A missing website domain probably isn’t something most people lose sleep over. Squarespace, however, found a way to turn that small inconvenience into a full-blown psychological nightmare. In its 2026 Super Bowl commercial, an increasingly desperate Emma Stone destroys laptops, throws them into fireplaces and spirals into madness over one seemingly simple problem: someone else already owns emmastone.com.
Titled ‘Unavailable’, the 30-second commercial follows a fictional version of Stone living in an isolated brutalist mansion, repeatedly attempting to register her namesake domain through Squarespace. Every failed attempt pushes her closer to losing control, turning an ordinary online search into a dramatic personal crisis. The idea has a real connection to the actress, as her namesake domain was already registered by someone else. Squarespace takes that frustration and exaggerates it into a cautionary tale about securing a domain before somebody else gets there first. The tagline, ‘Get your domain name before you lose it’, delivers the message behind the madness.
The commercial brings Stone together with filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, her longtime collaborator behind films such as The Favourite, Poor Things and Bugonia. Instead of following the familiar humour and celebrity appearances often seen in Super Bowl advertising, the director gives the film the atmosphere of a psychological thriller. Shot in black and white on analogue film, ‘Unavailable’ draws inspiration from Citizen Kane, film noir and the early works of Alfred Hitchcock. Dramatic lighting, unusual camera compositions and the isolated setting make even the smallest actions feel significant, while Stone’s increasingly unhinged performance creates humour through the contrast between the seriousness of her reactions and the simplicity of her problem.
The attention to detail extends beyond the performances. Shot in London over two days, the production relied heavily on practical filmmaking techniques, including a functional mansion set and handmade waves surrounding a miniature version of the property. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan, composer Jerskin Fendrix, costume designer Jennifer Johnson and production designer James Price joined Lanthimos to create the film’s distinctive visual world. Visual effects were largely limited to replacing the content displayed on Stone’s laptop screens, allowing the production to retain much of its physical, cinematic quality.
Squarespace has spent years approaching its Super Bowl appearances more like film releases than conventional advertisements. Its previous campaigns have featured celebrities such as Zendaya and Adam Driver, with directors including Martin Scorsese and Spike Jonze. Returning for its twelfth consecutive Super Bowl in 2026, the brand wanted to avoid the familiar concepts dominating the advertising lineup. The decision to go with a black-and-white psychological thriller was also a response to the expected wave of AI-focused commercials during the game. Squarespace’s longtime chief brand and creative officer, David Lee, described the brand’s approach as being like an independent A24 film appearing alongside major Hollywood franchises. The intention was to create something recognisable as Squarespace rather than another advertisement competing to look like everything else.
The creative direction also served a specific business objective. While Squarespace is widely recognised for its website-building platform, the company wanted to increase awareness of its position as one of the world’s largest domain providers. The idea gave it an opportunity to communicate the importance of owning a domain before moving into website creation and building an online presence. Squarespace had explored a similar concern in its 2017 Super Bowl commercial featuring John Malkovich, who also struggled to obtain a domain matching his name. Nearly a decade later, the brand revisited the subject with a more cinematic treatment and a different celebrity’s real-life experience.
The Super Bowl film was accompanied by additional content that continued Stone’s search for her online identity. ‘The Negotiation’ follows her increasingly desperate attempts to reclaim the domain, while ‘A Message from Emma Stone’ takes the form of a public service announcement warning people against waiting too long. Squarespace also released mock behind-the-scenes footage, a traditional production featurette, extended director’s cuts and campaign posters. These additional films and visuals allowed the story to reach audiences across different platforms instead of relying entirely on its 30-second television placement.
The response translated into measurable business results. According to campaign figures submitted to The One Club, ‘Unavailable’ generated more than 220 million views across paid and organic channels within 15 days. Squarespace recorded its highest number of domain registrations in a single day during the Super Bowl, followed by a 90% increase in direct domain registrations over the next three days compared with a typical Sunday-to-Tuesday period. Purchases of domains with attached websites also increased by 33%.
Domain registration is usually treated as a functional step that happens somewhere between choosing a business name and building a website. Squarespace gave that overlooked decision a personality, a conflict and an unexpectedly dramatic consequence. After watching someone destroy multiple laptops over a name on the internet, checking whether your own domain is available suddenly feels a lot more urgent.
Watch the full campaign here.
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