Why Does Budwieser Pay $2.6 Million for a Super Bowl Ad?

It's probably safe to say that just as many people watch the Super Bowl each year for the commercials as for the actual game between the NFC and AFC Championship football teams. It is the single most watched event on television each year and the network carrying the game is very well aware of that fact and charge accordingly.

Each year there are a few consistent Super Bowl advertisers and quite a few that are banking on the prime television advertising to propel them into the Fortune 500. One of the regular sponsors of the game is Budweiser. Anheuser-Bush Brewing Company has several different themes for their ads each year but the theme that always stands out is when they break out the big horses - the Budweiser Clydesdales.

When I see the ad start with the Clydesdales, I know there is something incredibly moving or uniquely comical coming my way in the next thirty seconds and my eyes and ears are glued to the screen no matter how raucous the party surrounding me. The people responsible for Budweiser's ads are geniuses and know how to grab the viewer's emotions.

The interesting thing about the ads using the Budweiser Clydesdales is that they do not try to sell you a product. They don't tell the viewer that they have a great product at a great price. They don't suggest that Budweiser will make you run higher or jump faster or appear irresistible to the blonde swimsuit model. These ads won't even suggest that if you are a real man, you'll drink Bud. Nevertheless, the commercials for Budweiser are the ones being discussed around the water cooler on Super Bowl Monday.

Why would a company pay over $2.5 million for one 30 second commercial and not use it to sell their product? To sell the viewers on the idea that Anheuser-Busch is a good, solid and considerate neighbor. They spend the money to show America that they have feelings and a sense of humor. They care about what you care about, think about what you think about and dream about what you dream about. They are not a huge corporation; they are brewing Budweiser in their basements. They are your friends. They can relate to you - and you to them.

That is the image Budweiser wants Americans to have of them and that is the image America has of them, largely due to the commercials they air on Super Bowl Sunday featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales.

In years past, the commercials have shown the horses pulling a sleigh over fresh fallen snow, or the team being proudly led by a miniature donkey whose only ambition in life is to be a Budweiser Clydesdale. Those horses have played a game of pickup football in a snowy field, opting to go for the field goal instead of the two-point conversion. After 9/11 the Clydesdales stood on the outskirts of New York City and knelt in honor of those that were lost. What will they do in 2007?

Whatever they do, America will be watching and reacting with laughter, reflection or possibly tears. And Monday morning they'll be talking about their friend, Budweiser, and the commercial they paid millions to air without selling anything but their image.