Gametime Ads are the Spark, Not the Strategy
Live, shared audiences are increasingly rare in a fragmented media landscape. But the first half of 2026 gives advertisers three huge moments of concentrated attention – Super Bowl LX, Winter Olympics, and the World Cup. And brands are taking advantage of these moments – global sports ad spend is predicted to top a record breaking $1 trillion in 2026.
It’s easy to treat the moment millions collectively watch your ad as the finish line. It’s the culmination of so much hard work and financial investment. But advertisers are smartly shifting from one-off spots to multi-event, integrated campaigns that extend visibility into weeks and months of cultural momentum. And some brands are even opting out of the one-night Super Bowl spot to extended campaigns during the World Cup – brands including Nike, Budweiser, Coca Cola, and Hyundai.
The big spot shouldn’t be the strategy – it can be a tentpole moment in your campaign or the spark to start a shift in brand perception – but it’s not the endgame.
Last year we worked with Science Moms on a campaign around their Super Bowl LIX ad – By The Time. Here’s what we learned when turning the high-profile moment into a sustained movement.
Earn Audience Buy-in During the PreGame
What if your ad airs and the whole room looks at each other to ask – what was that? What were we supposed to takeaway? Nightmare.
Before Science Moms launched By The Time, Precision worked with them to establish a robust digital presence, creating digital thought leadership profiles for each of the individual Moms who were part of the campaign. We highlighted their perspectives as scientists and mothers through first-person storytelling. This content was served to target audiences to generate interest and familiarity before the Super Bowl spot. When we tested our audiences after seeing the ad live, many recognized and trusted the messaging as it aired.
Understanding your audience and where they spend time online is essential so you can serve them content before (and after) the live event. Our 2026 digital trends breaks down how brands can make the most of their platforms.
Credibility Beats Volume
Science Moms is a nonpartisan group of climate scientists and their goal with a Super Bowl ad campaign was to engage mothers across party lines after the 2024 elections. While a celebrity may have generated more headlines, they chose to use the voice of a parent watching their child growing up and worrying about the world they were leaving behind. This was quieter – and riskier – than other ads. It asked viewers to sit with urgency. It spoke to people across political lines at a moment when most messaging plays it safe or picks a side. And it was a true reflection of the brand. Campaigns for the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LX prove that this principle is only growing stronger in 2026:
- Vogue China’s Winter Olympics shoot celebrated China’s roster through high-fashion editorial imagery that went viral for its artistry and cultural specificity. While AI-generated sequences in the opening ceremony drew criticism, Vogue’s approach centered Chinese aesthetics and visual storytelling, creating something people actually wanted to share and demonstrating Chinese prowess in the arts as well as sports.
- Bad Bunny’s PR has been a master class in the effectiveness of nuanced, culturally aware marketing long before he took the stage for this year’s Super Bowl. Un Verano Sin Ti (2022) rollout turned a fake Bugatti listing on Puerto Rico’s Clasificados Online into a global album reveal. The stunt worked because it was rooted in hyper-local culture rather than expensive ad buys. It made fans feel like insiders to something bigger than marketing.
- Super Bowl LX ads, like the one run by Squarespace, are also signaling that effective marketing needs to be as thoughtful as they are attention grabbing. Hiring a director, Yorgos Lanthimos, known for surrealist, divisive films wasn’t about star power (even though the ad featured Emma Stone) it was about craft, intention, and standing out in a sea of forgettable content. Exactly what Squarespace wants audiences to think their websites will do for you.
Despite their vast variety, all four of these campaigns share a common thread: they trusted audiences to engage with deeply thoughtful messaging. In the era where audiences are hyper aware of marketing tactics, the brands that break through are the ones that are willing to be specific and all-in on their strategic direction.
Play Defense Through Engagement
One of the least visible — but most important — parts of the campaign was active engagement. Rapid response, social monitoring, and real dialogue weren’t “nice to have.” They were essential to keeping the focus where it belonged and preventing the message from being distorted or drowned out.
During the game, we ran a live war room — not just to monitor conversation, but to actively shape the narrative in real time, engaging audiences while minimizing distortion and bad-faith interference. That wasn’t about chasing virality. It was about stewardship.
After the game, the work didn’t slow down. We extended the conversation through thought leadership, user-generated content, and mom-influencers who could carry the message into spaces the commercial would never reach.
In today’s information environment, silence is a vulnerability. Engagement is how you protect the work — and, increasingly, how you protect the investment behind it.
Stay Present After the Confetti
It’s easy to measure how many people saw your ad live – NBC will be quick to put out viewership numbers. But far more important is knowing that your campaign moved people toward something tangible – bottom line sales, increased brand awareness, improved reputation, or support for a cause.
After By The Time aired, Science Moms ran a user-generated-content campaign developed by mom-influencers speaking about their own climate concerns. Many spoke first hand about the California wildfires happening in 2025 and other unnatural disasters. Science Moms measured impact through engagement around this content, the conversions driven to fundraising for California wildfire relief, and new members of their community through platform follows and newsletter subscriptions.
Hundreds of millions of people will see your ad during the 3rd quarter or the figure skating finals or the opening match, but knowing how many people you moved is far more important.
Win
Ads are their own form of competition during these high-stakes athletic events. The New York Times ranked By The Time at number 8 of best ads for Super Bowl LIX. We’re very proud of that. But that list is now out of date with a new one ranking this year’s best ads.
The real winning comes from building a campaign that both tops a list and holds attention for weeks, months, and years afterwards.
Julia Watts | SVP, Mobilization and Campaign Management
Julia Watts is a campaign strategist with over fifteen years of experience at the intersection of policy, politics, and corporate social responsibility. At Precision, Julia co-leads the campaign management and mobilization practice. Clients in tech, health care, entertainment, and the nonprofit sector have leveraged her advice to run and win state legislative fights, ballot initiatives, and community engagement campaigns. With a background in program evaluation, Julia has helped Fortune 500 companies and philanthropic heavyweights design and launch new initiatives and coach existing teams to refine their strategy for greater impact and visibility. Julia works on both the strategy and mobilization sides of grassroots campaigns and has developed award winning acquisition and measurement programs for Galvanize USA and nationally recognized advocacy campaigns for clients like AIDS United. Before joining Precision, Julia led business organizing efforts and directed workplace policy campaigns for the American Sustainable Business Network. She also served as the advocacy and mobilization manager for the nation’s largest network of human services providers, where she managed campaigns related to child welfare and tax policy.