You don’t have to be a football fan to look forward to the Super Bowl. For millions of viewers, the commercials are just as big as the game itself. And once again this year, a North Texas expert is helping her students understand what makes a winning ad. For 25 years, Dr. Rama Yelkur, execut ive dean of Texas Woman’s University Merrilee Alexander Kick College of Business and Entrepreneurship, has hosted a live Super Bowl research panel with her business students. Together, they analyze the ads as they air, studying what makes certain spots go viral, which ones are a dud, or which ads become instant classics. “There’s a science behind it,” Yelkur said. “Sprinkle a little bit of animals in there, sprinkle some celebrities in there. But the main theme is humor and heart… emotional appeals account for more than 50% of what drives ad likability.” Her research has become so influential that global brands like Kimberly Clark, Disney, Hormel Foods, the NFL, and numerous networks have reached out to her for insight and guidance. According to Yelkur, most successful Super Bowl commercials check these key boxes: Humor Animals Kids Tugging heart strings Great music Celebrities But one trend is especially powerful again this year: nostalgia. “Nostalgia is big,” Yelkur said. “Companies would be remiss if they don’t use it.” She says nostalgia only plays to specific parts of the audience, though. In the last two years, Yelkur has noticed some ads that bring in surprise celebrities from 1990s or early 2000s pop culture aren’t clicking with the Generation Z audience. “Gen Z is not getting it. We have some students we have to explain to them what the context is and what it is. So there’s going to be a mix because companies are trying to hit all of the audiences,” Yelkur said. “Last year, Hellman’s Mayonnaise used the actors from When Harry Met Sally, and the students were asking, what movie was that?” And with artificial intelligence becoming more common in advertising, Yelkur cautions that relying on it too heavily could backfire – especially when brands are spending millions. “AI cannot capture emotions,” she said. “A good commercial creates laughs and heart. You can use AI to assist, but the human element has to be part of it.” And the stakes are high. A 30‑second Super Bowl spot costs about $8 million this year, with longer ads reaching into the tens of millions — not including production costs. That’s one reason many brands now release their ads early on TV, streaming, or social media. “Fifty percent or more of the commercials have been released one way or the other. And it’s great for the companies. I’ve been saying for years, that if you spend millions of dollars on a 30-second commercial, you want to leverage it. You want to leverage it everywhere because you want that exposure,” said Yelkur. Click here to watch some of the 2026 Super Bowl ads released so far. Dunkin’ Donuts is returning with Ben Affleck  and a heavy dose of nostalgia, featuring stars from NBC favorites Friends and Seinfeld, including Jennifer Aniston and Jason Alexander. They are one of the larger companies to not pre-release its commercial and only a short teaser has been released so far. The full spot debuts during the game. Comcast Xfinity is also tapping into nostalgia, re‑imagining scenes from the original Jurassic Park movie with the film’s iconic cast and a little bit of special effects to make them look just as they did in the 1993 movie. The commercial asks the question: What if Jurassic Park had fast, reliable internet? And Budweiser is bringing back its beloved Clydesdale horses to celebrate the brand’s 150th birthday alongside the 250th birthday of the United States. This year, they’re pairing a baby Clydesdale with a baby bald eagle in touching story showing a lifelong friendship. “I think that is absolutely cute, heartwarming, tugging the heartstrings. And we know the Clydesdales themselves are a celebrity. They’re iconic. To me, they’re a celebrity because once you see the Clydesdale, you know what brand they represent. So I think that’s going to be one of the top commercials,” she said. Yelkur also notes a shift in the types of companies entering the Super Bowl ad arena for the first time, including several GLP‑1 medication makers, a growing industry she says is targeting a broad audience. “There are like three or four GLP1 commercials this year. And I think, maybe I’m biased, but I think that’s the target audience for that is more a large percentage of women and also men. So it’s interesting, the industries that we thought would never reach the Super Bowl platform are now advertising there,” said Yelkur. And one more first: Levi’s is running its first Super Bowl ad in more than 20 years, taking advantage of a brand boost with the game being played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. You can watch Super Bowl 60 on NBC 5 or stream it live on Peacock this Sunday. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less