Bud Light Bets on Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen With Super Bowl Ad – Wall Street Journal

Bud Light is enlisting the star comedians for a new campaign, “The Bud Light Party,” part of a broader effort to breathe a new look and feel into the brand, whose sales have struggled for more than a year. The campaign will include Bud Light’s new tagline, “Raise One to Right Now,” replacing its previous tagline which was “The Perfect Beer for Whatever Happens.”

<<

Bud Light sales fell 0.9% and volume fell 1.6% during the 52 weeks ended Jan. 9, according to Nielsen data. Sales have fallen the past seven quarters.

“We need to behave differently,” said Jorn Socquet, AB’s vice president of marketing, adding that there will be a “complete revival” of the Bud Light brand this year. During an interview in September, he said that he wanted the company to make its “advertising memorable again” and criticized its “Up for Whatever” campaign for focusing on “live today and not for tomorrow” — a theme he said didn’t resonate with young adult consumers.

For Bud Light, the Super Bowl offers TV’s biggest stage to promote a refreshed brand. Bud Light hired Wieden+Kennedy in July, marking its fifth advertising agency in five years. The privately-owned ad agency is known for its long-term work with Nike and for reviving brands like Procter & Gamble, Old Spice. Bud Light vice president Alexander Lambrecht acknowledged that Bud Light has shifted agencies several times in the past few years and said “consistency will be much more important and pronounced” in the brand’s marketing going forward. This spring, the brand will roll out its first major packaging redesign in eight years.

Struggling sales have prompted some light beer brands to shift from silly ads to more serious messaging. “The Bud Light Party” campaign, however, is a lighthearted take on a political party that aims to bring beer drinkers together. In a teaser for Bud Light’s upcoming Super Bowl ad, Ms. Schumer and Mr. Rogen are shown getting ready for a big rally with Mr. Rogen squeezing into pantyhose. The celebrities will appear in the brand’s Super Bowl spot as well as other TV and digital spots throughout the year.

According to data from The Marketing Arm, which ranks perceptions of celebrities based on online polls, Ms. Schumer and Mr. Rogen have high awareness among consumers. Three-quarters of consumers know Mr. Rogen and more than two-thirds know Ms. Schumer, according to The Marketing Arm. Ms. Schumer ranks No. 216 out of more than 3,000 celebrities for “influence,” putting her on par with celebrities such as Sean Combs and Kylie Jenner, per The Marketing Arm’s data.

The Super Bowl, one of the few events in which mass audiences tune into TV live, is a critical night for advertisers. Last year’s game brought in a record 114.4 million viewers. Thirty-second spots in this year’s game are selling for as much as $5 million, according to CBS, the network broadcasting the Feb. 7 game. Advertisers that buy multiple spots do get discounts.

Anheuser-Busch, the only beer advertiser in the big game, will air three-and-a-half minutes of commercials for four brands during Super Bowl 50. Bud Light is the official beer of the National Football League.

Bud Light spent $174.6 million on measured media in the U.S. for the first nine months of 2015 and $265 million on measured media in the U.S. for 2014, according to data from Kantar Media, whose analysis tracks ad spending across traditional media and online display ads.

Bud Light’s Super Bowl spots under its prior “Up for Whatever” campaign featured an ad showcasing a Bud Light drinker playing in a life-sized Pac Man game and a spot with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing ping pong with an average Joe. While Bud Light suffered recent sales declines, Mr. Lambrecht said the brand’s most recent Super Bowl spots have helped raise brand equity.

Source: Google News Super Bowl Commercials