A Look at Activations and Campaigns From Brands, Platforms, and Even the NFL
Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year not only for the National Football League and its fans, but also for the advertising and marketing community. Running an ad during the broadcast of the Big Game is the pinnacle of advertising, but it comes at a cost—roughly $8 million for a 30-second spot this year, to be exact.
Not only do creator marketing campaigns carry a significantly lower price tag—they also provide advantages over broad-sweeping television ads, including precise targeting, authenticity, and influencers’ existing relationships with their subscriber bases.
Several brands included creators in their Big Game efforts, and the social platforms that host their content got into the act, as did the NFL itself. Here is a look at some influencer marketing highlights from Super Bowl LIX.
Platforms
YouTube brought several of its top creators to New Orleans to document the event and share behind-the-scenes content and fresh perspectives. They included Kay Adams, Druski, IShowSpeed, Chanen and Juwan Johnson, Carter Kench, Monet McMicheal, MMG, and Kristy and Desmond Scott.
The platform also sponsored the Super Bowl LIX Flag Football Game, with participating influencers including Kai Cenat, Deestroying, Druski, IShowSpeed, Chanen and Juwan Johnson, Carter Kench, Khaby Lame, Monet McMichael, MMG, Mark Phillips, The Scotts, and Adam Waheed.
And Snapchat teamed up with the NFL on the NFL x Snapchat Creator Program, bringing Snap Stars creators such as Katie Austin, Jack Mancuso, Ross Smith, and Treasure Wilson to the “Big Easy” to share their experiences to Stories and Spotlight.
Those influencers also used augmented reality lenses created in partnership with the league to give their fans a new way to follow their exploits.
NFL
The league went big for its biggest event, bringing in more than 150 creators from across the globe and giving them access to areas that were previously off limits, so they can share behind-the-scenes content with their followers, as well as dedicated spaces.
Those influencers are not limited to sports, as the league’s “Creator of the Week” for the week of the Big Game was Wisdom Kaye, a fashion and lifestyle creator who focused on the athletes’ styles, the teams’ jerseys, and the outfits worn on the field.
The NFL also extended its Access Pass program to former players, giving them the chance to use official footage to jump-start their own media businesses.
Brands
- Fox: Open Influence led an activation supporting new reality competition series Extracted, which premiered the day after the Big Game. A total of 50 creators participated by sharing real-time reactions to the promo for Extracted, and the reality TV universe was well represented by stars including Arie Luyendyk (Bachelor, Bachelorette and Traitors), Colleen Reed (Love is Blind), and Alexandra Stewart (Love Island). Those influencers tapped popular TikTok formats like reaction videos and green screen edits.
- Democracy: Another OI effort involved Gracie Hunt, daughter of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, sharing her gameday looks, which featured jeans from Democracy, drawing coverage by Marca and Sports Illustrated.
- NerdWallet: Open Influence spearheaded a TikTok activation to amplify NerdWallet’s first-ever Super Bowl campaign, bringing its genius beluga whale—voiced by Kieran Culkin—beyond the commercial and into culture. By leveraging green screen interactions, trending sounds, and creator-led storytelling, we transformed the beluga into a viral sensation ahead of the Big Game. Creators engaged audiences with playful, interactive content, reinforcing the message that letting NerdWallet do the financial work for you is, in fact, genius.
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