Bowl campaigns rarely try to do everything at once. They do one thing exceptionally well.

They:

  • Know exactly who they’re for
  • Commit to a clear, singular idea
  • Trust repetition and consistency—not novelty alone—to drive recall

Decades of ad campaign research show that long-term business growth is driven less by constant reinvention and more by consistent, emotionally resonant messaging that builds memory over time.

And yet, this is often where the Super Bowl lesson gets misread—by focusing on the what of execution rather than the why behind it. Celebrity cameos, cinematic production, and shock value take center stage, while the strategy beneath becomes an afterthought.

A useful example is Squarespace’s black-and-white Super Bowl spot “Unavailable,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone. Visually striking and unmistakably high-brow, the ad leans heavily into Lanthimos’ signature absurdism, with Stone unraveling over the discovery that her desired domain name has already been taken. The message lands with a single line: “Get your domain before you lose it.”

The challenge isn’t the craft, it’s the clarity. The spot assumes cultural fluency with both the director’s aesthetic and Stone’s recent collaborations, narrowing its resonance. More importantly, it never clearly communicates how or why Squarespace helps customers secure a domain, or what differentiates the platform in a competitive market. The result is advertising that definitely stands out for its execution but is less effective at building durable understanding or preference.

By contrast, Dove’s Super Bowl LX (2026) spot “The Game Is Ours,” developed with Ogilvy, shows what happens when strategy leads and creative follows. The 30-second ad centers on a powerful insight: one in two girls quit sports by age 14 due to body confidence and criticism. Rather than amplifying spectacle, Dove shifts the focus from how girls’ bodies look to what they can do, reinforcing the idea that their joy—and capability—is louder than criticism.

There’s no celebrity-driven hype or overproduction. Instead, the ad features real girls in high-energy, authentic sports environments—football, swimming, MMA—rooted in lived experience rather than performance. Crucially, this isn’t a one-off moment. “The Game Is Ours” marks Dove’s third consecutive Super Bowl appearance, reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Self-Esteem Project. Partnerships with the Body Confident Sport program further anchor the message in credibility and continuity. And, by airing during the second quarter, the campaign deliberately places a girls-first message into a male-dominated cultural moment, reinforcing Dove’s commitment through both content and context. Even the call to action—“Your purchase supports the Dove Body Confident Sport program”—connects awareness directly to impact.

The takeaway isn’t that businesses should avoid beautiful creative. It’s that craft amplifies strategy—it can’t substitute for it. When clarity, consistency, and commitment lead, marketing doesn’t just get attention. It builds momentum.

The contrast is instructive for B2B and mid-sized businesses. One campaign prioritizes visual impact and cultural credibility, while leaving its core message unclear. The other prioritizes consistency, relevance, and strategic follow-through, using creativity to reinforce a message audiences already recognize and trust.

The takeaway isn’t that businesses should avoid beautiful creative. It’s that craft amplifies strategy—it can’t substitute for it. When clarity, consistency, and commitment lead, marketing doesn’t just get attention. It builds momentum.

Why Spectacle Breaks Down for Mid-Sized Businesses

For organizations without massive budgets, spectacle can quickly become a liability.

A big, attention-grabbing moment without strategic follow-through often leads to:

  • Short-lived spikes in awareness
  • Fragmented messaging across channels
  • Creative that feels disconnected from pipeline, revenue, or positioning

In other words: investment without strategy.

This mirrors what the LinkedIn B2B Institute has repeatedly highlighted—B2B buying decisions are shaped over time, not in moments. Brand recognition, not immediacy, is what drives preference when buyers are finally in-market.

Mid-sized businesses lose when they chase attention without a clear, consistent message.

 

The Real Super Bowl Lesson for B2B: Discipline Beats Volume

What actually translates from the Super Bowl to B2B marketing is discipline.

Discipline in choosing:

  • A point of view you can sustainably own
  • A message you’re willing to repeat over quarters—not weeks
  • A strategy that connects brand building and demand generation, rather than treating them as separate efforts

Research consistently reinforces this idea: businesses that align long-term brand strategy with near-term execution outperform those chasing short-term performance metrics alone.

The strongest businesses aren’t reacting to every cultural moment. They’re building brand equity deliberately, with creative that fits into a broader strategic arc.

 

Playing a Different Game as a Mid-Sized Business

Mid-sized businesses shouldn’t aspire to look like Super Bowl advertisers.
They should aspire to think like them.

That means:

  • Designing campaigns that ladder back to long-term growth objectives
  • Sequencing marketing efforts so each initiative builds on the last
  • Investing in clarity before creativity

When strategy leads, execution follows, and compounds over time. The Super Bowl may last one night but the businesses that win are playing a much longer game.

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