Brands spent $253 million on celebrity talent for the 2025 Super Bowl. A 35% increase from 2020. 92 celebrities spread across 28 ensemble ads. More stars, more budget, more noise.
And the result: Brand Recall dropped to a record-low 77%.
System1, the firm that pre-tests every Super Bowl ad, published the number nobody wants to hear: nearly one in four viewers can’t match the ad they watched to the brand that paid for it. The industry is spending more than ever on visibility and getting less than ever in memory.
This article isn’t about the Super Bowl. It’s about a problem affecting every brand that produces content: the difference between being seen and being remembered. And about the framework the most effective campaigns in the world use to cross that line.
The Brand Recall crisis: more spend, less memory
The problem has a name and it has data.
Diane Sayler, Senior Director of Full Funnel Marketing at Mars Snacking, put it with brutal honesty: “One of the worst possible things that can happen to a Super Bowl marketer is the audience remembers your celebrity or your song or your ad concept, but not your brand.”
That’s exactly what’s happening at industrial scale:
| Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Brand Fluency (recall) in 2026 Super Bowl pre-test | 77% (record low) |
| Celebrity talent spend (2020) | $187 million |
| Celebrity talent spend (2025) | $253 million (+35%) |
| Ads with multiple celebrity casts (2025) | 28 ads |
| Total celebrities in those ads | 92 |
| % of Super Bowl ads featuring celebrities (2025) | ~61% |
Jon Evans from System1 found a data point that should change how we think about celebrity advertising: “Brands that lean into familiar assets score on average a full point higher on System1’s scale than ads with celebrities in them.”
In other words: Mr. P (Pringles’ mascot) generates more recall than Ben Affleck. GEICO’s Gecko generates more recall than Matthew McConaughey. Brand-owned assets that are inseparable from the brand’s identity consistently outperform interchangeable celebrities.
The obvious question: if the data proves this, why does the industry keep doing the same thing?
Because they confuse attention with memory. Because a star-studded cast generates press headlines. Because the CEO wants to meet the celebrity. Because “what if the competition has someone bigger?” is a fear stronger than any recall data.
But there’s another way. And it has a framework.
The “Content as Entertainment” framework: 4 principles
Campaigns that audiences remember, share, and correctly associate with the brand share four characteristics. They’re not accidental. They’re design decisions.
Principle 1: Product as character, not prop
In most celebrity ads, the product appears at the end. It’s a prop. An object the star holds in the last 3 seconds. You could swap the brand for any competitor and the ad would work the same.
In campaigns that work, the product is a character in the story. It doesn’t just appear. It acts. It has a narrative role without which the story can’t exist.
The difference is structural:
| Model | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Celebrity as image | Ben Affleck appears in a Dunkin’ ad. It’s funny. What were they selling? | The celebrity eclipses the brand |
| Product as character | Sabrina Carpenter builds a boyfriend out of Pringles. Mr. P tells her “Build him.” | You can’t remember the ad without remembering Pringles |
When the product is a character, recall becomes automatic. It requires no cognitive effort. The brand is encoded in the narrative.
Principle 2: Authentic creative alignment
It’s not enough for the celebrity to be famous. You need their pre-existing creative universe to organically align with what your brand represents.
This means:
- The celebrity’s tone matches the brand’s tone
- The celebrity’s personal narrative extends the brand’s story
- The collaboration feels like a natural extension, not a transaction
The filter question: Would this person create content like this even if they weren’t getting paid?
If the answer is no, it’s an endorsement. If the answer is yes, it’s an authentic collaboration.
Principle 3: The entertainment test
This is the simplest and hardest principle to pass:
Would your audience choose to watch this content voluntarily?
Not as an ad. Not because it played before their YouTube video. Not because the algorithm put it in their feed. Would they search for it? Would they share it? Would they watch it again?
If your branded content doesn’t pass this test, it’s an ad. It might be a good ad. But it’s not entertainment. And in an era where audiences have total control over what they consume, the difference between “content that interrupts” and “content people choose” is the difference between being forgotten and being remembered.
Principle 4: Cultural timing as amplifier
The best content in the world, published at the wrong time, has a fraction of the impact. Cultural timing isn’t accidental. It’s strategy.
This means:
- Identifying the cultural moments your audience is already experiencing
- Aligning your launch with those moments, not against them
- Building an anticipation ramp (teasers, social rollout) that capitalizes on existing attention
Cultural timing turns a campaign into a cultural moment. Without it, it’s an ad with good execution. With it, it’s part of the conversation.
The Pringles x Sabrina Carpenter case: all 4 principles in action
Pringles’ “Pringleleo” Super Bowl LX ad isn’t an accidental viral hit. It’s the most precise execution of these four principles we’ve seen in recent advertising.
The concept: a boyfriend made of Pringles
The 30-second spot opens with Carpenter complaining to a friend: “I’m so tired of boys. I need a man.” Mr. P, Pringles’ mascot, whispers from the can: “Build him.”
What follows is an absurdist romance montage: Carpenter and her boyfriend built from stacked Pringles share romantic dinners, convertible road trips, a kiss cam moment (where his head crumbles mid-kiss), and lazy mornings in bed. The romance ends when fans devour Pringleleo at a red carpet event. Carpenter picks up a surviving crisp, takes a bite, and shrugs. She can always rebuild him.
Principle 1 in action: the product IS the story
You can’t tell the “Pringleleo” story without Pringles. The can, the stackable shape of the crisps, Mr. P as plot catalyst, the act of stacking as narrative mechanic: everything is product. The product doesn’t appear at the end. The product IS the ad.
Diane Sayler said it explicitly: the biggest risk in Super Bowl marketing is that audiences remember the celebrity but not the brand. “Pringleleo” neutralizes that risk entirely.
Principle 2 in action: creative alignment impossible to fabricate
Sabrina Carpenter wasn’t chosen randomly. She was the only possible choice:
- Her #1 hit “Manchild” contains the lyric “And I like my men all incompetent” — a line that practically wrote the creative brief for building a boyfriend out of snack chips
- Her career is defined by flirtatious wit, romantic commentary laced with double entendres, and a self-aware comedic sensibility
- In February 2017, a 17-year-old Carpenter tweeted: “Is there a way to look attractive while eating Pringles asking for a friend.” Nine years later, she’s the face of the brand’s biggest campaign
Production decisions reinforced the authenticity:
- Directors were Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia (Iconoclast), the same duo behind Carpenter’s “Manchild” music video
- The spot was shot on film (a first for Pringles), as a nod to Carpenter’s retro aesthetic
- Carpenter chose her own favorite teaser (the “He loves me, he loves me not” Pringles-petal clip), which happened to align with the creative team’s top pick
- The dialogue was written “in her own voice,” according to BBDO
Dan Kelly, BBDO’s Executive Creative Director: “Her name came up immediately — not only because she’s a wildly talented megastar (and a single one, at that), but mostly because of her incredibly unique personality and subversive sense of humor.”
Principle 3 in action: content audiences choose to watch
Pre-launch data proves the audience treated this as entertainment, not advertising:
| Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| TikTok teaser likes (@teamsabrina) | 562,800+ |
| TikTok teaser comments | 2,558+ |
| New Pringles Instagram followers (January 2026) | 26,000+ |
| Clio’s Ad of the Week ranking | #1 (beating Emma Stone/Squarespace, Adrien Brody/TurboTax, George Clooney/Grubhub) |
| Estimated Super Bowl audience | 127+ million |
The audience didn’t just watch the ad. They searched for it, shared it, created memes about Pringleleo’s death (“You’re laughing, Sabrina Carpenter’s husband just got murdered in front of her and you’re laughing”), and generated separate media cycles about Carpenter’s outfit changes.
That’s not an ad. That’s entertainment.
Principle 4 in action: cultural timing as catalyst
The campaign sits at the intersection of several cultural currents:
The Taylor Effect: Mars explicitly cited the Swift/Kelce relationship and the surge in female NFL viewership as strategic context. Carpenter opened for Swift’s Eras Tour from August 2023 through March 2024. She belongs to the same cultural ecosystem.
The Grammy-to-Super Bowl pipeline: Carpenter performed “Manchild” at the 68th Grammy Awards on February 1 — exactly one week before the Super Bowl. The Grammy → Super Bowl arc created a perfect cultural ramp.
The multi-week teaser strategy:
- January 14: first teaser
- January-February: progressive social rollout
- February 3: full ad published
- February 8: Super Bowl broadcast
Four waves of engagement instead of a single moment. A campaign arc that turned weeks of anticipation into cultural capital.
Carpenter’s trajectory: From “Espresso” in April 2024 (73 million streams in the first half of 2022 to 1.9 billion in the first half of 2025), through SNL, two consecutive #1 albums, $29 million in earnings per Forbes, and ~108 million social media followers. Pringles captured Carpenter at the exact point of cultural inflection.
Anti-patterns: what doesn’t work
The ensemble cast trap
Dunkin’ used Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, and Jason Alexander. Uber Eats used Matthew McConaughey, Bradley Cooper, and Parker Posey. 28 Super Bowl ads used multi-celebrity casts with 92 total stars.
The problem: the more celebrities you add, the harder it becomes for the audience to associate the ad with your brand. The celebrities compete with each other for attention. The product gets relegated to a cameo in its own advertising.
The “swappable brand” test
Take any celebrity ad and ask yourself: If I swap the brand for a competitor, does the ad work the same?
If the answer is yes, your brand is interchangeable. You’re paying for attention that doesn’t generate recall. That’s the worst possible ROI in advertising.
In “Pringleleo,” swap Pringles for any other snack brand and the ad collapses. You can’t stack Doritos to build a boyfriend. You can’t have Lay’s mascot whisper “Build him.” The product shape, the mascot, the stacking mechanic: it’s all exclusively Pringles.
Common LATAM market pitfalls
In Latin American markets, there are additional traps:
- Copying US campaigns without cultural adaptation. What resonates with American audiences doesn’t necessarily work in Mexico, Colombia, or Argentina
- Assuming a global celebrity has the same weight in every market. The impact of a Hollywood star vs. a regional idol can be completely different
- Ignoring local cultural moments. Liga MX, Latin Grammys, Festival de Viña del Mar: these are LATAM’s “Super Bowls” with their own timing logic
Practical checklist for brand managers
Before greenlighting your next celebrity campaign, run through these 5 questions:
1. Does the product have a narrative role or does it just appear?
If the product only shows up in the last 3 seconds, it’s not a character. It’s a prop. Redesign the campaign so the product is inseparable from the story.
2. Does the ad work the same if you swap the brand?
Apply the swappable brand test. If you can substitute your brand for a competitor and the ad doesn’t change, your campaign has a recall problem.
3. Does the celebrity extend your story or just attract attention?
Look for authentic alignment: tone, personal narrative, aesthetic, audience. If the only reason to choose the celebrity is that “they’re famous,” you’re buying attention without memory.
4. Would your audience choose to watch this voluntarily?
The entertainment test. If your content doesn’t pass this filter, it’s interruption. In the scroll era, interruption gets ignored.
5. Are you capitalizing on a cultural moment or publishing into the void?
Map your audience’s cultural moments. Align your campaign with them. Build an anticipation ramp. Timing isn’t luck. It’s the difference between a campaign and a cultural moment.
LATAM applications: cultural moments you can capitalize on
The “Content as Entertainment” framework isn’t exclusive to the Super Bowl. LATAM has cultural moments with massive audiences that most brands underutilize:
Liga MX and regional football: Playoffs, derbies, and finals generate attention spikes comparable to the Super Bowl in their markets. A brand that integrates its product into the football narrative (not as a jersey sponsor, but as a character in the story) has a massive opportunity.
Latin Grammys and music festivals: The Grammy→Super Bowl pipeline Pringles capitalized on has its equivalent: Latin Grammys → regional festivals → seasonal campaigns. Latin musical talent has intense, loyal fanbases.
Holidays with strong cultural identity: Dia de Muertos in Mexico, Carnival in Brazil, national holidays across every country. These are moments when audiences are emotionally open and culturally active. A campaign that understands the cultural moment (rather than using it as decoration) has an edge.
The reggaeton and urban music phenomenon: Bad Bunny, Karol G, Peso Pluma: artists with global audiences and strong personal narratives. The “Taylor Effect” has its LATAM equivalents. Who is the Sabrina Carpenter of your market?
Deep dives into each dimension of the framework
This article is the complete framework. But each component has depth worth dedicated exploration:
The Brand Recall Crisis → Why does $253 million in celebrity talent produce the lowest recall in history? Full data, the overshadowing effect, and the checklist for avoiding advertising’s most expensive mistake.
Product as Character vs. Celebrity as Image → Detailed anatomy of the two models of celebrity advertising. How Pringles built their playbook and how you can build yours.
The Taylor Effect, the Grammy Pipeline, and Cultural Timing → The complete timeline of how Pringles turned a campaign into a cultural moment. The Taylor Effect, Carpenter’s trajectory, and how to apply cultural timing to your brand.
From Framework to Execution
Knowing the framework is the first step. Executing it requires a team that understands how to turn cultural data into content strategy, and strategy into pieces your audience chooses to consume.
At Mazkara Studio we build content-entertainment for founders and executives. We don’t produce ads. We produce content that functions as entertainment:
- Content-entertainment strategy. We identify your audience’s cultural moments, the authentic alignment between your brand and the right creators, and design campaigns where your product is a character, not a prop.
- Content in your voice. Executive ghostwriting that captures your unique perspective and turns it into pieces audiences choose to consume.
- Distribution through owned channels. Newsletters, social content, and lead magnets that don’t depend on algorithms to reach your audience.
Want to apply this framework to your brand?
At Mazkara Studio we help executives and companies produce content audiences choose to watch, not content they tolerate as interruption. Get your free consultation to design your content-entertainment strategy.
Related resources:
- The Brand Recall Crisis in the Celebrity Era
- Product as Character vs. Celebrity as Image
- The Taylor Effect and Cultural Timing
- The Zero-Click Era: AI Is Answering for You
Want your brand to produce content people choose to watch? At Mazkara Studio we design content-entertainment strategies for founders and executives. Get your free consultation →