#813: Big Game Ads Recap: Zappi CMO Nataly Kelly shares the winners and losing advertisers

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX

The Agile Brand

Business, Marketing

4.9 • 113 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Did your brand just spend $7 million on a 30-second ad that alienated or ignored half its potential audience? Agility requires a willingness to challenge long-held assumptions—like the idea that a celebrity and a massive budget are all you need for a winning Super Bowl ad. It demands that brands move from gut feelings to data-driven insights to understand what truly resonates with their audience. Today, we're going to talk about the biggest advertising event of the year: the Super Bowl. Millions of dollars are spent, careers are made, and brands have one 30-second shot to capture the zeitgeist. But beyond the spectacle and the morning-after buzz, what actually drives results? We'll dig into the data behind the ads, exploring which brands successfully connected with key audiences, what the data says about using celebrities, and how the smartest brands think about the Super Bowl not as a single event, but as a strategic play in a much larger game.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Nataly Kelly, CMO at Zappi. About Nataly Kelly Nataly Kelly is Chief Marketing Officer at Zappi, based in Boston, MA. Previously she served at HubSpot as Vice President of Marketing, Vice President of International Operations and Strategy, and Vice President of Localization. Nataly Kelly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalykelly/ Resources Zappi: https://www.zappi.io Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code AGILE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/agile The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Get the Zappi Lessons in Advertising: Super Bowl LX report: https://www.zappi.io/web/learnings-from-super-bowl-ads-2026/Drive your customers to new horizons at the premier retail event of the year for Retail and Brand marketers. Learn more at CRMC 2026, June 1-3. https://www.thecrmc.com/ Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show at: https://advertalize.com/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Agile Brand
0:02.3	Welcome to Season 8 of the Agile Brand podcast.
0:10.1	This season we're going all in on expert mode
0:12.7	MARTEC, AI, and customer experience, talking with the people and
0:16.8	platforms behind the brands you know and love.
0:19.4	I'm Greg Kilstrom, your host, and I help Fortune 1000 companies make sense of
0:23.8	Martec, AI, and marketing ops.
0:26.6	Hit subscribe or follow to make sure you always get the latest episodes and leave us a rating
0:30.8	so others can find us as well.
0:32.8	And make sure you check out our sponsor, Tech Systems, an industry leader in full-stack
0:36.8	technology services, talent services, and real leader in full-stack technology services,
0:38.4	talent services, and real-world application. For more information, go to teK-systems.com. Now let's dive in.
0:48.9	Did your brand just spend $8 million on a 30-second ad that alienated or ignored half its potential audience,
0:55.8	agility requires a willingness to challenge long-held assumptions, like the idea that a celebrity
1:00.4	or a massive budget are all you need for a winning Super Bowl ad. It demands that brands move
1:05.6	from gut feelings to data-driven insights to understand what truly resonates with their audience.
1:10.5	Today we're going to talk about the biggest advertising event of the year, the Super Bowl.
1:14.8	Millions of dollars are spent, careers are made, and brands have one 30-second shot to capture
1:20.3	the zeitgeist.
1:21.5	But beyond the spectacle and the morning after buzz, what actually drives results?
1:25.8	We're going to dig into the data behind the ads, exploring which brands successfully connected with key audiences, what actually drives results? We're going to dig into the data behind the ads,
1:28.0	exploring which brands successfully connected with key audiences, what the data says about using
	...

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