Super Bowl advertising has long operated at the intersection of popular culture and mass media. With an average of over 100 million television viewers in the United States alone, Super Bowl advertising is one of the most scrutinized and culturally significant forms of branded content in the world. Production demands are immense, deadlines are compressed, and the margin for error is minimal. For brands and agencies running these campaigns, the logistical and creative infrastructure behind the scenes is just as important as what ultimately appears on screen.
The official Super Bowl LVI campaign was no exception. Featuring a lineup that included Halle Berry, Kevin Hart, Marcus Allen, Joe Namath and Ronnie Lott, the production required coordination of internationally recognized talent, complex scheduling, creative direction, styling logistics and content execution across multiple deliverables, all within the compressed timelines typical of major entertainment productions.
What made the campaign particularly remarkable was the operational complexity of bringing that production to life, as well as the caliber of talent involved. Managing high-profile talent in a business environment requires not only logistical precision, but also an understanding of image, brand alignment and visual storytelling at the level of entertainment culture. For productions of this scale, the infrastructure behind the scenes often determines whether the creative vision successfully translates into the final product.
Sara Borges Styling served as head of wardrobe for the campaign, a role that placed the firm at the center of the production’s visual identity. With a track record of high-profile entertainment, commercial and celebrity-facing projects, Sara Borges was responsible for the entire wardrobe operation of the cast, which included some of the most recognizable names in sports and entertainment. In production of this scale, the role of wardrobe extends far beyond garment selection. This requires the coordination of fittings, logistics, talent schedules, creative approvals and on-set execution between multiple high-profile individuals, all contributing to the visual coherence of the final campaign.
Instrumental in that production infrastructure was Los Angeles-based communications strategist and creative producer Andrea Gilthe. Her role focused specifically on overseeing Sara Borges’ wardrobe operations, handling behind-the-scenes production logistics, creative coordination and content execution to ensure everything was in place for the head of wardrobe to successfully complete the campaign. This included sourcing support, scheduling, styling logistics, and on-set production assistance. In addition to the wardrobe operation, Gilt also took full ownership of Sara Borges’ social media production, content creation and behind-the-scenes footage, conceptualizing, capturing and producing documentary content that transformed the campaign experience into digital work for Sara Borges’ website, social platforms and client-facing portfolio.
The experience reflected a broader truth about the way modern entertainment productions operate. The finished advertising, the polished, broadcast-ready content, represents only a fraction of what is actually produced during a campaign of this scale. Behind-the-scenes documentation, digital content, social assets and platform-specific storytelling have become integral to how major entertainment productions reach and engage audiences beyond broadcast.
Gilthey’s extensive background in communications, branding and production has since expanded to music education and artist development, where she leads digital strategy and communications for LAAMP, the Los Angeles Academy for Artists and Music Production. His participation in the USC American Marketing Association Entertainment Marketing Panel, held at the USC Marshall School of Business, reflects the cross-industry perspective he brings to entertainment communications.
As the boundaries between advertising, entertainment, branding and digital media continue to blur, productions like the Super Bowl LVI campaign reflect the growing complexity of what successful large-scale content creation actually requires, and the range of expertise that makes it possible.
Leave a Reply