“Puppy Love”, the advertisement of Budweiser in Super Bowl Spot 2014, came into success with earned the top spot on USA Today’s Ad Meter and was voted the top commercial during the game.
Commercials on Super Bowl Spot are not only targeting product promotion but also establishing brand image and reputation. Being an American beer brand, Budweiser has a traditional, patriotic, adult image. It does not suit its current marketing positioning: a caring, fresh branding in order to broaden its potential customers base.
Therefore, instead of selling the high-quality beer, Budweiser introduced audiences, Super Bowl Spot local viewers and thus global viewers, to the brand in the new way.
“Puppy Love” points largely on Pathos: aiming for emotional resonance as an indirect advertisement. Animals, the puppy and Budweiser icon Clydesdale, are the protagonists in the commercials. They built up a real connection within the 60 seconds video in coherence with the tag “Best Buds” which meets the current promotion theme Brotherhood. The director, Jake Scott used the rhetorical techniques, transfer, to convey association with the beers from the caring, warm appeal of the advertisement. For instance, Clydesdales chase for the puppy symbolizes Budweiser will do everything they can to stay with its buddies, which are customers.
The background music, Let Her Go by Passenger, reinforces the message with lyrics: “Only know you love her (Budweiser) when you let her go (switch to another brand)”. Hence, the commercial promotes the sense of loyalty under the keen competitive beer market in USA with numbers of suppliers. Such indirect product selling creates the message with no lines but only music and images which makes it more accessible to viewers’ mind.