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Celebrity spokespeople can be an asset to a business--but when it comes to ads, they may not be a brand's best option.

That's according to a new report from the New York City-based market research company System1, which analyzed the success of Super Bowl commercials. Its findings: Companies that can scrounge up $7 million for airtime during the big game are better off using brand characters over celebs for their advertisements.

Based on a survey of 46,200 respondents, who assessed 308 Super Bowl ads that aired between 2020 and 2023, System1 found that Super Bowl ads with brand characters outscored commercials with celebrities when it came to consumer appeal, brand recognition, and commercial impact. Advertisements with characters or scenarios that repeat across ads--like the Geico gecko and Jake from State Farm--averaged 3.8 stars in the study on a scale of 0 to 5.9. Meanwhile, commercials with celebrity features scored an average 2.7 stars.

Brand characters also converted more in sales, averaging a 1.38 spike rating over a 10-day period, compared to celebrity ads' score of 1.24.

Businesses don't need Super Bowl commercial spots to put these insights into practice. Small businesses can win big any time of year by developing a memorable personality or mascot to represent their brand.

Jon Evans, chief customer officer at System1, says that not nearly enough businesses take advantage of this strategy: Only 10 percent of Super Bowl ads used characters and branded situations in the System1 study. "Almost 20 percent of viewers leave Super Bowl ads not being able to recall what brand the ad was for," said Evans in the report. "This is causing serious wastage."

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