I have watched Super Bowl commercials with both professional curiosity and personal nostalgia for decades. The first one I remember (and I know I am dating myself here) was Cindy Crawford in that Pepsi spot. The reason why this commercial resonated so much with a teenage boy is pretty obvious. But here is the marketing lesson behind the memory…

Decades later, I have never spent a dollar on a Pepsi. Sure, the spot was memorable. A supermodel stepping out of a red Lamborghini and taking that first sip. But was it effective in driving long term sales or brand loyalty? That is the real question. Ads like that were built around celebrity and cool factor, not necessarily product purpose.

The Cindy Crawford Pepsi commercial from the 1992 Super Bowl is so iconic that it has resurfaced in recent years and ranks among Time’s most influential Super Bowl commercials. But Pepsi’s broader business story tells a deeper truth. Massive exposure does not always translate to market dominance. Between the 1990s and 2018, Pepsi’s market share dropped from around 20% to roughly 8% even as other categories like premium water grew.

So as the commercial a failure? Not totally. It did what great advertising does. It inserted Pepsi into cultural memory. For many viewers, it IS the Pepsi brand. But it did not win over consumers through taste or make Pepsi the clear choice in daily purchase decisions.

So what should a commercial do? The most effective ones don’t just show up. They move people to act. We see that distinction clearly when we look beyond soft drinks.

Political campaigns pour billions into ads not just so voters remember a slogan or a smile, but so they will vote. Winning commercials are not only memorable; they’re effective at changing behavior. They turn awareness into action. And the campaigns that accomplish this most consistently are the ones with clear calls to action and pathways to fulfill them.

One of the most fascinating recent examples in the Super Bowl space comes from the world of tech. In 2022, Coinbase ran a 60 second Super Bowl ad featuring nothing but a bouncing QR code floating on screen. No celebrity. No storyline. Just a QR code encouraging you to scan. The result? Reportedly more than 20 million hits to its landing page in the first minute, overwhelming the servers and causing the site to crash. The ad drove immediate action at scale. People did not just talk about it. They participated. That’s the difference between memorable and effective.

That is the gold standard of modern advertising. Not passive recall, but active engagement.

So, is your content making your customers want to make a move? If not, reach out to us and let us give them a push.