Editor’s Note: Barry Burdiak is an award-winning creative director at Chicago-based independent agency Schafer Condon Carter (SCC). With more than three decades in the agency world, Burdiak has built a career working primarily with Fortune 200 brands across categories, including packaged goods, quick-service restaurants, financial services, insurance, beverages, beer, and beyond.
There’s a persistent myth in Super Bowl advertising: winning requires going bigger every year – louder, more famous, more expensive. A-list celebrity, iconic song, seven ideas stitched together at warp speed so no one can look away.
It feels logical. But it’s also often wrong.
I’ve been in the trenches for 25 Super Bowl commercials. Between Budweiser and Bud Light, as a writer, CD, or GCD, I’ve been fortunate enough to land 17 of those in the USA Today Ad Meter Top 10. Three hit #1. I’m not sharing this to polish trophies; I’m sharing it because I’ve seen the so-called “formula” work for decades, yet every February in recent years, brilliant CMOs succumb to a multi-million-dollar panic attack.
The logic seems sound: if you’re dropping $7 million on a 30-second media buy, the creative has to be “big.” You need the A-list actor, the licensed stadium anthem, and enough CGI to make James Cameron blush. But here’s the truth: you’re overspending on fireworks because you’re afraid of the dark.
For almost 20 straight years, the Ad Meter was dominated by a decade-long Pepsi run followed by a decade-long Anheuser-Busch run. They didn’t win by outspending the field; they won by often using a “lay-up” formula that’s been strangely neglected lately.
The Blueprint: Human Truth + Product Trigger
The secret isn’t high-concept sci-fi; it’s everyday, relatable humor rooted in a fundamental human truth, where the product drives the story. Think Pepsi’s “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (look it up – one surveillance camera shot).) That same blueprint was used for half a dozen Bud Light winners.
To create a truly memorable spot, you have to go deeper. Lean into human flaws. The most memorable Super Bowl characters aren’t perfect – they’re often driven by the Seven Deadly Sins. (Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wraith, Pride, Lust and Gluttony) When a character hides a beer from friends (Greed) or is too lazy to answer the door (Sloth), audiences see themselves. The product isn’t just “there” – it becomes the catalyst for beautifully flawed behavior.
The Challenger Advantage
This is where a “challenger brand” mindset comes in. Most people think being a challenger is about being the small guy. It’s not. It’s about refusing to rely on lazy, big-budget levers. The frenetic fireworks show favored by many advertisers today is defensive – it’s what you do when you don’t have a clear human insight to lean on.
The challenger mindset turns that fear into an advantage. Be more human, more agile, more honest than the giant next to you. Winning the Ad Meter doesn’t require a $5 million cameo that people forget by Tuesday. It requires the courage to be simple and the guts to be a little “sinful.” Find a human truth, let your product be the hero, and you aren’t just running an ad – you’re making a connection.
The media spend is fixed. What you do with the production budget is either an investment in a story or insurance for a lack of ideas. Stop panicking. Take the lay-up.
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Barry Burdiak is an award-winning creative director at Chicago-based independent agency Schafer Condon Carter (SCC).
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