Bud Light: Success with old dogs

Bud Light scored big at this year’s Super Bowl, bringing back two classic campaigns reinvigorated with timely, relevant insights, and employing channels that facilitate direct interaction with new consumers.  The result?  Generations successfully coming together over America’s favorite beer! 

After the untimely death of iconic spokesdog Spuds MacKenzie, (timely for the dog, just not the character…) almost 30 years ago, our old friend and party animal is back, inspiring new generations from the dead!  Reminding us that we have an irreplaceable role in our social circles, and successfully capitalizing on millennials’ anxiety of FoMo (“fear of missing out”- for us older folks). As the beer drinking landscape has shifted dramatically over the past few decades, Spuds's party wisdom may have come back at the perfect time. 

But, even more impressive, is the resurrection and evolution of Bud Bowl. Taking new form as an interactive Snapchat game that brings that old-school bud experience to life in a way relevant to the Snapchat audience. For much of that audience, this is the first experience with the classic Bud Bowl, and it is a hit! The game ran in Snapchat’s NFL content including other Discover Channels.  Its success forces us to once again ponder the age-old question: Bud or Bud Light?!

The point?  Well, for this old dog, it is encouraging to see an iconic brand such as Bud Light, successfully driving new relevance, engagement and application with classic campaigns.  No doubt, we should look forward to seeing how Bud Light will continue to drive more direct interactions with emerging generations, creating brand preference that will continue to stand the test of time.