The Monday after the Super Bowl looks different depending on where you sit. If you’re an indie agency, it looks like a dozen think pieces about what worked, what didn’t, and whether AI has finally crossed the creativity threshold. Indie Agency News members weren’t just watching the game — they were dissecting it, contextualizing it, and in a few cases, actually making the work that ran during it.
From strategic essays on why 125 million people say “we won” when they never touch the field, to Gen Z insights that keep agencies from getting stale, to campaign launches that mix rock with opera, this edition captures the indie community at its most observant. The thread running through it all: specificity wins. Whether it’s understanding why young consumers actually care about your brand or knowing which Big Game moments will outlast the hype cycle, the indies paying attention to details are the ones breaking through.
🏈 The Big Game Brain Trust
Indies didn’t just watch the Super Bowl — they provided the expert commentary everyone else quoted.
Saylor landed Will Trowbridge in the New York Post’s expert roundup of best Super Bowl ads, joining the conversation about which spots actually broke through. Laughlin Constable CCO Patrick Laughlin called out Anthropic’s spot on ADWEEK, noting that when you get a rival CEO talking about your work, you’ve done something right. Not content with just one take, Laughlin Constable also got Patrick on Newsradio 620 WTMJ discussing the nostalgia vs. AI glossy tension, and Jonathan Laughlin on ABC 7 Chicago emphasizing that AI is a tool and ideas still need to come from people. Walrus CCO Deacon Webster weighed in with his characteristically strong takes, because Deacon Webster having opinions is about as surprising as the Super Bowl airing ads.
Powell Communications explained their 20-year playbook for helping clients win at the Big Game, starting prep work three months before kickoff. Meanwhile, Allen & Gerritsen partnered with OnePulse to survey what people actually want to see during the big game, proving the best work starts with listening. Left Hand Agency CEO Lauren Ridgley side-eyed the patterns that show up every year — celebrity overload, QR codes on TV, and the ego tax brands keep paying.
🎬 The Indies Who Made The Work
A few agencies weren’t just analyzing — they were actually in the game.
Drake Cooper landed a Super Bowl LX spot for Idaho Central Credit Union, their “Life’s Greener Here” campaign bringing green magic to the broadcast. Highdive helped KFC turn a fan request into the Bowl-O-Tie, a limited run that sold out and started reselling on eBay for hundreds. They also worked on Lay’s Super Bowl spot, which is currently in USA TODAY’s Ad Meter voting. Alto produced Life360’s first Super Bowl commercial, streaming Sunday with brief interruptions of men playing football. McKinney used AI to parody over-the-top marketing tropes for Blue Diamond Growers Almond Breeze with the Jonas Brothers, proving that when your product is great, you don’t need the gimmicks.
Mother created the final of four films for Claude and Anthropic, making the case that there’s a time and place for ads — and your conversations with AI shouldn’t be one of them. Mischief @ No Fixed Address helped eos Products make its tastiest Super Bowl marketing push ever, proving fragrance ads can be fun again.
🎭 When Rock Meets Opera (And Frozen Pizza)
The campaign that proves you can absolutely mix genres if you commit to the bit.
SRH launched “More is Amore” for Screamin’ Sicilian frozen pizza, describing it as “a little bit rock, a little bit opera” with a whole lot of fun. When frozen pizza gets operatic rock treatment, you’re either making a terrible mistake or creating something memorable. Based on the enthusiasm from SRH and Palermo Villa, they’re betting on memorable.
📊 Why 125 Million People Said “We Won”
The Many explores the primal participation architecture of sports fandom.
The Many published an essay examining why 125 million people said “we won” after the Super Bowl, even though they never stepped on the field. The answer: humans spent 99% of evolutionary history in small tribal bands, and that wiring didn’t disappear with cities and smartphones. Sports feed that hunger for belonging. The jersey is a tribal marker. The stadium is a machine for manufacturing collective experience. Fandom is participation without playing — investment, identity, and exchange meeting needs no ad break ever could. It’s the kind of thinking that turns “why do people care about this” into genuine strategic insight.
🧠 The Gen Z Intelligence Operation
How Day One Agency stays tuned in without trying too hard.
Day One Agency CEO Josh Rosenberg told Fast Company that nearly 40% of the Day One team is Gen Z, and he learns from what they read, watch, listen to, where they hang out, and how they’re embracing adulthood (or not). The method: Group Chat, their youth insights focus group, plus Casey Lewis’ After School Substack. It’s intelligence gathering that doesn’t feel like market research. Day One also had ADWEEK’s Senior Media Reporter Mark Stenberg on Day One FM ahead of the Super Bowl to contextualize the trends in this year’s commercials.
⚡ The AI Efficiency Trap
Using AI only for cost-cutting raises the floor but doesn’t create advantage.
Goodway Group CEO Paul Frampton-Calero wrote about the tension brands are feeling right now — AI used only for efficiency doesn’t create advantage, it just raises the floor. The piece lays out what actually differentiates when everyone has access to the same tools. It’s the strategic thinking that matters, not the automation.
🎨 Campaign Launches Worth Noting
New work hitting the world this week.
Ardmore launched the new brand campaign for Progressive Building Society, shot over three days last September. The work presents a modern building society that continues to evolve alongside the people and communities it serves, now live across TV, radio, social and OOH. Ardmore also helped Network Rail’s latest retail campaigns go live, with Valentine’s Day content filmed in stations across Scotland and England.
Crackerjack Communications helped Educators for Excellence mark its 15-year milestone with an inspiring mission-driven campaign across web and social, developing content strategy, creative concepts, and look and feel to illustrate the power of an E4E membership.
🎥 The Friday Five Roundup
Witness Me curated the week’s standout director work.
Witness Me delivered their Friday Five, highlighting Park Pictures directors Terri Timely’s “Will Shat” for Kellogg’s Raisin Bran, ArtClass director Vincent Peone’s work for Perdue, RadicalMedia’s Randall Einhorn for Ramp, Partizan’s Antoine Bardou-Jacquet for Oakley x Meta, and Epoch Films’ Martin de Thurah for Liquid IV. Witness Me also spotlighted Partizan’s Antoine Bardou-Jacquet’s Super Bowl debut for Meta x Oakley, featuring a star-studded roster from Marshawn Lynch to Spike Lee, blurring the line between athlete POV and reality through complex in-camera lens reflections.
🏆 Recognition & Growth Moves
Indies expanding, winning, and getting noticed.
Birdie Mgmt announced a new partnership with the 4As, extending wrap-up production insurance to clients plus worker’s comp for independent contractors and influencers. Yes& Agency is rallying votes for CMO Debbie Bates-Schrott for the OnConferences Icon Top 100 Marketers Awards, with voting closing February 15th.
📚 Strategic Thinking Worth Your Time
Essays, perspectives, and frameworks to steal.
Gus co-founder Graham Douglas explained how the Super Bowl has become an amplifier for bigger brand action, noting the best work doesn’t behave like a commercial anymore. Klick Health LATAM Managing Director Roberta Raduan wrote about pharmaceutical and wellness advertising gaining prominence in the world’s most influential cultural moments, reshaping how health brands engage audiences at scale through emotional storytelling.
Serviceplan Group colleague Franziska Gregor published a new Campaign Germany column on trends for 2026, classifying how brand communication is fundamentally changing and why digital relevance is increasingly fed by new platforms, community feeds, and serial formats — from Dark Social to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).
🏛️ The Legacy Lesson
When character outlasts tactics.
Chameleon Collective reflected on the 20-year anniversary of Sir Freddie Laker’s passing, noting that legacies outlive the work and define how leaders lead. The most meaningful impact endures far beyond any one moment — a reminder that reputation is earned, vision comes with a cost, being first isn’t always the win, and the strongest teams are built by hiring on heart, not just credentials.
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Kyle O’Brien is managing editor of Indie Agency News.
