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The Monday after the Super Bowl brings an avalanche of hot takes and subjective rankings on the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ ads of the night. But while opinions and viral moments might dominate the conversation, what truly matters is a rigorous, evidence-based approach to evaluating success. Without a robust methodology grounded in empirical data, all we’re simply doing is guessing. And for the evidence we look no further than Professor Byron Sharp of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and his seminal publication, How Brands Grow.
In it advertising’s primary job is made crystal clear: building mental availability. To achieve this goal it’s first and foremost critical that advertising elicits an emotional response—given it enhances depth of mental processing and strengthens memory encoding. But creating an ad that’s memorable is ultimately only one half of the jigsaw puzzle—its potential isn’t fully realized if these memories aren’t inextricably connected to the brand. Cubery’s Branded Memorability score (our headline prediction of an ad’s short- and long-term effectiveness) places an equal emphasis on these two core elements:
1. Emotional Response 💜
2. Brand Linkage 🔗
🏈 Check out the full Super Bowl rankings for 2026 split out by key verticals below. Reach out if you’d like to discuss the results in further detail or if you have a campaign of your own that you’re interested in testing!
Curious about the 9 essential ingredients for creating advertising that drives profitable growth? Explore our Creative Effectiveness Playbook.
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