A-B's Super Bowl plan: Millennials

Anheuser-Busch is going back to basics for the upcoming Super Bowl.

And, yes, it's bringing back its famous Clydesdale horses and last year's love-struck puppy. But this time the puppy gets lost.

The Super Bowl's biggest advertiser says it has super-refined its 2015 marketing plan for the game to this: focus on prodding Millennials to digitally engage with its two core brands, Budweiser and Bud Light.

That's an unusually tightly-focused strategy for A-B, which has spent the past several Super Bowls trying to market well beyond its core brands, while pitching everything from some of its craft brew offerings to its "drink responsibly" messaging.

In an interview with Paste BN, three of the brand's top U.S. marketing and brand executives discussed the rationale behind this new strategy.

"We want to focus on our Number One and Number Two brands," says Jorn Socquet, A-B's vice president of U.S. marketing. "The Super Bowl is the perfect jumping-off point for these bold and disruptive campaigns."

That means things clearly will be different for A-B this Super Bowl. Chief among them:

• Bye-bye, celebrities. For years, the beer giant has used celebrities in at least one of its Super Bowl spots. Last year, for example, it featured former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in one highly-touted commercial. But for this year, at least, there won't be any. "Celebrities do not elevate the stories we have to tell," says Socquet. "We've gone to the real power of storytelling."

• More digital attention. To win "the hearts and minds" of Millennials, says Socquet, A-B has banded together its largest-ever digital "war room," with up to 60 staffers. The group will seek and respond to consumer input before, during and after the Super Bowl.

• Less ad time. Instead of the four minutes of advertising time that A-B purchased last year, this year it will have 3 1/2 minutes, says Socquet. Thirty fewer seconds of time might not sound like a lot for the Super Bowl's biggest advertiser, but at roughly $4.5 million per 30-second slot of air time, that's a substantial difference.

• More one-minute spots. The Budweiser brand will air two, 60-second spots, and Bud Light will air one. "We wanted to focus on the brands that have mass appeal," says Alex Lambrecht, vice president of Bud Light. The Bud Light spot, "Coin," will focus on an unusual coin toss and feature one Bud Light fan who experiences a vintage 1980s night by indicating he is, as the brand slogan goes, "Up for Whatever."

• More Clydesdales. Despite earlier reports that the Clydesdales were going to get less air time, they will return to the Super Bowl along with the Golden Lab that won last year's Paste BN Super Bowl Ad Meter consumer poll as best ad. In the new spot, dubbed "Lost Dog," the Clydesdales will go on the hunt for the little fella, "live up to their reputation, and once again save the day," says Brian Perkins, vice president, Budweiser. The brand declined to describe the other Budweiser spot.