Brand Personality Over Product: What Super Bowl Ads Taught Us About Better Marketing

The Big Shift: Entertain First, Explain Later

One of the clearest trends in this year’s Super Bowl ads was the move from informing to entertaining.

Take the Uber Eats commercial with Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper. It wasn’t a step-by-step tutorial on how to use the app. It didn’t list features. It didn’t push discounts.

It just… entertained.

Same with Coinbase. Their karaoke-style ad featuring a nostalgic Backstreet Boys vibe didn’t explain how crypto trading works. It didn’t walk viewers through the platform. Instead, it made a broader brand statement: crypto is for everyone.

These brands trusted something important:

If people remember you, they’ll figure out the rest.

But What If You’re a Small Business?

It’s easy to look at billion-dollar brands and think, “Well, that works for them. Everyone already knows who they are.”

So, how does a small business without massive brand recognition apply this?

Here’s the key:
There is a time to educate and sell. But there’s also a time to build connection.

And that connection often comes through personality.

How to Apply This to Your Business

1. Lead With Lifestyle, Not Logistics

Instead of listing what you do, show what it feels like to work with you.

If you’re an HVAC company offering 24/7 service, you don’t have to lead with:

“We offer 24-hour emergency service.”

You could say:

“We show up when everyone else is asleep.”

Same service. Same differentiator.
But one version is memorable.

Small tweaks in messaging can transform a flat statement into something relatable and creative.

2. Show Impact Instead of Features

If you’re a gym, don’t just post:

• Your hours

• Your equipment

• Your membership tiers

Show:

• Transformations

• Member wins

• Personal milestones

• The community you’ve built

People don’t connect with bullet points.
They connect with stories.

3. Create Emotional Anchors

This strategy works because it creates an emotional connection.

Facts are forgettable.
Stories stick.

When you build brand personality, you give people something to identify with. And when they identify with you, you move from being a vendor to being their brand.

That’s where long-term loyalty and lifetime customer value come from.

It’s Also More Fun (And That Matters)

There’s another benefit here that often gets overlooked:

This kind of marketing is more fun to create.

When you allow yourself to show behind-the-scenes moments, personality, humor, or real customer impact, it removes some of the pressure to constantly “sell.”

If you’re stuck on what to post or how to market yourself, leaning into brand personality can be a powerful (and refreshing) fallback.

It makes your content warmer. More human. Less transactional.

And in a world where everyone feels like they’re being sold to all the time, that’s a competitive advantage.

The Long-Term Payoff

When you consistently build personality into your brand:

• People recognize you faster

• They remember you longer

• They feel connected to you

• They’re more likely to return

That’s how you build loyalty instead of chasing constant new customer acquisition.

And for small businesses especially, loyalty is everything.

Ready to Build a Brand People Remember?

If you’re not sure how to shift your messaging from product-heavy to personality-driven, we’d love to help.

You can connect with us at kickstartcollective.co. Whether you need help refining your messaging, creating content, or developing a stronger brand identity, that’s exactly what we do.

Get more from Kickstart!

Watch on YouTube
Follow on Instagram

Recent Kickstart Your Week Episodes