People watch the Super Bowl for two reasons. Either their team is playing, or they watch it for the commercials. Here, in no particular order, are the five commercials that really worked this year.

(This list does not include the fantastic Marines ad – which you can read about here. That ad was so great, it got a post all its own.)

1) The Budweiser water commercial

Since 1988, we’ve been helping the victims of natural disasters by donating clean drinking water. America, we'll always stand by you.

Learn more about our water donation and 2018 commitment: https://t.co/rQQhz1FKrO pic.twitter.com/UPeci24g0N

— BudweiserUSA (@budweiserusa) January 26, 2018

This ad premiered on Twitter before the Super Bowl, and was instantly well-received.

The best Budweiser commercial in the Super Bowl this year might be the one that doesn’t try to overtly sell you beer pic.twitter.com/HDAEI4whNM

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 26, 2018

This is incredible and poignant. https://t.co/wL6AgYmyZu

— Ralph Barrera (@RalphBarrera) January 26, 2018

Really nicely done here. https://t.co/kMoX6QquGg

— T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) January 26, 2018

Highlighting charitable efforts always makes for effective marketing. Well done to Anheuser-Busch.

2) The Jeep/Jeff Goldblum test drive commercial
This was not only an excellent tie-in to the new trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but also was extremely funny.

Jeff Goldblum totally sells that “I just did” line, followed up by the iconic soundtrack. It works perfectly.

3) The NFL “Dirty Dancing” spoof commercial
The NFL had been running little “interstitial” ads featuring Eli Manning all game, which finally culminated in this ad:

For thirty teams, Super Bowl isn’t the end of the season – it’s the start of next season. Watch Eli, @OBJ_3, @TheHumble_21 and the @Giants O-line put in the work in our #SBLII commercial. pic.twitter.com/QP6UducMYa

— NFL (@NFL) February 5, 2018

This ad was absolutely hysterical, but it does point out a glaring demographic problem for the NFL. “Dirty Dancing” is very much a Gen X movie. I was watching the Super Bowl with 3 other adults, and 8 kids in the room. All the adults found the ad to be hilarious. The oldest kids in the room (ages 15, 14, and 13) all looked at us “old people” and asked, “why is this funny?” The in-joke was completely lost on them.

So, the ad itself works, but pro tip, NFL – you’re going to lose the younger demographic if you can’t update the cultural references.

4) Jack vs. Martha commercial
This ad (even though it had been released online early) won points for the sheer silly moment of Martha Stewart taking Jack’s nose off.

Nobody pulls off Jack Box's nose, @MarthaStewart. Nobody. #JackVsMartha pic.twitter.com/sivPRfxUF7

— Jack Box (@JackBox) January 29, 2018

There’s now been a follow-up ad released.

I'm ready to forgive @MarthaStewart right here, right now. All she has to do is try it. #JackVsMartha pic.twitter.com/6OICOmzeDW

— Jack Box (@JackBox) February 5, 2018

I’m sure that this is not the last we will hear of #JackVsMartha, but for the moment, it was a funny commercial that worked and stood out from the crowd.

5) The “Solo: A Star Wars Story” teaser commercial
And all the nerds rejoiced. Including every single kid in the room that I was in.

The second that silhouetted Star Destroyer showed up on the screen, every kid in the room yelled, “IT’S STAR WARS” and were instantly glued to the TV. You can’t beat that. A new Star Wars movie is basically a way for Lucasfilm/Disney to print themselves more money, especially one that focuses on one of the most popular characters in the franchise – Han Solo. And with it now being set up as a Memorial Day weekend release, fans will get their next Star Wars fix just a few months from now.

Did I miss your favorite? Which one did you like the best?