How Skittles Plans to Win Super Bowl Sunday Without Buying a Commercial

Super Bowl LX will be here in the coming weeks as the NFL Playoffs are under way. What will also come with it will be the ad campaigns that will flood the broadcast. 

We see the usual suspects and usual older celebrities that may not resonate with the younger audience. Last year there were a number of them and AdBuzzDaily spoke with Gen Z marketers and reporters who are tired of seeing the same faces every year. 

In the same sense, brands will have to get creative with out of the box ideas for this year’s Super Bowl. One brand who is taking that approach is Skittles as it is skipping the Super Bowl ad buy and betting on an experimental way to show it’s ad.

Skittles is skipping the screen entirely and bringing the commercial straight to a fan’s front door during the Super Bowl. Instead of a traditional broadcast spot, the brand will deliver a live, in-person Skittles commercial at one fan’s home. The ad spot is starring actor Elijah Wood. The brand partnered with Gopuff for the contest as fans can visit the website from Jan. 13–21 for a chance to have Wood appear on Sunday, Feb. 8, performing a live commercial and delivering the candy itself to them. 

This will also be livestreamed on the brand’s TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. 

Ashley Gill, VP of Brand & Content Marketing, Mars Snacking North America, said that from airing an ad to a single teenager in 2018 to producing the first-ever live Broadway musical commercial in 2019, the brand has long treated the Super Bowl as a cultural moment, not just a media buy. This year, the brand challenged itself to imagine a memorable Big Game ad that wasn’t on TV at all. The move for its campaign flips the script by transforming one fan’s front lawn into a major advertising stage, reinforcing that the brand doesn’t just show up for the moment and leave as it aims to reinvent it.

“The Big Game isn’t just a TV moment anymore. It’s a multi-screen, social media-fueled cultural moment,” said Gill. “We find the most effective ideas today are the ones that give people something unexpected to talk about and share. When a brand creates a ‘wait, what?’ moment, it earns attention organically.”

NBCUniversal confirmed back in September 2025 that all advertising inventory for Super Bowl LX had sold out, with 30-second spots reaching record prices of approximately $8 million. It sold out earlier than ever before due to unprecedented brand demand. Gill stated that the brand’s approach was a fully intentional creative decision, rather than a response to limited availability. While acknowledging the enduring value of traditional advertising, Gill added that the brand sought to engage in the Super Bowl’s cultural conversation without adhering to the expected playbook.

“By skipping in-game media, we focused on an integrated approach across paid, earned, shared, and owned channels that are designed to generate attention through curiosity, coverage, and cultural impact rather than airtime alone,” said Gill.

Anthony Mayes, Vice President of Production & Operations at FUSE Create, said Skittles’ contest is a bold and strategically sound marketing move. Executing a live Super Bowl commercial in a fan’s home featuring Elijah Wood presents significant production challenges, but the campaign is designed to create a lasting impression. Mayes added it is likely to generate substantial media attention from pre-event influencer buzz to post-event conversation while reinforcing the brand’s playful personality. Even if the execution falls short, the risk itself will drive discussion, and the concept feels uniquely well suited to Skittles.

“The concept reinforces Skittles’ brand personality and taps into the current trend of more authentic, less polished content,” said Mayes. “I love this one because it [breaks the 4th wall] and incorporates the personal nature of the Super Bowl experience. Many people watch the game at their home, have their own rituals with snacks and food; it’s not just about the game it’s about the memories that surround it.”

Over the last few years, brands went on a different creative approach for the Super Bowl to stand out. Some of the examples are Doulingo’s five second ad, Poppi being the first DTC brand (at the time before Pepsico snagged them up) to debut a Super Bowl campaign, and DoorDash partnering with brands who advertised during the Super Bowl for a large giveaway of their products. Unique creative and out of the box ideas matter more than just showing up.

Yehuda Neuman, SVP of Influencer Marketing at PartnerCentric, said the larger question is whether other brands can replicate this approach as doing so would require a willingness to take creative risks and build measurement infrastructure that extends beyond impressions. Neuman added many will default to the safety of broadcast, as proving that social spectacle drives incremental revenue demands a level of sophistication most marketing teams do not possess as it can work if it can be measured.

“I’ve seen brands burn the budget on “buzz” campaigns that feel big, but can’t prove ROI,” said Neuman. “Smart brands treat experimental activations like this with the same performance rigor they apply to their commerce programs.”