Why Sabrina Carpenter is eating Pringles at the Super Bowl
Back on February 6th, 2017, a teenaged Sabrina Carpenter tweeted, “Is there a way to look attractive while eating Pringles asking for a friend.”
Now, nine years later, the pop star is doing exactly that—in the brand’s Super Bowl ad campaign. Created by agency BBDO New York, the teaser shows Carpenter treating her Pringles like a flower bouquet, plucking chips while saying, “He loves me, he loves me not . . .”
For Pringles, the spot represents the perfect formula for celebrity partnership. “Our partner talent has to be a genuine brand fan!” says Sarah Reinecke, senior vice president of Mars Snacking’s salty portfolio and brand, which oversees Pringles. “Sabrina is the biggest thing in culture right now and is a fan of Pringles, so having the opportunity to work with her and engage her fan base in all the fun we have planned for the big game is an exciting partnership that hits all the right factors for us.”
Pringles’ celebrity strategy
Pringles is no stranger to the celebrity Super Bowl ad game. The brand tapped Meghan Trainor in 2023, Chris Pratt in 2024, and last year, a seemingly random collection of stars like James Harden, Adam Brody, and Nick Offerman. But Reinecke says the brand’s strategy isn’t some game of big name roulette.
“Each partnership has sharpened our approach,” she says. “We’ve learned that the most effective talent isn’t just recognizable—it has to authentically align with both the audience and the brand’s voice.” Reinecke points to Carpenter as an example of this. “She connects deeply with Gen Z while naturally embodying the self-aware, unhinged internet humor that defines how the brand shows up today,” Reinecke says. “The partnership has really embodied a shared sense of play, which we hope ultimately makes it resonate with our fans.”
Beyond the Game
Given the level of investment required to just get a spot in the game, most brands now extend Super Bowl-related work to run long before and after the final whistle. For Pringles, that means tying its work with Carpenter into an existing campaign that launched last fall to resurrect its ‘90s ad slogan “Once You Pop.”
Pringles’ Super Bowl teaser was one of the first to drop back on January 14th. Reinecke says that they knew partnering with someone like Carpenter would spark a ton of conversation, so the goal was to capitalize early and often in order to allow the brand to be at the center of the conversation for as long as possible.
That level of conversation and enthusiasm is a key metric for the brand. “Of course, we would be lying if we said we didn’t care about ROI and metrics,” says Reinecke. “It’s incredibly important for us to measure success across both the marketing funnel and the impact on business. But while reach is important, what may be even more important is how much people care. So, we track everything from awareness, consideration, sentiment and purchase intent, and our impact to go beyond where a snack brand is expected to show up.”
Celebrity Q&A
There are three key questions every marketer should ask themselves before deciding whether to use celebrity talent and who to choose for a Super Bowl ad, according to Reinecke:
- Does the partnership feel authentic to the brand and relevant to the audience you’re going after? “The face of the campaign on one of the largest stages in brand marketing of the year is a crucial piece,” according to Reinecke.
- How will this ad positively impact the business? “For us, the Big Game is the biggest snacking occasion of the year, so having a presence directly ties back to business objectives,” she says.
- Does the partnership have the potential to expand beyond the game? “While the move to social media as a newsfeed grows, think about how the partnership and creative could extend to the small screen, and relevant ways to tap into the narrative your brand builds with your partner beyond game day,” Reinecke adds.