AB Super Bowl Ad

[Photopilot]

This ad makes me want to smash things, and it took me a bit to figure out why. Check out the imagery used for the two camps. For Budweiser it's tough guys, factories, axes chopping wood, big machines, manly ****. For craft beer it's curly mustaches, gentle sniffing, sweaters, khaki pants, tiny drinks.

So basically what they're saying is "Stop being a ***, drink like a man". Which of course is what I was told constantly throughout my early twenties when I didn't want to drink bud. So thanks for the memories Budweiser, go **** yourself.

Funny thing when I saw the beer samplers with beers other than the color of piss, I was thinking they were showing off there plundered microbrew selections not making fun of the microbrew drinking hipsters.

I need to go back and pay attention this time.

 

[GHBWNY]

One thing the big three seem to miss is the desire for 'new-ness'.... We, the craft consumers, thrive on new-ness.

I think that's the essence of 'craft' in craft brewing.

 

[b-boy]

It was a great commercial.

They are playing to their base who value tradition and identify themselves with the brands they have adopted. They loved Harry Caray who was a "Cubs fan and a Bud man" and the Clydesdales and even dig the idea of drinking the beer their parents drank (they may remember their parents rejecting skunky imported beer). May also have loyalty to a car company (almost for sure an American car company).

Despise their product or not what craft beer company is able to evoke this type of customer response. Nada. Too new and too quickly passed over for the new flavor of the month.

Oh that commercial with the Puppy was also really good and similarly links the product to the tradition.

Yep - I thought this commercial was pretty well done.

It was meant to send a message to all the hardcore BMC types out there that it's still Ok to drink your BUD. I'm sure BMC drinkers get pressure to drink craft beers from friends and family. BUD knows this, and is sending a message reinforcing their loyalty. They're not trying to recruit new drinkers, just trying to keep the old ones. They don't care about insulting ex-BUD drinkers. They care about widening the gap between 'cool' (BUD) and 'not cool' (Craft).

Look at the imagery:
Douchey-looking guys with handlebar mustaches drinking craft beer.
Rough, tough, regular guys drinking the BUD.
Trucks, Clydesdales, and women.
MACRO vs micro.
HARD vs soft.

I'm guessing we'll see more of this type of ad. Marketing is an amazing thing.

 

[A2HB]

Hey thanks for breaking that down like you did, I have always wondered what beechwood aging meant

 

[fastengine]

Just a huge company doing buisness with advertising. People are still going to drink what they like, no matter how much money AB spends.

 

[aprichman]

It may just be marketing but it's pretty disingenuous for them to claim their beer is made the hard way. Their brewing process is almost entirely automated whereas craft brewing (especially small setups under 10bbl) require a ton of dirty work and manual labor. I think it's also kind of weird that they are framing Bud drinkers as being "real americans" but the reality is that craft breweries are mostly small businesses that are highly integrated into their communities whereas ABI is being traded on the stock market as we speak.

The thing I hate the most about the commercial however is the "us vs them" attitude. As long as we're able to come together and share a beer it shouldn't matter what's in the glass (although you won't find a bud in my glass any time soon).

 

[lowtones84]

Brewed the hard way? I don't see them hand-cranking a corona mill to crush their malt!

(I do, which makes me better than them )

 

[b-boy]

I don't think HARD actually means it's hard to brew the beer. It's just a buzz word. HARD vs SOFT. If BUD is 'HARD', then craft must be 'SOFT'.

HARD - trucks, women, sports, beer.
SOFT - sweaters, glasses, dainty fruit beer in fancy glasses that you sniff.

As a guy, which would you rather be called?

 

[masaba]

Yep - I thought this commercial was pretty well done.

It was meant to send a message to all the hardcore BMC types out there that it's still Ok to drink your BUD. I'm sure BMC drinkers get pressure to drink craft beers from friends and family. BUD knows this, and is sending a message reinforcing their loyalty. They're not trying to recruit new drinkers, just trying to keep the old ones. They don't care about insulting ex-BUD drinkers. They care about widening the gap between 'cool' (BUD) and 'not cool' (Craft).

Look at the imagery:
Douchey-looking guys with handlebar rmustaches drinking craft beer.
Rough, tough, regular guys drinking the BUD.
Trucks, Clydesdales, and women.
MACRO vs micro.
HARD vs soft.

I'm guessing we'll see more of this type of ad. Marketing is an amazing thing.

This is basically what I meant when I said that I have started to see a lot of BMC drinkers posing - they make a big deal out of the fact that they drink BMC in order to look cool, tough, whatever else. Some craft drinkers do the same - they make a big deal out of the fact that they drink craft beer in order to seem smart, wealthy, etc. Both sides are equally douchey.

 

[murrahjm]

The thing I hate the most about the commercial however is the "us vs them" attitude. As long as we're able to come together and share a beer it shouldn't matter what's in the glass (although you won't find a bud in my glass any time soon).

Exactly! At the end of the day we're all doing the same thing, drinking beer in a bar or a backyard or whatever. It would have been just as easy to make a commercial extolling the virtues of beer in general and bud in specific. There's too much damn divisiveness in the world today.

 

[drainbamage]

U mad, Bud?

Let's face it, the ad was just done for posturing. They're grasping at straws. They know they aren't going to lose any of our business (because they already have), but they needed to give their core demographic a nice pat on the back and an "attaboy" to reinforce their impression that they're drinking real beer. You don't need to taste your beer...you're a man, dammit!

I didn't take any offense, but then I've never been mistaken for a manly man. If anyone should be offended, it should be the employees at GI, Elysian, etc. who were bought out by AB-InBev and were no-so-subtly told by their overlords that their product is inferior.

 

[GHBWNY]

SOFT - sweaters, glasses, dainty fruit beer in fancy glasses that you sniff.

You forgot flight boards with no "manly" recesses in them. Although, what would a macro-brew company doing a commercial about craft beer tasting know about a flight board? Not that they would care if the dainty little craft flight glasses carried by the craft beer waitress slid off the board en route to the craft beer flight tasting and fell to the craft brewpub floor and broke anyway. Looks like they used someone's frat hazing paddle for a prop.

 

[1977Brewer]

I've seen Louisville slugger flight boards. They were cool as heck. MANLY.

 

[LandoLincoln]

The "made the hard way" slogan is bizzare. I think what they meant is that the Beer of Kings Budweiser is made the hard way. Even their name is lazy.

You think it's EASY to spend tens of millions of dollars hiring grain specialists to examine every single batch of grain that they get, hiring yeast specialists to ensure the yeast is just right, automating a brewery with the very latest in brewing technology, blending batches of beer, all to ensure that the beer coming out tastes EXACTLY THE SAME IT HAS FOR DECADES AND DECADES?

And THEN...THEN you get a bunch of beer-drinkers that simply DO NOT CARE if the beer they drink tastes the same as it did a month ago? These beer drinkers actually go out and FIND BEERS THAT TASTE VASTLY DIFFERENT FROM THE BEER THEY JUST DRANK TWENTY MINUTES AGO? YOU THINK THAT'S EASY?

The craft beer movement is a slap right in the face to the big macrobrewers who have spent decades cultivating brand loyalty.

I'd like to see some craft brewers make a commercial showing how BMC is akin to old-style communism ("You will take the beer we make! You will not worry about enjoying it! You will just drink it! Life is hard! Don't expect to get what you want!") and juxtapose that with the absolute freedom of the craft beer movement. "You want a beer that tastes like a bratwurst? We've got that. You want a beer that tastes like a pumpkin pie? We've got that too. You want a beer that tastes like whatever you want it to taste like? We've got that too. This is AMERICA. You should have more CHOICES than 'light yellow' or 'a darker yellow.'"

 

[ktblunden]

I'd like to see some craft brewers make a commercial showing how BMC is akin to old-style communism ("You will take the beer we make! You will not worry about enjoying it! You will just drink it! Life is hard! Don't expect to get what you want!") and juxtapose that with the absolute freedom of the craft beer movement. "You want a beer that tastes like a bratwurst? We've got that. You want a beer that tastes like a pumpkin pie? We've got that too. You want a beer that tastes like whatever you want it to taste like? We've got that too. This is AMERICA. You should have more CHOICES than 'light yellow' or 'a darker yellow.'"

Someone call Sam Calagione and Greg Koch, I can totally see them doing that.

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

I don't think HARD actually means it's hard to brew the beer. It's just a buzz word. HARD vs SOFT. If BUD is 'HARD', then craft must be 'SOFT'.

HARD - trucks, women, sports, beer.
SOFT - sweaters, glasses, dainty fruit beer in fancy glasses that you sniff.

As a guy, which would you rather be called?

The only thing HARD about their beer is it's HARD to put up to your nose and swallow.

 

[Silentdrinker]

The only thing HARD about their beer is it's HARD to put up to your nose and swallow.

Ya... Their beer insults me more than their commercials.

 

[the_ale_scale]

To me this ad insulted their beer drinkers than it did craft beer drinkers. Implying that they're unintelligent, have no taste, and only care about getting wasted.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I had one person regurgitate that commercial at me today and I unloaded on him. I really don't give a flocc about their product. I don't like it and I don't drink it. even if it's free. and they can make fun of me sniffing my beer or analyzing the initial taste. that's fine. but for the love of all things barley and hop related, keep your alcohol delivery system sheep out of it! you've been drinking the same brand of beer for 30 years? happy floccin' b-day! it still don't mean you know enough about brewing to tell people how the beer s#!ts on the beechwood.

 

[sompls]

When in doubt (especially in the woods of Northern WI)...this guy will always go with a bud in a bottle. They will always, without a doubt, have it and will most times let me grab a couple for the road. :rockin:

 

[Schmoogdaddy]

I don't like pumpkin peach ale and I mill my malt by hand and my rauchbier made with 100% Weyermann beech wood smoked malt is very golden, so I totally get what they're saying.

I drank rauchbier, IIPA and oatmeal stout during the game. What a wuss.

End Sarcasm.

 

[Phunhog]

This ad makes me want to smash things, and it took me a bit to figure out why. Check out the imagery used for the two camps. For Budweiser it's tough guys, factories, axes chopping wood, big machines, manly ****. For craft beer it's curly mustaches, gentle sniffing, sweaters, khaki pants, tiny drinks.

So basically what they're saying is "Stop being a ***, drink like a man". Which of course is what I was told constantly throughout my early twenties when I didn't want to drink bud. So thanks for the memories Budweiser, go **** yourself.

But c'mon you know so much about it is true. I work in one of the most blue collar professions (fireman) and let me tell you for "most" guys beer means Coors Light or Bud Light. Sure they will drink lighter craft beer at a party since it is there but they rarely if ever buy it. And let me tell you....they ain't going to pour it into a glass much less consider what type of glass the particular beer should be served in. I have seen guys basically shotgun really good IPA's.....because in their mind that is how you drink beer. This is the market that craft beer is going to have a hard time cracking. Most people don't really care about the beer they drink.

 

[madscientist451]

I started drinking Budweiser like 40 years ago ( I was 16) the drinking age was 18 back then, but my best friends dad was a Budweiser beer geek and he would travel around and get Budweiser produced in different regions, like St. Louis, Jacksonville, FLA, Williamsburg, VA, New Jersey and I think they had one in Maine. He would have been a homebrewer, but it wasn't legal back then. He knew all about the brewing process and had even met many of the head brewers at Budweiser. As a trick he would get a bunch of the different BUD beers out and have someone else pour it in a glass and he could tell you which BUD brewery it came from. So we drank a lot of beer that we pilfered from his collection. There was no BUD Light back then. So fast forward 40 years, I'm drinking Rodenbach and homebrewed saison and kolsch, watching the game and this Bud ad comes on, and I'm disgusted by it like a lot of people.
Why couldn't they call talk about BUD's origins in Czechoslovakia, the great traditions of the company, the Clydesdales, the racing speedboats how its been so popular? An American tradition. Their negative approach was a huge turn off. The l last time I had a bud (several years ago) I thought it wasn't as good as I remembered it. I haven't gone back and now I won't.
I agree with Phunhog above, most people don't know or care what they are drinking, they drink without thinking, don't want to actually taste anything, and just want to get wasted. Those are the AB customers.

 

[JonM]

Folks, Northern Brewer has just announced their newest recipe kit - Pumpkin Peach Ale.

 

[Rev2010]

Folks, Northern Brewer has just announced their newest recipe kit - Pumpkin Peach Ale.

Just got that email, hilarious! Was curious to see if it's been mentioned here yet. I think it's cool how quickly they came up with this.


Rev.

 

[b-boy]

But c'mon you know so much about it is true. I work in one of the most blue collar professions (fireman) and let me tell you for "most" guys beer means Coors Light or Bud Light.

Don't underestimate the power of the BUD marketing machine.

30 years ago these same guys wouldn't have been caught dead with a beer with the word 'light' on the label. That would have been considered unmanly.

 

[madscientist451]

That's awesome. Great idea.
Just remembered Neil Young's "this note's for you" which was somewhat of a social comment on the "This BUDs for you" ad campaign:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC5iLNC5FBE[/ame]

Highlights include "spuds" mackenzie dog licking models chest.
Video ends w/neil young holding up beer can "poisoned by nobody".

 

[masaba]

Don't underestimate the power of the BUD marketing machine.

30 years ago these same guys wouldn't have been caught dead with a beer with the word 'light' on the label. That would have been considered unmanly.

So are you saying that in another 30 years the firehouse will have a tub full of Mango-Ritas?

 

[b-boy]

It just depends on which way BUD decides to roll. (Actually, those Mango-ritas are pretty good. )

 

[buckinin]

Don't underestimate the power of the BUD marketing machine.



30 years ago these same guys wouldn't have been caught dead with a beer with the word 'light' on the label. That would have been considered unmanly.

Reminds me of Biff in Back to the Future, 30 years ago. "I have your car towed all the way here and all you have for me is LIGHT beer."