Budweiser earns place as perennial Super Bowl contender
The winner of Sunday’s AFC championship game between the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers will set a record for most Super Bowl appearances of any NFL franchise, with nine. But an even more familiar face will make its 28th consecutive appearance in the big game: Anheuser-Busch.
And, yes, the Clydesdales will make a cameo.
“Consistency is hugely important in advertising because it continues to drive the idea in the mind,” brand consultant Laura Ries tells Paste BN Sports. “Beer has a unique relationship with football. They go hand in hand, right? There are few products that are so closely tied.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev will run ads for four of its brands in Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5: Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and Busch. That will total “at least three full minutes” of ad time, the company says — and FOX is charging roughly $5 million for 30-second spots. That doesn’t even count the costs of producing the ads. Ries believes multimillion-dollar expenditures are worth it for long-running advertisers.
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“Budweiser has over the years widely owned the game, if you will,” Ries says. “And so people look forward to: ‘What are they going to do this year?’ ”
Here’s a look at their game plan:
– The Budweiser ad will feature the story of Adolphus Busch, the German immigrant who created Budweiser in 1876 — about 90 years before the first Super Bowl. Budweiser has aired 101 Super Bowl commercials, 25 of them featuring the Clydesdales, who will appear briefly in this one. Ries says Clydesdales ads are among the most loved and most remembered.
– The Bud Light ad will feature a new tagline: Famous Among Friends. “I’m not sure what that means,” Ries says. “I’ll give it one thing: They get an A for alliteration. That’s helpful in making a slogan memorable, but it has to communicate something.” Anheuser-Busch’s news release says the campaign is “tied to Bud Light’s role in building friendships over beers.”
– Michelob Ultra will be in the Super Bowl lineup for a second consecutive year and Busch will be in it for the first time. Ultra boasts low carbs and Busch low cost.
“Budweiser has long been front and center at the Super Bowl,” says Paul Swangard, who teaches sport brand strategy and advertising at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. “To not be part of it would be a bigger risk for them.”
The Bud Bowl (debut in 1989) and the Budweiser frogs (debut in 1995) were cultural touchstones. Budweiser won Paste BN’s Ad Meter, a ranking of ads based on consumer votes, three times in recent years: 2013, 2014 and 2015, including 2014’s Puppy Love. “They’ve had some iconic moments over the years,” Swangard says.
Here is a good omen for Pittsburgh fans: Anheuser-Busch’s first Super Bowl appearance coincided with the Steelers’ first one — in 1975. That would be their 16-6 victory against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX.