SB59: Genius Whale Makes Waves for NerdWallet

Please no jokes about whoppers

How smart are beluga whales? Well, one’s yakking it up in NerdWallet’s first Super Bowl commercial—and you’re not. Advantage: whale.

The blubbery brainiac—they really do have elevated IQs—swims up to some hapless human and starts pitching NerdWallet as a resource for credit card research.

Kieran Culkin voices the loquacious leviathan in a spot from Deutsch and TMZ director Tom Kuntz. A 30-second edit will run in the Big Game.

“What I enjoyed most was going into the booth and figuring out the tone and the humor for the beluga whale,” says Culkin. “I got to try a bunch of stuff. In the end, we settled on the idea of a casual chat between two people, like on a New York City sidewalk. But in this case it’s between a guy and a beluga whale.”

Adds Kuntz: “Having a genius, wise-cracking whale schooling this unassuming tourist on the beauty of NerdWallet was a perfect way to tell this story.”

“We worked with Untold Studios, who believe that the best CG creature work is based on reality,” a brand rep told Muse. “Untold explored a wide range of images and videos of real-world beluga whales and selected a few to be used as key elements to steer the look during the development stage.”

Culkin’s voiceover inspired the moves and mannerisms of the computer-generated whale.

“We used videos of Kieran in the voiceover booth, bringing in small nuances of his performance” such as facial gestures for emphasis, the rep says. “To make sure the beluga blended seamlessly with its surroundings, we replaced the water in every shot with CG simulations.”

“We also used a giant 3D printed beluga for framing, which served as our lighting, look and water reference.”

The big blowhard will engage with fans across NerdWallet’s IG, TikTok and X starting today. His SB59 appearance helps anchor a broader campaign on TV and digital channels.

(Which brand will take home the 2025 Super Clio for the Big Game’s best ad? We’ll find out on Feb. 10.)