Scoring an advertising touchdown: Super Bowl 2025 marketing lessons for Hong Kong events

Super Bowl 2025 offered valuable lessons for brands, particularly those in Hong Kong.

At this year’s Super Bowl, brands found themselves in a high-stakes showdown to capture audiences’ attention with their adverts during the intervals. 

Despite the geographic distance, the event generated significant excitement in Hong Kong, where audiences gathered to watch the game. 

As always, the annual event was not just the pinnacle of American football, but a prime opportunity for companies to showcase their creativity and marketing prowess. Often the subject of hot debate, offerings from Uber Eats and Google Gemini were just some of the adverts reigning supreme this year, with plenty of celebrity endorsement, popular culture references, and humour.

This year's sporting event offered valuable lessons for brands, particularly those in Hong Kong. As the city anticipates  major sports events, including the official launch of the Kai Tak Sports Park, and confirmed summer visits from top European football teams including AC Milan, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur, let's explore how brands can leverage these learnings to enhance their advertising and marketing strategies for these exciting opportunities.

Score a touchdown in seconds
The Super Bowl is the definition of a prime-time opportunity in the US. Brands have to ‘get it right on the night’ – especially given the cost implications of such ad spend. As of 2025, a 30-second Super Bowl commercial costs US$8m. 

With consumer interest often fleeting and brands up against fierce competition, Super Bowl adverts demonstrate the importance of capturing attention within the first few seconds – something Stella Artois, Squarespace, and Jeep accomplished this year. 

But, it’s not just about grabbing attention, it’s about keeping it. After all, we’ve all become accustomed to the usual trope of utilising A-List celebrity names, so much so that this in itself is no longer enough to keep our attention.   

This applies to everyday marketing strategies, too. If tactics fail to engage from the outset, the viewers may skip or swipe away, rendering the rest of the ad ineffective, and even damaging brand reputation (and as we have seen all too frequently, a celebrity endorsement could end up doing more harm than good). 

To fully capitalise on the opportunity and make a lasting impression, brands must leverage captivating visuals, compelling narratives, and targeted messaging from the very first second. 

Michelob ULTRA's ad, featuring Catherine O'Hara and Willem Dafoe in a surprising pickleball showdown, successfully captured and held viewers' attention with its playful and unexpected approach. Whilst the US and Hong Kong markets differ, the fundamental goal of grabbing audience attention from the outset is equally critical for Hong Kong marketers.

Go big or go home
Super Bowl adverts are known for pushing the creative boundaries of traditional advertising in an attempt to appeal to the masses. Indeed, many well-known consumer brands have been established through advocacy, passion, and innovation.
Slogans like “Just Do It” and “Have It Your Way” are instantly recognisable due to their powerful branding.  

The same goes for widely-recognised brands like Disney Plus, whose ‘What If’ Super Bowl ad proposed a world without its beloved film and TV series references, or Häagen-Dazs, who reimagined a ‘Fast and Furious’ scene as ‘not so fast, not so furious’ thanks to their frozen treats. But the success of these ads doesn’t come from excellent data usage, targeting, or personalising website experiences. 

Numerous consumer brands have minimal customer data and depend on creativity to express their values, connect with a diverse audience, and achieve widespread appeal. It’s all about creating a unifying moment that resonates.

These brands leverage the Super Bowl’s massive viewership to showcase their unique brand identities, often creating commercials that are entertaining, memorable, and emotionally resonant, while drawing on references that appeal to the masses.  

The learning? Creative, clever advertising tactics and recognisable cultural reference points will never grow old when it comes to establishing brand recognition. However, to truly stand out and avoid repeating the same A-list formula, brands must ensure featured celebrities have a strong link to the product that truly drives brand advocacy. 

The advertisement by Marriott International during the 2018 Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is a strong example of being creative and recognisable. Featuring French rugby legend Sébastien Chabal in a humorous French maid outfit acting as a human alarm clock, the ad effectively promoted their "Bonjour" pilot programme in a playful and engaging manner. 
 

Data: The MVP of marketing
But what happens next? Whilst Super Bowl adverts are known for their ability to connect with wide audiences, they miss the opportunity to create a hyper-targeted message that resonates with viewers on an individual basis. 

Whilst there’s a time and a place for advertising creativity, leading brands also recognise the value of data-driven tools, and how they can form part of a long-term engagement strategy. That’s where personalised follow-up campaigns enter the picture. Indeed, brands must leverage the first-party customer data insights at their disposal post-Super Bowl to gain an in-depth insight into their audience base, and provide dynamic marketing messages tailored to the recipient after the fact. 

This involves analysing viewer engagement across different platforms to measure interaction and engagement with the ad, as well as the conversions they generate. This will shed light on what resonates with different audiences, who to target – and how – post-ad. 

Chelsea, an English football club with a substantial fanbase in Hong Kong, has achieved exactly this. The club gained comprehensive insights into its global audience, enabling it to deliver more personalised experiences whether online or offline, backed by rich data.  

Leveraging first-party customer data is crucial, as many brands have shifted to using primarily or exclusively first-party data for marketing. Brands are increasingly recognising it as the most valuable, relevant, and accurate source for building customer insights.

Creating resonance is the key for consumer brands to achieve success. As the main sponsor of Rugby Sevens, this year’s campaign by Cathay was a huge success. The brand arranged a nostalgic fly-past over Victoria Harbour, which marked the Sevens rugby tournament's inaugural return to Kai Tak, the city's former airport.

Brands can then deliver personalised adverts and marketing messages that are both relevant and meaningful to viewers, yet with the same integrated message from the original Super Bowl ad. This not only maximises engagement, but ultimately fosters long-term customer loyalty far beyond the Super Bowl itself.

The takeaway? 
The integration of data-driven insights with creative advertising tactics allows brands to achieve a balance between broad appeal and individual relevance. By combining communications platforms, customer insights, and artificial intelligence, Hong Kong brands can also achieve personalisation at scale in upcoming mega sporting events interactions too.