How Mother's Claude campaign won the Super Bowl

One of the biggest talking points in the run‑up to this year’s Super Bowl wasn’t on the field – nor was it Bad Bunny. Among the billions spent on advertising during the game it was one campaign in particular that tapped into a growing anxiety for audiences and businesses alike: the looming arrival of advertising within ChatGPT and what that might mean.

And within days of its release, the campaign - for Chat GPT rival Claude, by Mother - is already winning accolades. This week it scooped the Super Clio for Creative Excellence in Super Bowl Advertising.

The Claude ad, ‘A Time and a Place’, did what challenger brands do best - it poked at its rival by asking the simple question: ‘Does advertising belong everywhere?”

Created by Mother and directed by Biscuit Filmworks Jeff Low, the work extends Claude's ‘Keep Thinking’ campaign, positioning Claude as the AI built to expand human thinking - not exploit attention.

A Striking Super Bowl Debut

This was Anthropic’s first Super Bowl campaign for Claude and featured four darkly comedic films, including a 60-second pregame spot, ‘How do I communicate with my mom?’, airing 30 minutes before kick-off, and a 30-second in-game spot, ‘Can I get a six pack quickly?’ Together, they reached an audience of 120 million viewers with a message about what kind of AI people deserve.

Andrew Stirk, head of brand marketing at Anthropic, said of the work: "People want an AI they can trust—one that's focused solely on working for them. We want Claude to be that choice."

As Mother's CCO Felix Richter explains: "All the time, we see proof that advertising works brilliantly in the right context. We're using advertising's biggest stage to ask a simple question: does it belong everywhere? So we made funny ads about how unfunny it would be. People asking AI about their health, their relationships, their business. Then a sponsored answer. We don't need to explain why that's wrong. We just need to show it.”

Claude itself helped produce the campaign by synthesising research, sharpening briefs, and navigating complex production schedules to speed up the process and sharpen the thinking. The rest of the production was entirely run by humans, however.

As a result, the campaign was recognised by a Cleo jury of agency executives and brand leaders to be named as the Most Creative Commercial to air during the Big Game.

“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,” said Nicole Purcell, CEO of The Clios. “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 special award was introduced last year by The Clios in collaboration with WPP’s Global Chief Creative Officer Rob Reilly, who serves as a non-voting Super Clio Commissioner for the awards on jury selection and judging.

The jurors were quick to praise Mother's Claude work. Tiffany Rolfe, chair and global chief creative officer, R/GA says: "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, comments: "In a field full of creativity for the sake of disruption, this spot chose to centre 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, adds: "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 humour and fantastic craft is hard to pull off."

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. Don't be surprised if this is first of many won by this campaign over the coming months.

The 2026 Super Clio winner jury was made up of:

• 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