[ 매드타임스 박재항 대기자] The drink is up and the car is gone. US Time This is the most noticeable phenomenon in relation to the brand and industry that executed the advertisement during the settlement of the Super Bowl advertisement held on February 12th. I watched and analyzed Super Bowl commercials for over 20 years, and it was the first time that various alcoholic beverages, from beer to spirits, appeared on the screen, while car brands shrank to 3 and 4 advertisements. The reason why there are more and more types of alcohol advertisements is simple.
This is because Anheuser Busch, known primarily for its Budweiser and Bud Light beers, has given up its exclusive right to advertise in the spirits category. Previously, since 1989, Anheuser-Busch has had exclusive rights in the mainstream category that large sporting events such as the Olympics or the Football World Cup provide to sponsors. In fact, I don’t know if this exclusive right is guaranteed in other industries besides Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream. Anyway, in June of last year, Anheuser-Busch announced that it would give up this right, and in the same beer category, Heineken, Molson Coors, and high-alcohol spirits such as Cognac Remy Martin and Whiskey Crown Royal ( Crown Royal) appeared in this Super Bowl ad.
It is surprising that there was a device to prevent competitors from entering the Super Bowl ad with viewership ratings of over 40%. However, Anheuser-Busch has a corner to nod. This is because it has consistently purchased a large amount of time for the Super Bowl in comparison to other companies. Anheuser-Busch had a solo performance stage by excluding competitors, and the NFL, which hosts the Super Bowl, secured a stable income line. Looking back on the history of Super Bowl commercials over the past 30 years, many of Anheuser-Busch’s commercials are considered masterpieces. There are quite a few people who give a lecture on the trends shown in this Super Bowl advertisement, and mention Budweiser’s ‘Whassup’ episode aired in 2000 as an impressive Super Bowl advertisement in the past and advertisements featuring Klysdale horses symbolizing Anheuser-Busch. there was. Rather than enjoying monopoly rights peacefully, Anheuser-Busch showed the quality of its advertisements as a responsible leader. But why did Anheuser-Busch execute a reversal of giving up such rights this time? Three things can be inferred.
First, the share of the beer market is shrinking. In the US, beer’s share of the alcohol market fell from 58% in 2000 to 46% in 2022. Although the overall size of the beer market did not decrease, Anheuser-Busch alone might not stop the growing spirits market. Although they are competitors within the beer market, they needed an alliance with other beer brands that might become allies in the alcohol industry as a whole. It doesn’t seem so desperate yet, but the <오징어게임>You may have felt uneasiness as if the grandfather, Yu-nam, said, ‘Everyone will die if this happens.’
Second, it was necessary to take various marketing stages. While watching this year’s Super Bowl advertisement, I heard ‘retro-retro’ as the clearest trend. From the scenes and songs of the musical movie Grease in the 1970s to the drama ‘Breaking Bad’ around 2010, cultural contents of the past have never been so overflowing as this year. Retro fashion is always there, and especially when the economy is bad like the recent times, it is bound to appear more clearly. Still, I thought this Super Bowl ad was serious, but I presume the fact that the age of the audience has grown has had a big impact. The younger generation tends to watch games on media other than TV. It was necessary to shift the budget for the national TV Super Bowl ad to the younger generation.
Lastly, Anheuser-Busch’s creativity needed a new impetus. As we saw earlier, we left a lot of topical works and symbols that remain in the history of Super Bowl advertisements, but there was also a feeling that such legacy acted like a bridle and limited imagination for creation. I wonder if I gave up my rights for the sake of creative diversity.
I evaluate that this action by Anheuser-Busch has yielded satisfactory results. The types of alcohol have diversified from beer-only to distilled spirits, and the creative horizons of alcohol advertisements have also expanded. In particular, the feeling of advertisements of Anheuser-Busch has changed with the beauty of reversal. The reversal elements shown in this Super Bowl alcohol advertisement will be unfolded in the next episode.
※ Park Jae-hang Mad Times waiting list, CEO of G_BAT, adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University and Hallym University
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