Just imagine… it’s 1985 and Super Bowl XIX and a Bud Light commercial comes on during half-time. 3 men walk up to the bar at different times and each ask for a “light”. One is given a fire, one a literal shinning light, and one a spotlight. The men all correct themselves and say “Bud Light”. The voice over states “If you just ask for a lite beer, you’ll never know hat you’ll get. So if you want the less filling lite beer with the first name on paste. Don’t just ask for a lite. Ask for a Bud Light because everything else is just a light” (Bud Light, 1985). Now imagine you’re watching Super Bowl LIV (2020) and Post Malone enters the market and asks for Bud Light. The worker points to the back and Post Malone questions what a Bud Light Seltzer is. Inside his head, they begin to question as well and try the drink, start arguing and Post is thrown around the store making a complete mess. He ends up getting both the seltzer and the regular beer. Notice any differences right off the top?
As social media, popularity, and companies continue to grow, how they advertise their product must also change. While their B2C (business to customer) approach stays the same, they must understand what, who and how things are popular, who they are marketing to, and which is the best way to get their message across.
Post Malone, musical artist and a publicly known Bud Light drinker, has become one of the hottest names in the music game reaching not only teenagers but adults with his charisma and charm. Inserting Post Malone into the video allows for most, if not all people, to recognize who that is and know that he already enjoys a cold Bud Light (any time of the day). The video is a minute long and gets the 5 W’s, shows its brand, and gives the humour and special effects we want. Compared to the 1985 30 second commercial, 3 random men in a bar is exactly who was watching the Super Bowl, just wanting a beer. The Super Bowl as a whole has changed and so have the commercials but the goals and brand of the commercials has not. They all want to show the superior beer and they use the 5 W’s.
The time difference (30 seconds versus 1 minute) also has a lot to do with how they sell themselves. Their message and brand needs to get out fast and efficiently. How they produce their commercials influences exactly what they can do with it (visually etc.) and where they are putting it (Super Bowl Half-time). A little amount of people talk about the commercials durning their soap operas or Grey’s Anatomy but they do during the Super Bowl. A 30 second commercial for the 2020 half-time was $5.6 million dollars. This is $400,000 more than 2019.
A few questions are raised. Why so much money? Who do they believe they are trying to target? Is what they are doing efficient enough to make up for the $5.6 million they spent to get their commercial seen? Was 3 men and humour more efficient than Post Malone? Would an ad on Facebook do more for the company than these commercials?
5 W’s – Who, What, When, Where, Why
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