Lay's, Heinz, Pringles: Big Game packs that stole the show and moved product
Image: Target
The Super Bowl is the biggest advertising stage on Earth, but this year the smartest brands proved the real play happens after the screen goes dark. Lay’s turned a halftime QR into 100,000 doorstep deliveries within 72 hours, Heinz swapped the squeeze bottle for a 114-oz stainless ketchup keg built for watch parties, Pringles handed Sabrina Carpenter its iconic tube as a literal co-star, Bud Light printed sweepstakes codes directly on cases and cans, Guinness and Joe Montana shipped a Bay Area-only Legends Lager 4-pack capped at 7,000 units, Kinder Bueno backed its first-ever Big Game spot with QR-enabled limited packs, and Ritz turned its cracker boxes into the entry ticket to a star-studded island party. Seven quick hits you can swipe:
Lay’s | QR to fresh chips in 72 hours
The Story: Lay’s ran two Big Game spots back to back. “Last Harvest” honored growers, and “The Lay’s Challenge” flashed a QR code that gave 100,000 viewers a free bag delivered to their door in 72 hours or less. Miss the window? You get a year of Lay’s.
Why It’s Interesting: Most Super Bowl ads buy awareness. This one bought addresses. A real-time giveaway converts attention into first-party data and puts product on doorsteps while the spot is still in memory. The delivery-speed guarantee adds stakes that make the story shareable, and every box that lands is a trial that feeds repeat purchase. The mechanic is elegant: screen QR triggers DTC fulfillment and CRM capture in one tap.
What to Borrow: Run a timed QR drop with a delivery-speed guarantee tied to your next tentpole. Speed is the new sampling.
Link: Adweek: Lay’s gives away 100k bags via QR
Heinz | The ketchup keg that turned condiment into centerpiece
The Story: Heinz replaced the squeeze bottle with a stainless, 114-oz mini-keg featuring a precision tap, standing roughly 19.5 inches tall. The Big Game drop was a limited giveaway with sign-ups for future releases. The format is aluminum body with spigot, built for buffet-speed dispensing.
Why It’s Interesting: Watch-party hosts want fewer refills and more showmanship. An oversized format creates the kind of “I have to post this” moment that drives earned reach and basket trade-up without a media buy. Bulk dispensing also reduces touchpoints and table mess, solving a real hosting pain point. The keg silhouette is unmistakably Heinz, which means every photo is a brand impression.
What to Borrow: Prototype a party-size format that is photogenic and fast to serve. If hosts want to show it off, they will do your marketing for you.
Link: Yahoo Lifestyle: Heinz is now selling a massive keg of ketchup
Pringles | Sabrina Carpenter and the can as co-star
The Story: Pringles’ “Pringleleo” stars Sabrina Carpenter building a boyfriend out of Pringles, leaning hard on the instantly recognizable tube silhouette in every single frame. The can is not a prop. It is the plot.
Why It’s Interesting: Distinctive pack structure earns screen time that flat bags and generic boxes never will. A tube that reads from six feet gets more shelf pop and more social sharing because fans want to recreate what they saw. The flavor color bands do double duty: quick flavor ID in-store and instant recognition in screenshots. When your format is the visual hook, your media spend works harder.
What to Borrow: Design your hero shot so the pack, not the celebrity, steals the frame. If your packaging disappears in the ad, you wasted the buy.
Link: Hollywood Reporter: Sabrina Carpenter’s Super Bowl Pringles ad
Bud Light | The case becomes the signup sheet
The Story: Bud Light’s “All Access” campaign prints sweepstakes QR codes across 30-pack 12-oz cans, 12-pack 16-oz aluminum bottles, and 25-oz cans. Keg promos add QR-redeemable rebates. The codes are high-contrast on corrugate and aluminum to maximize scan rates.
Why It’s Interesting: Most on-pack activations live on shelf talkers or neck hangers that get stripped at the register. Bud Light printed the access pass on the primary and secondary packaging itself, which means the entry point travels home with the buyer. Scan-at-home behavior extends engagement past the point of purchase, and friends at the party become secondary scanners. Crisp, high-contrast codes on both corrugate and aluminum ensure the mechanic actually works under real lighting.
What to Borrow: Put your activation on the pack itself, not on a removable tag. If the code goes home, the relationship starts at home.
Link: Bud Light Official Rules: on-pack QR entry details
Guinness x Joe Montana | Bay Area-only, 7,000-unit treasure hunt
The Story: Guinness released “Legends Lager,” a pale wheat beer with Joe Montana, capped at 7,000 four-packs available only in the Bay Area during game week. Five dollars from every 4-pack went to SF-Marin Food Bank.
Why It’s Interesting: Geography-locked drops reward locals and create scarcity that moves fast. When only 7,000 units exist, every sighting becomes content. The giveback ties purchase to purpose, a proven velocity lift in beer that also neutralizes any skepticism about celebrity cash-grabs. The packaging is simple and collectible, signaling “game-week only” without over-designing. Hyper-local plus limited run plus donation is a formula that converts fandom into urgency.
What to Borrow: Pair a micro-regional pack with a donation trigger fans can feel. Scarcity plus purpose equals faster sell-through.
Link: PR Newswire: Guinness and Joe Montana unite in San Francisco
Kinder Bueno | First Big Game spot sealed by the pack
The Story: Kinder Bueno’s first-ever Super Bowl ad, “Yes Bueno,” is backed by limited-edition packaging with QR codes that unlock a national sweepstakes running through March 31. LTO flavors add a collecting dimension.
Why It’s Interesting: This is connected-pack done right. Broadcast creates desire, and the pack seals the action at shelf. Too many brands spend millions on a 30-second spot and then offer nothing scannable when the shopper finally picks up the product. Kinder Bueno closed that loop: QR on wrappers and displays, plus limited flavors that spark repeat trips. The sweepstakes window extends well past game day, pulling awareness forward into weeks of incremental purchase.
What to Borrow: Add a scannable payoff to limited packs so the ad momentum does not die at the endcap.
Link: LBB: Kinder Bueno’s Super Bowl debut adds QR on limited packs
Ritz | Boxes become the party passport
The Story: “RITZ Island” sends Jon Hamm, Bowen Yang, and Scarlett Johansson to a star-studded cracker paradise, with Ritz boxes stacked and passed as the social currency of entry. The box is not background. It is the ticket.
Why It’s Interesting: Occasion fit drives multi-box baskets. Hosts want simple crowd-pleasers with signaling power, and Ritz leaned into that by staging the carton as the thing you bring to get in. Bold carton faces and side-panel blocking build table presence that reinforces the brand long after the ad fades. When secondary packaging becomes a party prop in the creative, it gives retailers a reason to build themed displays.
What to Borrow: Stage secondary packaging as party props in your storyboards and retail displays. If the box looks good on the table, it earns a spot on the list.
