17 Mar 2009
By Paul Mitchell
“Keep the Good Times Going”
www.budlight.ca • www.budlight.com
Beer companies, by and large, have huge budgets for advertising and public relations activities. So why do they generally do such a bad job with it? Overproduced, high-budget commercials with celebrity endorsements seem like a formula for success but there really isn’t any proven connection that they result in new customers and more sales. If generic, mass produced beer all tastes the same, something has to differentiate the product from all its competitors. Even the 19 to 24-year-old target market to whom “Secret Mansions” and “Blind Dates” are supposed to entice realize that it is not what decides their beer loyalty. So then what does? Interesting topic, but one thing for certain, the Budd Light Guy campaign is not going to...
Bud Light does have some funny commercials. I present a few links for you.
However, the new Bud Light commercials are not funny and are actually an embarrassment to the brand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJL5dxgVaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7xRaNY8wY
http://www.break.com/index/will-ferrel-bud-light-commercial.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-5m_7nlxsmOU/funny_banned_bud_light_commercial/
The “Keep the Good Times Going” campaign, in Canada at least, has consisted of three commercials featuring “Budd” so far. The first has the hero saving a house pool party by eliminating a Speedo-wearing Euro-trash with the temptation of schnitzel. The second is situated in a bar and has Budd preventing a “sausage party” by applying the old sales bait-and-switch technique to the television. So far, I am noticing an anti-German trend.
The third installment is the worst and sinks to the lowest depths of alienating the product from what the commercial is exactly trying to say. Back to a busy house party, a yelping annoying dog is ruining everyone’s fun. By blowing up a balloon poodle to provide some companionship, Budd Guy saves the day again. But, I really don’t understand what copulating dogs have to do with selling beer. Again, if the beer is so generic and bad in the first place that the lowest common denominator is the only way to get people’s attention, then you have to do what you have to do, I suppose.
In “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”, the authors argue that, in an attempt to be as creative as possible, advertisers have lost sight of building their brand and relaying the benefits of the product to possible customers. The ultimate low in this development is resorting to animals as a source of humour. If this is the case – and I certainly believe it to be – then Bud Light has reached rock bottom and really need to re-examine the purpose of their advertising and promotions team.
“Keep the Good Times Going”
www.budlight.ca • www.budlight.com
Beer companies, by and large, have huge budgets for advertising and public relations activities. So why do they generally do such a bad job with it? Overproduced, high-budget commercials with celebrity endorsements seem like a formula for success but there really isn’t any proven connection that they result in new customers and more sales. If generic, mass produced beer all tastes the same, something has to differentiate the product from all its competitors. Even the 19 to 24-year-old target market to whom “Secret Mansions” and “Blind Dates” are supposed to entice realize that it is not what decides their beer loyalty. So then what does? Interesting topic, but one thing for certain, the Budd Light Guy campaign is not going to...
Bud Light does have some funny commercials. I present a few links for you.
However, the new Bud Light commercials are not funny and are actually an embarrassment to the brand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJL5dxgVaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7xRaNY8wY
http://www.break.com/index/will-ferrel-bud-light-commercial.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-5m_7nlxsmOU/funny_banned_bud_light_commercial/
The “Keep the Good Times Going” campaign, in Canada at least, has consisted of three commercials featuring “Budd” so far. The first has the hero saving a house pool party by eliminating a Speedo-wearing Euro-trash with the temptation of schnitzel. The second is situated in a bar and has Budd preventing a “sausage party” by applying the old sales bait-and-switch technique to the television. So far, I am noticing an anti-German trend.
The third installment is the worst and sinks to the lowest depths of alienating the product from what the commercial is exactly trying to say. Back to a busy house party, a yelping annoying dog is ruining everyone’s fun. By blowing up a balloon poodle to provide some companionship, Budd Guy saves the day again. But, I really don’t understand what copulating dogs have to do with selling beer. Again, if the beer is so generic and bad in the first place that the lowest common denominator is the only way to get people’s attention, then you have to do what you have to do, I suppose.
In “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”, the authors argue that, in an attempt to be as creative as possible, advertisers have lost sight of building their brand and relaying the benefits of the product to possible customers. The ultimate low in this development is resorting to animals as a source of humour. If this is the case – and I certainly believe it to be – then Bud Light has reached rock bottom and really need to re-examine the purpose of their advertising and promotions team.
