The New King of Super Bowl Ads

If there were an award for Super Bowl advertising, Wieden + Kennedy would probably win that one, too.

The agency has been the belle of Cannes and the Emmys, winning 45 Lions and its fourth-straight Emmy for outstanding commercial last year. But it has also earned a reputation as a big-game player, producing 21 Super Bowl ads in the past six years for the likes of Coca-Cola, EA and CareerBuilder, and 2012’s iconic “It’s Halftime in America” for Chrysler.

This year, W+K returns with two ads for Coke and one for Mondelez’s Oreos—a coveted project borne of the shop’s past success on the most watched show on television. In short, Dan Wieden’s place has become The Super Bowl Ad Agency.

Yes, some of Wieden’s most memorable ads featured celebrities—a well-worn cliché of the game. But they’re marquee names with gravitas who rarely appear in commercials and therefore surprise you. Think Eminem in 2011’s “Born of Fire” for Chrysler and, of course, Clint Eastwood as the grizzled narrator in “Halftime,” which found signs of hope in a still-dark economy.