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How to make an ad as effective as Budweiser's

2/22/2015

 
A short course in creating solid beer advertising
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Over the years, we've spared Anheuser-Busch no amount of criticism here for its ineffective advertising, not least of all for Budweiser, once its largest, and still its most storied brand. Indeed, the URL for this site seemed to sound an unheeded appeal to the brand to straighten itself out. We might have been forgiven for thinking marketing leadership at the world's largest brewer just didn't understand how advertising works. 

Until SuperBowl XLIX demonstrated otherwise.

Much has been written about the Budweiser "macro-beer" commercial. Most of it concerned whether the use of craft beer as a foil, and the portrayal of facial-hair-adorned craft-beer drinkers as fussy, taste-analyzing dweebs was fair/mean/undeserved/likely to backfire, etc. 

What's received virtually no attention is the structure and content of the Budweiser commercial. But therein lies its true beauty; the reason it's such an effective ad. So, let's set the whining of craft-beer types aside, and become students of why this commercial works so well. 

Simply put, this is an ad that absolutely nails four keys to creating solid, effective beer-selling messages.
1. Speak provocatively to the target
PictureIs this you? If not, Budweiser wants a word with you.
Why portray craft-beer folks as men who fuss over their beer, sniffing its aroma from wine-shaped stemware? Did they think this would win over craft-beer loyalists? Of course not. Budweiser was using this counterpoint to call out to its audience: beer drinkers who aren't like that. A-B aimed to give Bud drinkers new reason to be proud of their choice. And also to reach out to guys who dabble in craft beer, but still choose Bud from time to time. The aim for both groups: Increase the frequency of their calls for a Budweiser. 

The whine-volume from the craft-beer crowd actually demonstrates how effectively Budweiser targeted its message.

2. State a benefit the brand offers beer drinkers

People purchase any brand because they perceive it will deliver them a benefit. So, in evaluating ads, it's worth asking "What's the benefit being offered here?" The more anchored it is in a perceivable, beer-drinking-experience difference, the more powerful the benefit will be. So, if you choose Budweiser, the promised benefit is an in-mouth experience. Expect a crisp finish with none of the aftertaste so very common in virtually all craft beer.
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3. Support why the brand can lay claim to the benefit
PictureThe reason-why
Upon hearing the promise of a benefit, the human psyche immediately wants a reason why the advertised brand can deliver on its word. The bigger the claimed benefit and/or the more competitive the product category, the greater the need for this "reason why." Claim you can cure cancer and you better be able to back it up. Often referred to by advertising scholars as a "permission to believe," the reason-why doesn't necessarily have to present the entire "permission," only enough information for the psyche to respond, "Okay, that makes sense."

4. Communicate the brand's uniqueness 
Picture"One and only"... as in "unique."
To "seal the deal" and close the sale, the ad needs to communicate that, if the benefit and reason-why got your interest, there's only one brand you can buy to avail yourself of it. As an example of failing to do this, one need only watch the Bud Light "Whatever" beer-party ads. In addition to not offering a reason-why, there's absolutely no statement of how or why Bud Light is unique.

Now, here's a solid ad Budweiser didn't make...

A telling--but unintended-- example of how effective advertising can be when it delivers on these four keys came by way of a quickly assembled online parody of Budweiser's commercial. It was intended to turn the tables, but instead serves to underscore the effectiveness of  the big brewer's advertising approach.

Of course, as a parody, it apes the style of the original. But watch and see how it (1) addresses its target, (2) states a benefit, (3) provides reason(s)-why, and (4) communicates uniqueness...
It looks like at least some of the crafties quit whining long enough to learn a bit about making effective beer ads.

Class dismissed.

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Budweiser's got game

2/16/2015

 
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Budweiser... is in the house.
One important test for the ads you saw on the SuperBowl is whether you ever see them again. 

Entertainment masquerading as advertising

"One-off" is the term advertisers use to describe TV ads that may not function all that well as selling vehicles, but are loaded with entertainment value. (Let's ignore the obvious question: "Wait. Aren't all ads supposed to sell?") The justifications for using one-off commercials include mushy, hard-to-measure rationales like "Our distributors will love it," or "It'll help the sales guys get displays." 

In reality, the underlying motivation for these feel-good ads is often top-management's simple human desire to be liked. Who can resist the lure of being praised both by the news media and the pretty girl at the SuperBowl party? ("Yeah, it was our commercial. Say, did I tell you how nice you look in that skirt?")

Even otherwise sophisticated beer marketers are not immune to this warm glow. How else to explain a commercial that cost around a million dollars to make, and another nine million to run on the big game, yet never shows the advertised product, never says anything about that product, and never even speaks the brand name? 

Maybe we should call it "awwww value."
This is the third year in a row Budweiser has gone the entertainment-value route for the SuperBowl by way of its puppy ads. For the most part, after the game they shelved these one-offs. But this year, the King of Beers chose to add a commercial to the game that was more about selling "pow" than entertainment "wow."
Is it working?

The first evidence of this ad's "pow" came almost immediately as self-proclaimed craft-beer nerds took to their mobile devices en masse to whine how unfair it was. This is the same crowd that for years spewed forth libelous invective against Budweiser and other macro beers. Now they were having a childishly difficult time when solid advertising used them as the foil. Regardless, the ad definitely captured attention, achieving the first goal for any commercial. And if it so touched the craft-beer boyz, imagine how well it must have been received by Budweiser drinkers.

We didn't have long to wait to get an indication from research...
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And now there are more indications Budweiser feels its ad is selling beer. They are promoting YouTube viewership of the ad on Google...
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... and over the past weekend, they began airing the commercial in a 30-second form on network sports broadcasts, including high-visibility NCAA basketball. Now comes word via Twitter that Bud's featuring "Brewed the Hard Way"... on ice!
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What effectiveness feels like

The value of advertising comes from achieving one thing: increased sales. In Budweiser's case, the macro-beer campaign is poised to do just that. By giving current Bud drinkers a solid fact-based justification for their loyalty, combined with a dose of braggadocio chops when the label's in front of them at the bar ("What're you drinking over there, kid, Avocado Ale?"), Budweiser will be called for more often. It's inevitable.

Beer-distributor sales guys may already have a sense of this from their daily visits to customers. And when the guys driving the Budweiser trucks get this first hint of brand momentum in many a year, well, that's real "awwww value." 

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    The Author

    Dan Fox is a real beer guy.

    For more than half his 30-year career at ad agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, he ran the Coors Brewing account. Leading a group of dozens of advertising professionals, Dan also personally wrote the Pete Coors "Somewhere near Golden, Colorado" commercials, designed the Coors NASCAR graphics, authored sales-convention speeches, and most important of all, formulated marketing strategy for virtually every Coors brand, including Coors Light, Keystone, Killian's Irish Red and more. His proudest achievement? "Our team had every Coors brand growing at once."

    Over his advertising career, Dan was personally involved in the analysis, planning and creation of thousands of ads for a variety of products and services. By way of this blog, he freely shares his expertise about what works, and what doesn't, when it comes to selling beer.

    If you're in the beer-marketing business--or just interested in the subject--you may want to read what "HeyBeerDan" has to say.

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