THE AD: Salesforce’s Super Bowl ad starts with MrBeast — Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson — announcing he’s locked $1 million inside a vault. From there, the spot plays less like a traditional commercial and more like a teaser trailer built for the internet. There’s no neat narrative arc or product pitch: instead, viewers are prompted to pause, rewind and decode what they’re watching, turning a passive TV moment into an interactive one.
The ad closes by nudging viewers to scan a QR code to keep the challenge going. In doing so, Salesforce turns its Super Bowl buy into the opening move for a much larger game — one designed to live online and on its product Slack.
MY TAKE: Salesforce’s MrBeast-led spot is less an ad than a handoff of attention. By anchoring its most expensive media moment to a creator-driven puzzle, Salesforce is betting that participation is the currency that matters now. The gamble works culturally: MrBeast brings instant internet logic to a stage that still defaults to TV thinking. But it also underscores a familiar trade-off. In choosing intrigue over clarity, Salesforce risks leaving casual viewers remembering the challenge more than the brand behind it. The ad may win the post-game conversation — even if what Salesforce actually sells remains beside the point.
Watch Salesforce’s Super Bowl 60 ad, “Big Game Ad @MrBeast’s Vault” below.
