Who really won Super Bowl LVI?

Super Bowl LVI capped off a run of of thrilling, nail-biting NFL playoff games, with the championship only decided in the last minute of the fourth quarter. (Congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams for winning the Vince Lombardi Trophy.) But unlike the certainty that a final score confers on the last team standing on the football field, nothing is nearly as cut and dried for regular observers of the Big Game's commercials on our screens.

Still, Jorge Prado, co-founder of Admazing Co., raved, "This year's Super Bowl ads were a fantastic return to what consumers expected with a blend of humor, celebrity, and nostalgia. While a few were pre-released, the anticipation of new work was surprisingly delightful."

Others were more sanguine, although still positive: "Overall, I felt there was a quality to the creative of this year’s spots that was lacking in recent years," said Julia St. Onge-May, Night After Night's group bsiness director. "I laughed, I teared up, I said “that one was smart” to myself a couple of times. I was entertained."

As is true every year, there were ads that were universally loved, some that were widely panned, some that elicited equally strong reactions on either end of the spectrum and perhaps more than a few that fell somewhere between whatever and meh.

If the state of our culture could be quantified by watching this year's ads, you'd think that after everyone converted their money into cryptocurrency, they'd head to the local car dealer to buy an electric vehicle, and on the drive home they'd groove to a Gen X-approved playlist (and with whatever spare bitcoins they had left, they'd place bets on any of the suddenly ubiquitous sportsbook sites).

To help us make sense of this year's slate of Super Bowl spots, we polled the Amp community for the best, the worst and the in between. Visit the Super Bowl: Special Report vertical to watch all the Super Bowl ads.

Best—and worst—ad: Coinbase, "WAGMI" (Accenture)

No ad symbolized the best, the worst and the in between more than "WAGMI" ("We're All Going to Make It") from Coinbase. For 60 seconds, a neon QR code reminiscent of the old-school DVD logo Pong-ed its way back and forth across the screen. No taglines, no dubbing, no pitch.

Those who whipped out their phones to scan the code were offered $15 in free Bitcoin from Coinbase—or told to come back later. The spot was so successful it crashed their site, which seems like a great sign for the ad, but less great for a site hosting electronic money.

Either way, Amp members voted "WAGMI" both the best and worst ad of the night. (FWIW: Ad Age's Creativity team selected it as the No. 1 spot too.) "Sure, it's being talked about," said Kace Phillips, partner at RBA, "but it's just lazy and gimmicky."

But for many Amp members, that means the ad essentially did its job. “Love it or hate it, the Coinbase QR code spot not only broke through, it had millions of people going to the website,” said Wayne Best, VMLY&R’s chief operating officer.

“The simplicity and cleverness was shockingly bold,” said Eileen Zhao, strategic director at Fred & Farid. “When everyone else seemingly went with celebrity talent, all it took for Coinbase to crash their site was a floating QR code that had people scrambling to figure out what it was.”

"Crypto won the Super Bowl last night," Elliot Gerard, founder and head of creative at Heartlent Group, agreed.

“This got everyone’s attention and engaged by either asking questions or pulling their phones out to scan—the stats and impact from the spot is very impressive,” added Erin Lentz, ArtVersion’s executive director of design.

Looking ahead to the 2030s, Jake Brannon, senior content strategist at Dagger, thinks all this crypto confusion will seem quaint. “It was ten years ago that the general public experienced QR codes for the first time, a piece of technology that's now second nature," Brannon said. "This raises the question: Will crypto be just as common in a decade?”

But perhaps Jessea Hankins, Duncan Channon’s creative director, saw through the ad most succinctly: “In a world where 15-second spots are considered ‘long-form,’ I must applaud their 60 seconds of QR pong. A+ trolling.”

Best ad honorable mentions: FTX, “Don’t Miss Out” ("Larry David was pretty ... pretty ... pretty good." —Ashley Purdum, director of PR and marketing, Night After Night); Rocket Mortgage, “Dream House,” starring Anna Kendrick ("A masterpiece that used clever childhood nostalgia to illustrate real adult problems coupled with the brand’s unique solution, and Anna Kendrick’s always funny." —Terry Dillon, VP, creative, Empower); Uber Eats, “Uber Don’t Eats” ("Especially when Gwyneth Paltrow was eating her candle." —Nick Martini, founder and CEO, Step T Studios); Expedia, “Stuff” ("Ewan McGregor brought something more than his celebrity to this message that cleverly used the context of almost every other ad around it to make its point. I believe that he believes what he's saying about experiences being worth more than stuff." —John Trahar, creative and strategy lead, Greatest Common Factory); Squarespace, "Everything to Shell Anything" ("Squarespace took their ad to new heights by choosing Zendaya, a millennial icon, to endorse their product. While her presence in the ad was enough to be a hook, they added a layer of her being a woman small business owner and achieving her dreams by launching her business’ Squarespace website." —Alysha Ali, marketing manager, Amp Agency; "For a complicated business, a lot was communicated in a simple, succinct, shell-ified style.” —Jennie Lee Gruber, senior brand strategist, Dagger); Irish Spring, "Welcome to Irish Spring" ("I remember the Irish Spring ads from the 70’s and this was a great way to dip into the brand’s equity while bringing it completely up-to-date. Bodily functions are now dealt with so frankly across the industry that it can be gross— but the spooky, kitschy tone of this ad made watching a spot about body odor fun and memorable." —Mason Franklin, executive VP and managing partner, UM)

Worst ad honorable mentions: Meta’s “Old Friends, New Fun"; Frito-Lay Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Doritos’s “Unleash Your Flamin’ Hot” ("Not only do I question if these animals actually coexist in the wild, but more than that, I question the point of this ad." —Juan Aguilar, senior art director, Fig Agency)

Best crypto ad: FTX, "Don't Miss Out" (dentsuMB)

Even though Coinbase won the main best and worst categories, its own crypto category went to FTX’s “Don’t Miss Out” for its brilliant casting of boomer skeptic Larry David as an era-spanning Doubting Thomas. The wheel? Nah. Forks? What for. Crypto? You know what he thinks. As Josh Denberg, the founder and creative director at Division of Labor, put it, “Coinbase was great minimalism, but I never need to see it again. Larry and the writing? Again and again.”

Best EV ad: General Motors, Silverado EV, "New Generation" (Commonwealth/McCann)

Although BMW's "Zeus and Hera" EV ad, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek Pinault as aging Greek gods, impressed Mark Graham, creative director at Bader Rutter, by depicting "a future where it’s not so much about the vehicle, rather what fuels it," GM's “New Generation" won the top spot. In the ad, directed by "Sopranos" creator and showrunner David Chase, Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s grown-up Meadow Soprano re-creates her mob boss dad’s drive from Manhattan into New Jersey in a new Chevy Silverado EV. Fans of the classic series were sold from the opening notes of the show's theme “Woke Up This Morning" ("The world stopped when they heard that song," commented Conor McCabe, account manager at EightPM). The new generation of Sopranos comes into play when Meadow's kid brother, Robert Iler’s A.J., comes in for a hug at the end. "The biggest element that makes the ad work is nostalgia," said Daniel Golden, account manager at EightPM. "The reunion of characters from the iconic series did not disappoint."

The one missed opportunity? “If Meadow showed us that she finally figured out how to parallel park with this Chevy truck,” Fred & Farid's Zhao joked, “that would have really put it over the edge.” 

Funniest ad: Uber Eats, “Uber Don’t Eats” (Special Group U.S.)  

The celebrities, the music, the nonsensical confusion over what edible food is—Ampers loved it all. “While the celebrities added pop culture cachet, they weren’t even necessary for this absurdly memorable idea,” said Duncan Channon’s Hankins. And while many praised Jennifer Coolidge, Trevor Noah and Gwyneth Paltrow’s turns eating various home goods, Daniel Weisman from Noble People couldn’t get over Nicholas Braun from HBO's "Succession": “Something about Cousin Greg being an idiot always gets me.” 

Funniest ad honorable mentions: Amazon Alexa, “Mind Reader,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost; FTX, “Don’t Miss Out"; Pringles, “Pringles Stuck In" ("The concept is so simple and one that is truly ownable by Pringles, and that’s what makes it brilliant. And the hysterical vignettes are carefully crafted physical comedy beautifully elevated by Lionel Richie’s earworm 'Stuck on You,' which has been stuck in my head for days." —Kelly McCullough, creative director, Duncan Channon; “I loved this simple, relatable insight that was brought to life in a really funny way.” —Abby Hill, strategy director, Dagger); Lay’s, “Stay Golden,” starring Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen; Toyota, “The Joneses,” starring Tommy Lee Jones, Leslie Jones, Rashida Jones and Nick Jonas

Best health and wellness ad: Plant Fitness, "What's Gotten Into Lindsay?" (Publicis)

In perhaps a case of art imitating life, many Ampers were pleased to see a funny, healthy and happy Lindsay Lohan back on the scene in Planet Fitness’ “What’s Gotten Into Lindsay?” "Everyone loves a comeback story," said Fred & Farid's Zhao. The spot, which also featured Dennis Rodman, Danny Trejo and William Shatner, "was surprising and endearing. If Lindsay Lohan can go to Planet Fitness and turn herself around, why can’t we all?"

Best couple (tie): Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, Amazon Alexa, "Mind Reader" (Lucky Generals); Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, Lay's, "Stay Golden" (High Dive)

Best Couple was a two-way tie between married couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost for Alexa and the adorable bromance of Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen for Lay’s. 

“The Lay's spot was a great use of the guys and a conversation they may actually have,” said Britt Fero, PB& principal, while Linda Chau, chief financial officer of EightPM, pointed out that Johansson and Jost could really be credited with a PSA: “Prior to this commercial, everyone probably has always wanted Alexa to read their mind. This commercial just reminds you why Alexa shouldn't.”

Best cast reunion: General Motors, "Dr. EV-il" (McCann)

In GM's second EV spot, “Dr. EV-il” (see what they did there?), the villainous crew from the "Austin Powers" franchise are back to scheming. Dr. Evil (Mike Myers), son Scott Evil (Seth Green), Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling) and Number Two (Rob Lowe) plot to save the world before they can take it over. As FRED & FARID’s Zhao put it, “If the world’s evilest characters can get together and agree that EVs are the way to go, why can’t we all?”

Special thanks to Amp voters: Juan Aguilar, senior art director, Fig Agency; Alysha Ali, marketing manager, Amp Agency; Wayne Best, chief content officer, VMLY&R NY; Jake Brannon, senior content strategist, Dagger; Linda Chau, chief financial officer, EightPM; Josh Denberg, founder, creative director, Division of Labor; Terry Dillo, VP, creative, Empower; Britt Fero, principal, PB&; Mason Franklin, executive VP, managing partner, UM; Elliot Gerard, founder and head of creative, Heartlent Group; Daniel Golden, account manager, EightPM; Mark Graham, creative director, Bader Rutter; Jennie Lee Gruber, senior brand strategist, Dagger; Jessea Hankins, creative director, Duncan Channon; Abby Hill, strategy director, Dagger; Erin Lentz, executive director of design, ArtVersion; Nick Martini, founder and CEO, Step T Studios; Conor McCabe, account manager, EightPM; Kelly McCullough, creative director, Duncan Channon; Julia St. Onge-May, group business director, Night After Night; Kace Phillips, partner,  RBA; Jorge Prado, founder and CEO, Admazing Co.; Ashley Purdum, director of PR and marketing, Night After Night; John Trahar, creative and strategy lead, Greatest Common Factory; Daniel Weisman, Noble People; Eileen Zhao, strategic director, fred & Farid Los Angeles