MURFREESBORO, Tenn. —  For the third straight year, marketing students at Middle Tennessee State University had a front-row seat to one of the biggest nights in advertising.

Through a continued partnership with USA Today, MTSU students joined those from several other colleges and universities around the country to participate in the publication’s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter survey, rating and analyzing this year’s commercials alongside audiences nationwide. The Ad Meter collects viewer feedback from across the country and publishes its national rankings after the game.

Jones College of Business Department of Marketing professors Randy Clark, Ronda Henderson, Natalie Marquart and Gaia Rancati gathered about 200 of their students inside the State Farm Lecture Hall in the Business and Aerospace Building for a videoconference debrief with Rick Suter, senior content strategist for the USA Today network, to discuss their ratings and expound upon their impressions of the commercials they rated.

The collaboration with USA Today began after Rancati, an assistant professor of marketing and neuromarketing, saw an opportunity to bring her students into a broader industry conversation.

“So what happened was that three years ago, Rick Suter had this brilliant idea: ‘Why don’t we ask the Gen Z what they think about the Super Bowl ads?’ … I read the article and I said let me reach out to him and allow our students to be part of it. And from there, we became kind of loyal to Rick, and this is our third year together.”

For Rancati, the Super Bowl is more than a game: it is a cultural moment that offers a real-time case study in branding and audience engagement.

“Marketing is all around us, and we are so absorbed in marketing that we don’t even realize it. The Super Bowl is connected to the people in the United States. It’s part of the culture of the United States.”

Inside the BAS lecture hall, students didn’t just assign scores. They talked through celebrity appearances, music choices and messaging strategies, often challenging one another’s first impressions.

Digital marketing student Edylynne Campos said the experience made the industry feel more within reach.

“So for me, I feel like this opportunity of having a marketing professional be able to talk to us made it feel like people who are higher up weren’t super far away… I feel like that was my main impact, like there’s opportunity to connect to people who are already successful in marketing.”

Rancati hopes the exercise sticks with students long after graduation.

“So think about it — in five years, when they’ve graduated and they’re watching the Super Bowl, they might say, ‘Oh, we did that when we were at school at MTSU.’ It builds loyalty to our brand, the MTSU brand,” she said.

Some of the other participating colleges and universities included Syracuse University, Washington State University, Indiana University and Texas Christian University.

Those interested in checking out where MTSU students ranked this year’s advertisements can check out Rick Suter’s article.

­— Karli Sutton (Karli.Sutton@mtsu.edu)