After the Whistle: What Big Game TV Ads Can Teach Us about Experiential Marketing

Every year, brands show up to the Super Bowl with their biggest swings. Big budgets. Big celebrities. Big expectations.

And every year, the real conversation starts the second the spots end...not just about what people liked, but why they reacted the way they did. This year? Same story, different commercials.

Some sparked emotion. Others went for laughs. A few divided the room entirely.

But here's what actually stood out: how fast people went from watching to doing.

Texting friends. Posting takes. Remixing moments. Arguing about intent.

The shift isn't subtle. Big Game ads aren't about thirty seconds of airtime anymore. They're about what happens after those thirty seconds are over. The ones that land don't just get watched. They get activated.

And that's the difference between being remembered and being scroll fodder by Monday morning.

So... Why Should Experiential Marketers Care?

Because shareability isn't magic. It's a design choice.

The ads that "won" didn't win because they were louder or shinier. They won because they gave people something to do...a way to participate, react, and in some cases, take a side.

Same goes for brand experiences. The ones you remember don't just ask you to interact. They also trigger an instinctive response, inspire a share, or quietly make everyone else feel late to the party.

Here's how to design for that:

1. People don't share experiences. They share opinions about experiences.

Design for tension. A surprising idea. An emotional gut-punch that lingers. If there's no point of view baked in, there's nothing for people to pass along.

Give them something to say, not just something to see.

2. Participation should feel like a reflex, not a requirement.

Not instructed. Not gamified within an inch of its life. Just instinctive.

Ask yourself: What moment would make someone pull out their phone without being prompted? Where would they want to capture, comment, or share? If you have to tell people to participate, you've already lost them.

3. If you weren't there, would you wish you had been?

This is the test.

If the answer is yes, you've designed participation—and shareability—into the DNA of the experience.

If not? It's just a moment. And moments without meaning don't travel.

The Bottom Line

Big Game ads have already trained audiences to expect more than a message.

They expect a moment worth reacting to.

So if your experience doesn't give people a reason to respond don't wonder why no one's talking about it...you didn't give them anything to say.