H5game8

The Super Bowl is still the biggest stage in advertising, but the smartest brands aren’t treating it as a one-night spectacle. This year’s most effective campaigns show how the Big Game has become a credibility signal, one that feeds algorithms, extends digital momentum and builds trust through participation, purpose and follow-through.

Inman On Tour

Inman On Tour Nashville delivers insights, networking, and strategies for agents and leaders navigating today’s market.

The Super Bowl has fully reclaimed its place as the most influential moment in American media, but the way brands are using it has changed. This year’s strategies reflect a deeper understanding of how attention actually works in an algorithm-driven world — and why trust, not spectacle, is the real differentiator.

From real estate to food, beauty and even pet adoption, the strongest campaigns aren’t treating the Big Game as a one-night splash. They’re using it as a credibility signal, a data accelerant and a launchpad for longer-term narratives designed to travel far beyond the broadcast.

Super Bowl ads are now built for algorithms, not just audiences

The Super Bowl has become less about the 30-second TV moment and more about what happens before and after it. In a digital landscape flooded with AI-generated content and disposable trends, a Super Bowl ad now acts as a verification badge — signaling to both audiences and recommendation engines that a brand and its story matter.

Rather than relying on shock value, brands are priming algorithms through weeks of teaser content, influencer activity and social chatter. When the ad finally airs, platforms are already trained to amplify it. The result is sustained relevance, not a fleeting spike in attention.

What this means for real estate professionals

Marketing success increasingly depends on consistency and momentum, not one-off moments. The brands winning attention are the ones training platforms to recognize them as credible and relevant over time.

Rocket and Redfin turn a Super Bowl ad into a trust-building activation

Rocket and Redfin’s Super Bowl ad goes well beyond a high-profile commercial. The companies are pairing their Lady Gaga–soundtracked ad with “The Great American Home Search,” a nationwide, app-based scavenger hunt that gives consumers a chance to win a $1 million-plus home. The strategy reflects a clear understanding that Super Bowl storytelling only pays off when it’s backed by participation.

The focus on neighborliness and community taps directly into declining trust across American neighborhoods, positioning the brands as civic-minded rather than purely transactional. It’s a values-driven message backed by real product engagement.

What this means for real estate professionals

Trust is becoming a core differentiator. Agents who tie their marketing to real utility, community presence and follow-through will stand out as consumers grow more skeptical of surface-level branding.

Uber Eats turns its Super Bowl ad into a second-screen experience

Uber Eats is using the Super Bowl as a launchpad by letting users build their own version of its commercial inside the app. This helps the brand extend engagement well beyond the broadcast and reinforces its role in game-day rituals.

The interactive approach reflects how Super Bowl viewing has evolved. Fans expect second-screen experiences, personalization and control. Uber Eats meets that expectation while reinforcing its core use — delivering food to watch parties — in a way that feels playful but deliberate.

What this means for real estate professionals

Engagement doesn’t stop at first contact. The more interactive and useful your marketing is, the longer it stays relevant.

E.l.f. blends halftime hype with purpose-driven community building

E.l.f.’s Super Bowl strategy is less about the game itself and more about cultural alignment. By weaving its campaign into Bad Bunny’s halftime moment and offering free Duolingo subscriptions, the brand is turning entertainment into access.

The telenovela-inspired creative leans into humor and spectacle, but the underlying move is serious: Showing up for a Latino audience with consistency, not just visibility. The campaign reinforces trust by matching creative ambition with tangible value and long-term investment in the community it serves.

What this means for real estate professionals

Representation matters, but consistency matters more. Showing up for your community over time builds credibility that no single campaign can replicate.

Chipotle pushes back on AI hype by betting on real-time authenticity

Chipotle’s decision to skip a traditional Super Bowl ad while still hijacking the moment is a calculated bet on authenticity. By dropping free entree codes on Instagram Reels immediately after an AI-generated ad airs, the brand is positioning itself as the antidote to synthetic marketing.

The stunt taps into rising consumer fatigue with AI-polished messaging while still leveraging the Super Bowl’s massive attention. It also quietly collects valuable first-party data and reinforces Chipotle’s long-standing emphasis on “real ingredients” at a time when trust in what’s real online is increasingly fragile.

What this means for real estate professionals

You don’t need the biggest budget to compete for attention. Strategic timing and a clear message can outperform louder, more expensive campaigns.

The Puppy Bowl proves trust can be built without the main stage

Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl continues to thrive by leaning into something many Super Bowl ads struggle to deliver: sincerity. With a record number of brand partners and an expanded focus on adoption, senior dogs and special needs animals, the event remains purpose-first.

The Puppy Bowl’s longevity shows that trust isn’t built through shock or scale alone. It’s built through consistency, clarity of mission and partnerships that reinforce, rather than dilute, the message.

What this means for real estate professionals

Longevity is built on values that hold up over time. A clear mission, consistently delivered, can be more powerful than any single splashy campaign.

TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read)

The brands seeing the biggest payoff are using the Super Bowl to validate long-running digital narratives that algorithms are already primed to amplify.
By pairing a high-profile ad with real product engagement and a community-centered message, Rocket and Redfin show how participation drives credibility.
Extending the ad into an interactive, in-app experience keeps attention — and relevance — alive well beyond the broadcast.
Cultural alignment paired with tangible value proves more effective than visibility alone in earning long-term trust.
Strategic timing and a clear, human message can outperform traditional ad buys in an oversaturated media environment.
Consistency, mission clarity and sincerity remain powerful tools for building lasting audience trust, even without Super Bowl airtime.

The Super Bowl isn’t just a marketing spectacle. It’s a case study in how trust is earned in crowded markets. The brands breaking through aren’t the loudest, but they’re the ones pairing visibility with utility, values with action and storytelling with follow-through.

For agents and brokers, the lesson is clear: Attention may open the door, but trust is what keeps people inside.

Each week on Trending, digital marketer Jessi Healey dives into what’s buzzing in social media and why it matters for real estate professionals. From viral trends to platform changes, she’ll break it all down so you know what’s worth your time — and what’s not.

Jessi Healey is a freelance writer and social media manager specializing in real estate. Find her on Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, or Bluesky.

Topics: social media Show Comments Hide Comments Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments Sign me up By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman. Success! Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines. Read Next