McCann New York’s trailer for National Geographic’s series on the life of Albert Einstein called Genius has won the third annual Super Clios.

The ad, Bad Romance, was chosen by 11 top creatives.

“This spot was an incredible opportunity for us to reach the largest TV audience of the year and also a way to reintroduce our brand philosophy to push boundaries, go further and be pioneering in everything we do,” commented Jill Cress, chief marketing officer, National Geographic Partners.

“It allowed us to show a broader audience that we can take a topic like Albert Einstein and make it relevant, timely and create a global conversation around our series, Genius, and the National Geographic brand in general. We are incredibly grateful to our partners at McCann and honored to be recognized with such a prestigious acknowledgement of our efforts,” he added.

This year’s runners-up were:

RPA Los Angeles, Yearbooks for Honda

Anomaly New York, Born the Hard Way for Budweiser

TBWA New York, #WeAccept for Airbnb

The 45-second trailer aired at the end of halftime and featured Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein playing Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance on the violin – in a way extending Lady Gaga’s half time show performance, which had concluded her show.

The judges rewarded it for its out of the box humour, simplicity and subtlety, as well as the craft behind it and its air-time strategy.

The jurors were also impressed with both the spot’s craft and airtime.

McCann New York had only two and a half weeks to turn National Geographic’s brief into a Super Bowl commercial that would stand up against a host of other ardently produced efforts.