For Its 4th Super Bowl, ‘He Gets Us’ Focuses on Personal Struggles

In its fourth Super Bowl appearance, He Gets Us is getting personal.

The group behind Jesus’ Super Bowl presence since 2023 dropped three initial ads as part of its “Loaded Words” campaign, which will run throughout the holiday season, with placements in Times Square on New Year’s Eve and during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in February.

Two more ads will be released before the Super Bowl, with one 60-second ad running in the second half of the game during NBC’s national broadcast on Feb. 8. The campaign will extend through the World Cup in June.

He Gets Us is a campaign run by nonprofit Christian group Come Near that aims to revamp the reputation of Jesus Christ, Christianity’s central figure. This year, the group’s goal is to connect on a more personal level with viewers, with spots that tap into the unique challenges people are facing in modern life, explained Come Near’s chief creative officer, Simon Armour.  

The three ads that dropped today—”Be,” “Do,” and “Don’t”—aim to show how the pressures and expectations of life in the digital age sometimes feel like they’re closing in on people. At the end of each spot, viewers are prompted to consider Jesus as the answer, with a link to the He Gets Us website.

In its first few years, the campaign was focused on interrupting preconceived notions of who or what “Jesus” is, and reintroducing him to viewers, Armour said.

“[The next chapter is built out of] the same idea, the same DNA, of He Gets Us, which is driven by empathy, love and compassion,” Armour said. “At the core of that is now, ‘Hey, he gets you where you’re at, specifically, and what you’re going through in your life.’”

To develop the concept, Come Near’s creative team spent time with focus groups over the summer, listening to what people are struggling with, and how they’re thinking about spirituality broadly. Out of those conversations, Armour said that the team identified themes of noise, chaos, and a desire for peace.

Those themes shaped how they developed the five ads for the “Loaded Words” campaign, which were shot over nine days in Los Angeles in partnership with agency Lerma. Filmmaker Salomon Ligthelm directed the spots, and cinematographer Lol Crawley served as director of photography.

He Gets Us was created in 2021, initially funded by The Signatry. It’s now backed by nonprofit group Come Near, which formed in 2023 to oversee a new chapter of the campaign with former Domino’s CMO Ken Calwell as CEO. The nonprofit has about 30 total staff, Armour said.

Come Near’s board of directors, as listed on its website, include Rob Hoskins, president of Christian ministry OneHope; Nicole Martin, president and CEO of Christianity Today; John Kim, investor and Christian pastor; Mart Green, founder and CEO of Christian retailer Mardel and son of Hobby Lobby CEO David Green; Joey Sager, managing director of Venturi Private Wealth; and Gary Nelson, chairman of Christian ministry Every Tribe Every Nation.