For the second straight year, USA TODAY Ad Meter has welcomed creative minds and future marketing and business management maestros from universities and colleges to weigh in on the national Super Bowl commercials. As part of the marketing spotlight program, the movers and shakers of tomorrow let their voices be heard today.
It’s an inaugural appearance for Texas Tech, a public research university located in Lubbock, Texas. The school had a group of students from several departments rate this year’s commercials in the Super Bowl’s national lineup.
How did the Red Raiders’ collective opinions compare to the overall Ad Meter ratings?
Texas Tech University steps into the Marketing Spotlight.
Texas Tech Top 5
1. Budweiser, “First Delivery”
2. Michelob Ultra, “The ULTRA Hustle”
3. Uber Eats, “Century of Cravings”
4. Lay’s, “The Little Farmer”
5. Bud Light, “Big Men on Cul-De-Sac”
Honorable mention: Google, “Dream Job”
Texas Tech Bottom 5
1. Coffee mate, “Foam Diva”
2. Tubi, “The Z-Suite”
3. Fetch: “The Big Reward”
4. Cirkul, “You Got Cirkul”
5. Hims and Hers, “Sick of the System”
What worked?
Like the overall Ad Meter ratings, the students gave Budweiser’s “First Delivery” the highest rating out of the 57 commercials — though it was a very close call with other brands in the top 5.
The group referenced the spot’s “tight storytelling” and “strong tradition,” while noting a long-embraced pivot from the current trends associated with Big Game ads.
“I think brands sometimes have an over-reliance on using celebrities, and this story is refreshing because every year it doesn’t do that,” said Isiah McDew (class of 2026).
However, celeb cameos were still very much part of creative conversation, with the students finding the right mix of relevancy and star power in the next two commercials.
On Michelob Ultra’s “The ULTRA Hustle” landing at the No. 2, Mary-Grace Gonzales (class of 2026) explained that “It targeted all generations, grabbed attention fast and kept it.”
Nathan Karseno (Strategic Sports Communication graduate student) added: “Yes, it was completely relevant to the contemporary pickleball craze, too.”
Matthew McConaughey and the Uber Eats’ creative entered the chat at No. 3, a campaign that Advertising student Adam Ramirez thought associated all the right elements of a winning spot.
“Uber Eats totally connected football to food, while appealing to so many niche groups with celebs in an authentic way,” said Ramirez.
Rounding out the top 5 were Lay’s and Bud Light, both top 10 brands in the overall Ad Meter ratings.
Lay’s, which stood out as one of the night’s biggest surprises, was another commercial the students liked for what the 60-second spot didn’t have as much as what it did spotlight.
“In ‘The Little Farmer’ ad, Lay’s showed us why they are different by showcasing that what makes them special are the common man,” Advertising student Dawn Franklin said before the in-room group who identify as Gen-Z launched into the discussion that led to McDew’s point about the over-reliance on celebrity endorsement.
Meanwhile, Bud Light’s “Big Men on a Cul-De-Sac” landed with the group “for its overall blend of what in essence were cameo appearances well used in the story of a neighborhood several students thought would be fun to live in.”
The tight race at the top also included an honorable mention, which turned the focus on Google’s 2025 campaign “Dream Job.”
In the fast-paced advertising landscape at the Super Bowl, where brand’s have mere seconds to make an impact, Ashley Snyder (grad student and Bullet/Ad Team advisor) made a key point that’s often echoed on the massive marketing stage: “I didn’t connect what product it was until [the other students] just reminded me.”
However, the overall sentiment carried praise for Google’s storytelling, with Advertising student Melanee Elizalde summing up the group’s overall feeling: “At the end of it, I wanted to just go home and hug my dad.”
What didn’t work?
As Ad Meter editorial has noted for many years, swings and misses are as common on advertising’s biggest stage as the marketing home run.
The Texas Tech students found the Coffee mate creative to be their least-favorable Super Bowl 59 ad of the night.
“It greatly disturbed me,” noted Courtney White (Strategic Sports Communication graduate student).
“Wow, what I’ve learned is how out-of-step I am with my own generation,” laughed Caleb Kostenki (Strategic Sports Communication graduate student) while enjoying another bite of the provided pizza.
On the 15-second spot from Tubi, Hannah Lawson (Advertising student, class of 2026) added: “Many commercials fell flat due to using buzz topics and hot celebrities, and the humor in the Tubi spot was forced, and they were terrible at targeting the right audience for the event.”
The other commercials in Texas Tech’s bottom 5 also failed to deliver a marketing punch worthy of the Big Game, with the students pointing out that Cirkul and Fetch touting “such a relatively small amount of something makes any brand seem cheap and unimportant.”
Lastly, the Hims and Hers creative, while touching on thoughtful, essential conversations toward being “Sick of the System,” also “concluded by promoting drug use and, no matter how beneficial those pharmaceuticals might be, the commercial felt tone deaf.”
About the Texas Tech marketing spotlight students
Future strategic content creators from the Texas Tech College of Media & Communication’s Graduate programs’ certificate in Sports Communication (SPCM) and undergraduate advertising students, all members of the nationally acclaimed Bullet/Ad team (2022 National Champions, AAF National Student Advertising Competition), met on campus following the big game to select the school’s choice for what they agreed were the best and worst commercials aired during actual game play during Super Bowl LIX.
USA TODAY Ad Meter would like to thank Texas Tech University for participating in the 2025 Marketing Spotlight, with a special note of gratitude to Jody Roginson.
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