The 2025 Super Bowl Influencer Marketing Playbook
Flood our feeds with niche, wild, unexpected creativity 💋
The Super Bowl isn’t just the most-watched sporting event of the year. It brings those of us who are here for the ✨vibes, the fits and the food✨ onto the couch, creating an increasingly rare, cross-cultural moment. It’s where the success of a multi-million dollar TV ad is determined by internet virality, as halftime performances become history and memes flood the internet faster than touchdowns. And in today’s fractured and accelerated media landscape, it’s where creators shine.
Creators don’t just amplify brand presence—they’re reshaping how millions experience the game. From real-time reactions to niche conversations, they’re turning the Super Bowl into a kaleidoscope of tailored cultural moments. For brands, this means the old playbook of mass-market appeal is done, dead in the water. ☠️ Today, the opportunity lies in using creators to connect with hyper-specific audiences at scale, bridging the gap between mainstream and niche.
NBCUniversal’s Creator Collective for the Paris Olympics offers a glimpse into what’s possible. By partnering with creators like Nastia Liukin for fitness takes, Camille Kostek for fashion-focused storytelling, and Jules Acree for wellness narratives, they successfully transformed a global event into a series of relatable, personal experiences.
The 2025 Super Bowl Influencer Marketing Playbook
To dominate the cultural conversation during the Super Bowl, brands must adopt a creator-led strategy prioritizing agility, cultural nuance, and audience subculture specificity.
Go deep in the niche.
The Super Bowl’s massive audience isn’t a monolith. The magic lies in leveraging creators who resonate with niche communities to deliver targeted, impactful messages that feel real and relevant. Select creators based on your audience subcultures, and work with as many as you can to build scale through strength in numbers. And no, “lifestyle” is not an interest category.
Food for Thought: Partner with Pierce Abernathy to unleash his culinary creativity and cult-like online presence, or let Snaxshot uncover your food innovation story to resonate with early adopters.
Fashion as Brand Creative Expression: Creators like Sara Camposarcone or Andrew Polo could share playful, game-day outfit inspiration that speaks to younger audiences. Use this year to test, so next year you can develop limited-edition collectible branded merch with Kristin Juszczyk or Wisdm, driving hype among sport, high-fashion and pop culture fans alike.
Beauty as a Storytelling Primer: Partner with avant-garde makeup artist Rowi Singh, who uses makeup as a canvas for visual storytelling, or team up with Meredith Duxbury to turn team face paint into a storytelling canvas.
Health & Fitness: Kaisa Keranen or Massy Arias focus on functional movement and mental health, and could amplify themes of perseverance, grit, or self-care. Deja Riley could bring choreography and dance into the mix, connecting your brand with values of inclusivity and empowerment.
Audio as a UGC Brief: Collaborate with Ricky Desktop, the creator behind some of TikTok’s most viral sounds, to develop a branded beat that fans can use to create their own Super Bowl content. A catchy audio trend could spark user-generated content that organically integrates your brand into the conversation.
By aligning creators with specific parts of the Super Bowl experience beyond the expected, brands can connect with audiences with narratives tailored to their interests.
Develop a creative & communal viewing experience
You don’t even need a TV to participate in the Super Bowl experience anymore. The ~real party~, commentary and conversations happen on social, and this is your opportunity to turn a media moment into a cultural touchpoint.
Real-Time Reactions: Creators like Alex Consani could break down the most-talked-about ads or halftime performances on Instagram Stories or TikTok, offering unfiltered commentary that feels raw and relatable.
Interactive Livestreams: Platforms like Twitch give creators a space to host watch parties where audiences can interact in real-time, creating a communal experience beyond the living room.
Private Spaces: Instagram’s Close Friends, Broadcast and WhatsApp groups allow brands to foster intimate, exclusive experiences for smaller, more engaged communities—think sneak peeks, VIP content, or real-time Q&A sessions. MAC recently CRUSHED this by inviting select influencers and editors into a Close Friends List on Instagram for exclusive content and conversations around their Nude line that had the whole internet talking.
Storytelling + New Perspectives: Sephora’s new “Unrivaled” Sponsorship, which emphasizes behind-the-scenes storytelling serves as a prime example of how brands can use creators to humanize massive events like the Super Bowl while fostering a sense of exclusivity.
Think like a showrunner, and let your story unfold over time.
The key is to treat the Super Bowl not as a standalone event but as the catalyst for a series of cultural touch-points that resonate far beyond game day. Build excitement through teaser content, like A24-style cinematic trailers for upcoming campaigns, exclusive sneak peeks, or personalized giveaways tailored to each creator’s audience. Extend the impact of campaigns by encouraging creators to share reflections, favorite moments, or behind-the-scenes insights.
The Super Bowl isn’t just for watching (which I don’t)—it’s for engaging (which I do). Creators excel at turning mass moments into personal ones, amplifying narratives that feel authentic, relatable, and impactful. By collaborating with the right creators, brands can bridge the gap between scale and specificity, ensuring their messages land with precision and cultural relevance.
As the lines between entertainment, commerce, and culture blur, the playbook for Super Bowl marketing is evolving. The brands that win the day won’t just be the ones with the flashiest ads—they’ll be the ones that understand how to harness the power of creators to turn a single event into a multi-dimensional, community-driven experience.
Whatever you do, please keep it wildly creative and unexpectedly entertaining. 💋
I’ll be watching.
Hannah
the Paris creator collective was so genius but I have little faith in the NFL 😭