12/02/2026
What does R130 Million buy you in 2026? 💸
It buys you exactly 30 seconds.
The Super Bowl is the only time of year where “Nostalgia” competes directly with “The Future” for the world’s attention. And at R4.6 million per second, brands aren’t just buying airtime they are buying legitimacy.
We saw four distinct strategies for building that belief:
🌶️ The Viral Lore: Most brands run away from negative rumours. Fanatics and Kendall Jenner ran towards them. By betting against her own exes to monetise the “Kardashian Curse”, they didn’t just make a joke - they hijacked a decade of internet lore. Legitimacy today isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being in on the joke.
🎨 The Anti-Ad: In a sea of loud noises and bright colours, Squarespace went dark. They signalled that they aren’t just a tech tool - they are patrons of art. If you want to be taken seriously, stop acting like an ad and start acting like cinema.
🦅 The Safety Play: While AI brands fought for the future, Budweiser retreated to the safety of the past. 150 years of history, the horse, and the American eagle. It was a strategic retreat to comfort. They reminded us that while the world changes, they stay the same. In uncertain times, consistency is the ultimate currency.
💫 The Future Play: Anthropic targeted the competition’s weak point: explicitly attacking OpenAI’s ad model to position Claude as the only “premium” choice for serious work. They didn’t sell features. They sold philosophy. When a technology becomes a commodity, the brand becomes the deciding factor.
Swipe through for the Centric breakdown of who played it safe, who took a risk, and who actually got their money’s worth.
If you had R130m for 30 seconds, which strategy would you bet on?