Good morning. Today, Super Bowl advertisers want more than 30 seconds of fame; more brands trust Meta’s AI with their ad campaigns; and a fast-fashion pioneer moves its marketing emphasis.

Super Bowl ad news is coming quickly now as marketers try to turn their 30 seconds of extremely expensive air time into two weeks of publicity.

• Levi’s bought its first Super Bowl ad in more than 20 years to try to capitalize on the game’s location at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Ad Age reports. The company is also producing a series of events on the ground in the week before the game. Its last Super Bowl spot was 2003’s “Stampede,” in which a couple of serious-looking hipsters hold their ground against a herd of CGI buffalo.
• Instacart released its full Super Bowl commercial starring Benson Boone and Ben Stiller as an ’80s style retro disco-pop act who do high kicks and flips with very different levels of success. The music and slapstick may cut through for viewers during the game, but I’m curious to see whether the message—that Instacart gives customers an easy way to specify their desired banana ripeness—lands as well.
• Serena Williams will talk up GLP-1s in the first Super Bowl commercial for telehealth firm Ro, joking to People magazine that it “would’ve been really amazing” to have them on the tennis court. 
• And a slightly less glamorous health-focused ad will imitate an action movie to dramatize health screenings for people with Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. “Ask your doctor about a simple urine test called uACR and join our mission,” Octavia Spencer says in the ad, from Boehringer Ingelheim. The company is a co-developer of Jardiance, a treatment for chronic kidney disease and diabetes.

Meta Platforms reported record sales in the fourth quarter, saying its ambitious AI spending is already paying off in user engagement and ad effectiveness—with better returns to come. 

Revenue hit $59.9 billion, almost all from advertising, up 24%, Meghan Bobrowsky reports for The Wall Street Journal.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans this year to build new data centers around the globe, release new AI models and further infuse the ad business with AI.

“Our world-class recommendation systems are already driving meaningful growth across our apps and ads business, but we think that the current systems are primitive compared to what will be possible soon,” Zuckerberg told analysts and investors. 

One data point in particular stood out to me.

Marketers seem to be going along with Meta’s drive to automate more and more of their campaigns, an ambitious effort detailed by Meghan and the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Patrick Coffee last June.

Here’s Zuckerberg on Wednesday’s earnings call:

H&M has adjusted its strategy as it makes a marketing push to improve sales, CEO Daniel Erver said Thursday on the Swedish fast-fashion retailer’s call to discuss its latest results.

“In the beginning was a lot about the brand position at large,” said Erver, who took over in early 2024:

H&M under Erver has been working to get more desirable collections into stores faster, while also trying to attract customers through new marketing and upgraded stores, Dominic Chopping writes in the Journal.

The company said Thursday that sales in its fiscal fourth quarter—which runs from September through November—rose 2% in local currencies.

That topped a Citi forecast of 1.3%, despite having 4% fewer stores at the end of the quarter compared with the previous year.

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It was “pure magic”: Everybody is suddenly obsessed with 2016, embracing nostalgia for matte makeup, skinny jeans and Rihanna songs. [WSJ]

A trade group for prediction markets kicked off a seven-figure PR push after a Polymarket trader made $400,000 with a suspiciously well-timed bet on the downfall of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. [BI]

Pet food and products are looking more and more MAHA. [WSJ. Magazine] 

Columbia Sportswear and Breakside Brewery introduced Nature Calls, a limited-edition beer that they say includes bear poop, part of the outdoor brand’s “Engineered for Whatever” theme. [Axios] 

Google will pay $135 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it programmed its Android operating system to illegally collect consumers’ cellular data. Google said the case misrepresents industry practices. [WSJ]

Allbirds will close its last full-price stores in the U.S., including the San Francisco location where it introduced a new retail concept last year.  [Footwear News]

Chili’s parent company posted higher second-quarter profit and revenue as the chain’s perceived affordability continued to draw repeat customers. [WSJ] 

Why “Heated Rivalry” hasn’t shown up on Nielsen’s streaming charts despite what HBO says is a huge audience. [THR]