A Superbowl Baby Called Hope

By Melanie Lawson

I, along with millions of other Americans, watched the Superbowl last Sunday hoping the 49ers would win while also looking to see some great commercials.

As I was chatting with friends and refueling on snacks before the game resumed, or wait, did this air during the 30 minute power outage? Either way, I turned and looked at the television when I caught a glimpse of a Clydesdale filly lying in a stable.   The commercial continued with the filly progressing through early life and forging a strong bond with its owner only to be sold and become a Budweiser Clydesdale. Three years later, the owner travels to see the Budweiser Clydesdales in parade and be reunited with his long lost friend.  The commercial concludes with the man hugging his horse and then cuts to a screen saying that I could have a say in naming the filly using twitter; how awesome is that!

My name is Melanie Lawson and I am a sucker for Budweiser’s Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategy.  The Budweiser Clydesdales are infamous and have appeared in Budweiser’s advertising campaigns for years.  Although Budweiser has deviated from the Clydesdales a few times in advertising (remember the Budweiser frogs?) the Clydesdales have been a consistent part of Budweiser’s brand. Budweiser’s image has been consistent and their recent Superbowl ad reinforced the brand, hooked the audience, and then went a step further by asking the audience to participate by naming the filly.

Nearly everyone has had a special bond with an animal at some point in their life and therefore can easily identify with the Clydesdale commercial.  And who doesn’t love baby animals? Showing the filly first thing in the commercial automatically draws everyone in.   If for some reason you didn’t immediately recognize the filly as part of Budweiser or identify with the bond between man and animal, then Budweiser attempted to engage you by asking you to help name the filly.  Of course they’re assuming you’re active on Twitter and know what a hash tag is.

Although I didn’t immediately go to Twitter and submit a name or order a Budweiser as my next beverage, the commercial accomplished one of its goals by immediately capturing my attention.  The Budweiser logo didn’t appear in the commercial until multiple seconds in, but I immediately knew the ad was for Budweiser because I had seen previous television ads, billboards and web ads with Clydesdales which is the goal of Budweiser’s IMC approach.

So next time you find yourself hooked to an ad on television, catch yourself and ask if you too just became a victim of an organization’s IMC strategy. Before you saw the logo, did you know what product or brand was being advertised?  How many times have you seen this ad before? Have you seen it in print as well as on television?  Or perhaps you became hooked because of an emotional connection to the characters in the commercial or the company was suddenly asking for your opinion through a social medial channel.  All methods are part of the sly IMC approach.  Oh…and yes, the winning name for the filly is Hope.