2025 USA TODAY Ad Meter Marketing Spotlight: UT Rio Grande Valley
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 the first appearance of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a public research institution located in Edinburg, Texas, and several other regional campuses. The school had students from Dr. Kimberly Selber’s class rate this year’s commercials in the Super Bowl’s national lineup.
How did their collective opinions compare to the overall Ad Meter ratings?
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley steps into the Marketing Spotlight.
UTRGV Top 5
1. Google, “Dream Job”
2. Dove, “These Legs”
3. Michelob Ultra, “The ULTRA Hustle”
4. Lay’s, “The Little Farmer”
5. NFL, “I’m Somebody”
UTRGV Bottom 5
1. Coffee mate, “Foam Diva”
2. Tubi, “The Z-Suite”
3. Nerds, “Wonderful World of NERDS”
4. HexClad Cookware, “Unidentified Frying Object
5. Dunkin’, “The DunKings 2”
What worked?
The students aligned with a major Super Bowl commercial opinion that headlined the post-Big Game conversations — impactful storytelling won the night.
The UTRGV class selected Google’s heartwarming ad as their favorite, with one student noting that the 60-second spot was “Very heartfelt, genuine, real” and, in what’s typically viewed as the ultimate advertising win, made them go “check out” the product.
Dove’s campaign as well as the creative from the NFL and Lay’s—which finished second in the overall Ad Meter ratings—also impacted the class with empowering messaging.
Comedy and star power, the trendy blend in the modern Super Bowl spot, appeared at the class’s No. 3 pick. Michelob Ultra’s “The ULTRA Hustle” caught their attention and, more importantly, kept it.
“So funny and entertaining,” said Jackie Diaz. “The perfect length—I didn’t get bored. Great use of celebrities.”
What didn’t work?
From the bright lights of advertising’s biggest stage, one concrete fact will never face a barrage of disputes: Not all creative approaches will work for everyone. Swings and misses are as common as the marketing home run.
For the UTRGV students, several commercials didn’t land, from the Dunkin’ ad, which student Alberth Lucio said was “Very cringe and way too long,” to the multiple rollouts featuring one familiar face from the broadcast booth —”Too much Tom Brady,” Liliana Rodriguez pointed out.
One student jokingly “pined” for more in the Ray-Ban | Meta campaign starring Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt and Kris Jenner.
“It just needed one more Chris,” said Ashley Garcia, who thought an additional casting call to Chris Pine’s agent would have been ideal.
On the 30-second spot from Nerds, which featured country star Shaboozey, Camila Sobrevilla added: “Felt like we’d seen it before,” and while ”It felt on theme – New Orleans, mashing things together, [it was] just too much.”
Tubi’s campaign was another missed connection, which was a surprise considering the audience demographic the streaming service targeted.
Student Kennedy Perry summed it up, explaining that “The Z-Suite” creative “Tried too hard,” ultimately generating more confusion than curiosity.
Landing atop the students’ least-favorable commercial, Coffee mate’s “Foam Diva” had too much of a “gross” factor with the dancing tongue for them to find any silver linings in the 30-second spot score by Shania Twain.
The overall takeaway from the Super Bowl 59 commercial run?
UTRGV is no stranger to the Ad Meter ratings. Dr. Selber has made the longstanding Super Bowl commercial gauge a part of her curriculum, taking a deep dive into the mini-movies that now cost upwards of $8 million.
“I’ve used Ad Meter as an assignment in my class for the past ten years,” said Dr. Selber. “It was great for the students to see how their analysis lined up nationally, and it really helped them to articulate what they felt was working and why – to contextualize the ‘I know why I get this’ moments.”
On this year’s overall national lineup, Dr. Selber added: “Overall the class had an easier time with consensus on ads they didn’t think worked than finding common ground on ads they did think worked. In other words, a lot of middle of the road ads with lukewarm responses.”
USA TODAY Ad Meter would like to thank University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for participating in the 2025 Marketing Spotlight, with a special note of gratitude to Dr. Kimberly Selber.
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