On the weekend, during the Super Bowl, brands made us laugh. They made us cry. They made us feel. They reminded us what advertising can be when we let it. Since then, they've already gone back to interrupting our YouTube videos about how to fold fitted sheets.
The question here isn't why Super Bowl ads are good, or which ones this year were good - there's plenty of that in your feed here (including and especially from the System1 charlatans who link facial reactions to effectiveness... ugh). The question is why advertising isn't better on the other 364 days a year.
I've spent my career on both sides of the Atlantic and in Asia, leading marketing for global brands and agencies. The contrast is striking. At the dire risk of sounding like a UK ad snob (reminder: I am Australian, so please don't read this with 'British Planner Voice' in your head…) in the UK, retailers like John Lewis, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer create advertising magic year-round. Yes, Christmas is their Super Bowl moment, but it's a peak in a mountain range, not a solitary tower in a flat landscape. When John Lewis releases their Christmas ad, it's not exceptional because of the budget. It's exceptional because it's John Lewis, and that's what people expect. They've earned the right to that moment through years of creative consistency. This isn't about market size or budgets. Britain is a smaller market with smaller budgets. But they've maintained a creative standard that doesn't need a special occasion to be brave. Why is it different in the US?
This isn't about budgets. It's about permission. In fact something of a paradox in permission.
When brands invest $7 million in a Super Bowl spot, something fascinating happens. It's not just the media budget that expands – it's the creative ambition. Suddenly, brave ideas don't seem so scary. Long-term brand building doesn't feel so risky. Making people feel something becomes as important as making them click something.
But here's the thing: it's not really about the money. It's about the moment. The same budgets spent on programmatic or social rarely deliver memorable work. The "safety" of the reach of the Super Bowl actually enables bravery.
Think about that for a moment. We've created a system where creativity needs a permission slip that has a seven and six zeros.
The Beautiful Excuse
The Super Bowl has become advertising's annual conscience cleanse. One day of excellence becomes an alibi for 364 days of algorithmic thinking. We've convinced ourselves that "good" advertising is a special occasion, not a standard to maintain.
When a CMO presents Super Bowl work to their CEO, they lead with the creative. They talk about emotion, about cultural impact, about making people feel something. Every other day, they hide behind metrics, behind efficiency, behind "data-driven" decisions that drive engagement but not emotion.
We've built an industry that measures everything except what matters. The platforms have convinced us that "good enough" content at scale beats "exceptional" content occasionally. They're wrong. We've replaced creative directors with algorithms and wonder why everything feels soulless.
The real transformation isn't about technology or budgets. It's about mindset. We need to move from a world where creativity needs permission to one where mediocrity needs an explanation.
The real cost of great advertising isn't the media budget.
It's the courage budget.
Every Super Bowl ad proves that American marketers know exactly what good looks like. They know how to make people feel something. They know how to entertain while they sell. They know how to respect their audience's intelligence.
They just need to stop waiting for permission to show it.
Here's how we break free:
Stop treating creativity like a special occasion and start treating mediocrity like a crisis
Build systems that reward brave thinking every day, not just on special occasions
Measure what matters – not just what's easy to count
Create your own moments of cultural relevance
Respect your audience every day, not just when you're paying $7 million to reach them
The tools for transformation are at hand. What's missing isn't capability – it's courage.
The Super Bowl isn't a showcase of what's possible. It's a reminder of what we accept the rest of the year.
The real waste in advertising isn't the $7 million Super Bowl spot. It's the 364 days of missed opportunities that follow it. It's all the times we chose safe over brave, metrics over magic, efficiency over effectiveness.
Stop waiting for permission to be good. Start apologising for being bad.
The next time someone asks about the ROI of making people feel something, show them the Super Bowl. Then ask them why that thinking only applies one day a year.
Brandflow is written by Justin Billingsley, who has spent his career on all three sides of the industry's table: senior client, global agency leader, technology founder. First published 12 February 2025 in the Brandflow newsletter on LinkedIn.