Sure, the Super Bowl is US football’s game of the year, but its broadcast is advertising’s US$8m entry-fee competition of the year. Mother has won the 2026 Super Clio Award, a special honour given out by the Clio Awards for the most creative commercial to air during the Super Bowl.
Many brands leaned into familiar tropes like famous faces, nostalgic needle drops, and long-running gags, but Claude’s Can I get a six-pack quickly? by Mother stood out for its timely topic, pitch perfect pacing, quick-witted humour and message of strength. The brand took aim at its competition and touted its product benefits, which won points with the Super Clio jury.
The 2026 Super Clio Award was determined by leaders from Google, Highdive, PepsiCo Foods US, Unilever, Omnicom, Accenture, McKinney, R/GA, Uber, and more:
- Omid Amidi, Co-Chief Creative Officer, McKinney
- Chris Bellinger, Chief Creative Officer, PepsiCo Foods US
- Anibal Casso, Chief Strategy Officer, North America; Global Strategy Lead for WPP’s OpenX, Ogilvy
- Susan Credle, Former Chair & Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB, Omnicom
- Nick Drake, Vice President, Global Marketing, Google
- David Droga, Vice Chair, Accenture
- Esi Eggleston Bracey, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Unilever
- Marques Garttrell, Chief Creative Officer, Wieden+Kennedy New York
- Mark Gross, Co-Founder & Co-Chief Creative Officer, Highdive
- Jon Halvorson, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, Kenvue
- Danielle Hawley, Global Head of Creative & Brand, Uber
- Zach Hilder, Chief Creative Officer, 72andSunny
- Margaret Johnson, Chief Creative Officer, Partner, Goodby Silverstein & Partners
- Laurie Lam, Chief Brand Officer, e.l.f Beauty
- Nicole Parlapiano, Chief Marketing Officer, Tubi
- Marcelo Pascoa, Former VP Marketing, Global & North America, Molson Coors
- Pedro Pérez, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles
- Bruno Abner Rebelo, Chief Creative Officer, Health, Grey
- Tiffany Rolfe, Chair & Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA
- Michelle Ross, Founder/Managing Director, Superprime Films
- Luiz Sanches, Chief Creative and Design Officer, Kimberly-Clark
- Joel Simon, Chief Creative Officer/CEO, JSM Music
Tiffany Rolfe, chair & global chief creative officer, R/GA, stated, “This was my favourite work of the night. Super smart. Super insightful. Human, yet very much grounded in tech and the AI zeitgeist.”
Marques Gartrell, chief creative officer, Wieden+Kennedy New York, stated, “In a field full of creativity for the sake of disruption, this spot chose to center its creativity on the product differentiation itself. Nice, simple, and memorable for what the brand itself is, they found a way to make an AI brand stand for something that puts people first in a moment when it seems like people will come in last place in the AI revolution.”
Omid Amid, co-chief creative officer, McKinney, stated,”This ad breaks category norms by positioning brand philosophy as the concept itself — a Super Bowl commercial that isn’t selling a product, but selling an idea about the future of AI and advertising. That type of meta commentary — sparking debate around tech and marketing — through off beat humor and fantastic craft is hard to pull off.”
The Super Clio was introduced in 2015 in collaboration with WPP’s global chief creative officer, Rob Reilly. He and Clio Awards CEO, Nicole Purcell, recognised a need to highlight the revolutionary work that’s introduced during the Super Bowl with an honour selected by the people who make ads and understand the nuances of producing a groundbreaking commercial for the big game. Each year, Reilly serves as the non-voting Super Clio commissioner and collaborates with the Clio Awards on jury selection and judging.
“The Super Bowl continues to be a moment where creativity meets a massive audience, giving advertisers the opportunity to introduce work that is bold and culturally resonant,” Nicole Purcell, CEO of The Clios, stated. “It’s refreshing to see a brand like Anthropic take bold risks with its product messaging in their first spot in the big game, I hope it encourages more newcomers to green light big ideas.”
The Super Clio trophy, which towers above a standard Clio at 22 inches, matching the height and look of the Lombardi Trophy, will be inscribed and presented to Mother in the coming days.
