This year, Super Bowl commercials are more expensive than ever with multiple 30 second spots having sold for a record USD 7 million each. Like every year, Anheuser Busch will be the sole beer sponsor of the event.
In 1989, the company inked a deal with broadcasters for the exclusive beer advertising rights to the Super Bowl that continues to this day. Last year, for the first time in 37 year, Budweiser did not feature a commercial during Super Bowl. Instead, AB InBev the company behind the brand said it would donate portions of its advertising budget r to the Ad Council, a nonprofit marketing group at the helm of a USD 50 million ad blitz to fight coronavirus vaccine skepticism. (inside.beer, 25.1.2021)
In December 2021, AB Inbev re-upped Bud Light as the NFL’s official beer for another five years, preserving its singular Super Bowl status in the process. However, this year AB InBev will spend more of its four minutes for commercials for new categories like ads for Bud Light Next, a zero-carb spinoff; Michelob Ultra, a beer aimed at consumers who prize healthy lifestyles; one spot for Cutwater Spirits, a line of canned cocktails; and one spot each for Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda and Michelob Ultra Organic Hard Seltzer; to pay tribute to one of the industry’s fastest-growing categories.
Traditional brands like Busch Light, Michelob Ultra Pure Gold and Stella Artois, will get a smaller advertising spotlight within local markets or in a pre-game spot on NBC.
This year’s Budweiser ad is attribute to an add from 2014 entitled "Puppy Love," which told the story of a puppy befriending a Clydesdale horse. This video was so well-received that it went viral even before the Super Bowl. This year's Super Bowl ad builds on a similar scenario, also featuring a Clydesdale horse and an (older) retriever while sharing another important and opportune message.
It tells the story of an America on its own "road to recovery." The takeaway message is "that everyone can come together and feel pride that as Americans, we always bounce back," Daniel Blake, Budweiser's vice president of marketing explained. The central character of a Clydesdale horse was chosen because they are seen as "a symbol of America ... of hope, of strength, of resilience."
