The Most Memorable Social Media Marketing Campaigns of Super Bowl 2025

Super Bowl 2025 gave marketers examples of how brands connected advertising with social content. This retrospective examines creative approaches—including mascot storytelling, humor, and creator participation—and the questions they raise for future campaign planning.

The examples offer creative references rather than a performance ranking. Use them to consider what fits your audience, how your team will participate, and what you need to measure.

Super Bowl 2025 Campaign Context

Instacart’s 2025 “We’re Here” campaign brought grocery-brand mascots together around a delivery story. The company also announced game-week promotions and mascot deliveries, giving the campaign activity beyond its television spot. See Instacart’s January 30, 2025 announcement.

Social Content Approaches from Super Bowl 2025

The posts below offer examples to examine when planning event content. Assess the creative approach separately from its business results.

1. The Halftime Show Hijack

United Airlines’ embedded game-day post connects a visual reaction with an everyday travel experience. For your own brand, assess whether a cultural reference makes sense in the context of the product or service.

Planning lesson: Define response boundaries and an approval owner before the event.

2. Brand Banter & Clapbacks

The embedded Little Caesars post offers a reference for brand banter. When considering a collaboration, agree on the idea, permissions, and each brand’s role before creating the content.

Planning lesson: Make the connection between the brands clear to the audience.

3. The Anti-Advertisers

Skittles’ embedded February 9, 2025 post invites other brands to join its game-day conversation. A social post can offer a participation idea without establishing anything about the brand’s total advertising budget.

Planning lesson: Choose a participation idea that fits the brand’s personality and available resources.

4. The Legacy Moves

Dunkin’s embedded “coulda been a DunKing” post provides a reference for extending campaign ideas into social content. Plan follow-up material while developing the main creative concept.

Planning lesson: Decide what your team will publish after the event before the campaign launches.

Turn the examples into a campaign brief

• Define why your audience would want to hear from your brand during the event.
• Choose a creative approach that fits your voice, such as humor, creator storytelling, or collaboration.
• Assign a role to each channel and creator involved.
• Prepare response boundaries and identify the person who approves live content.
• Plan follow-up content before game day.
• Decide what evidence you will use to evaluate the campaign against its objective.

For a planning view across the event cycle, read our guide to pre-game, live, and post-game Super Bowl marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Does a brand need a TV ad to participate in Super Bowl marketing?

A brand can participate through its own social channels and creator content without buying a TV spot. Choose an idea that fits the audience and gives people a reason to engage.

How can brands use humor during the Super Bowl?

Choose a joke that fits the brand's voice and the context of the moment. Plan who can approve a response, and avoid treating every trending conversation as an invitation to participate.

How should marketers use the 2025 campaign examples?

Use the examples to compare creative approaches and plan your own campaign. They illustrate tactics; they do not establish which brand achieved the highest return on investment.

Plan Your Next Event Campaign

Start with the audience you want to reach and the role your brand can credibly play. Decide what your team will prepare in advance, how it will respond during the event, and what it will publish afterward.

Set the campaign objective and measurement approach before launch so the team can evaluate results beyond the volume of conversation.

Viral Nation’s social strategy services can help your team define the audience, channel roles, and measurement plan for its next event campaign.