Super Bowl LVI Wrap Up: The Future is Now

February 14, 2022

Whether it was the football, the halftime show, or the commercials, you couldn’t turn away from the TV last night. A picturesque night in Los Angeles and a full slate of light-hearted commercials was the ideal follow up to last year’s off-putting 37% capacity game due to COVID restrictions.

One of the biggest winners of the night was Coinbase when they literally broke the internet. Using their 60 seconds to display a floating QR code similar to the DVD menu pages of old, Coinbase attracted so many users to their website that in the midst of the initial hype it crashed. For a more tangible measure of success, the Coinbase app surged from #186 on the US app store to #2 overnight. 

While Coinbase had the most memorable ad for crypto (and perhaps for all ads), FTX made crypto feel the most casual. Employing the comedic efforts of Larry David, FTX points fun at technology critics both new and old. The ad sees Larry David being the central negative throughout all of human history denouncing technology from the wheel to space travel to present day with crypto.


With crypto being a technology so foreign to such a large percent of the population, FTX’s use of humor and relatability makes the new tech feel more natural (compared to the uncanny attempts of some of FTX’s competitors).

Continuing with the theme of the tomorrow, GM was able to sell their pitch for the future using some characters of the past. Mike Meyers was cast to relive his role as Dr. Evil where he plots for world domination after taking over General Motors. However, plans change once he learns that he is the second-most evil thing in the world behind climate change. The spot allows GM to highlight their line of all electric vehicles and cautiously tackle the issue of climate change.

Verizon also used nostalgia to make their mark as they brought Jim Carrey in to revisit his role as the Cable Guy. Unable to process new 5G wireless technology, ‘the cable guy’ becomes infatuated and promises to return


Many of the other successes of the night come from perfect pairings. Zendaya and Andre 3000 came together to show-off Squarespace’s spectacular services in an alliteration riddled rollercoaster ride, Anna Kendrick and Barbie help show kids the downfalls of buying a home without Rocket Mortgage, and Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus put together a quaint PSA to help ‘untrap’ 5G phones.

Following the troubling conditions surrounding last year’s game, this year’s mix of humor and optimism helped spur some great commercials with an even more empowering message. Oh, and the football was entertaining too.

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