Sunday, February 2, 2014

Tow #17 - 2014 Budweiser Clydesdale Commercial

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB7QRyF4p4


Even before the Super Bowl, all viewers of regular television already know the heart-throbbing advertisement campaign of Budweiser, the story of their Clydesdale horses and how they interact with their loved ones. Whether its reuniting with an old trainer after a big parade, or it’s a horse's training montage run by a Dalmatian dog to become a great show horse, these commercials are usually the most remembered after the championship game. That is their purpose, tocreate these heartfelt stories used as their advertisements. Usually companies hire comedic writers to make a funny ad that the audience of the football game will never forget, but Budweiser goes a different route, using animal personification, and imagery of emotion that we can all relate to. Budweiser truly makes commercials that people do not forget.
            The animal personification is used in the advertisement to establish a connection with its audience, people (of course). People have feelings, so by giving animals these human-like characteristics, the audience is able to connect with the animals on a deeper level for the one minute that these ads air. Also by using animals instead of people, everyone can relate to the animal, instead of a person who not everyone can see their reflection in the image, but with animals everyone equally shares a connection with the animal. If an ad uses a girl as their main protagonist, then usually only women will connect to it, and vice versa with male protagonists. But the gender of these animals is never revealed, leaving an open interpretation of self-reflection within these characters. With animals having human-like emotions, everyone can relate and thus drawing the viewer’s attention to remembering that specific ad, over any other advertisements.
            A feeling of accomplishment, love, and sadness is shown very well in these ads. When one of the animals is sad, it is raining, when one of them is happy, it is a bright sunny day. And there is always a bittersweet melody playing in the background to connect to both the sad, and happy parts of the ad. This can give an “aww” factor to the minute video as all of the stories in the various ads have a happy beginning, sad conflict, and an ending, usually redeeming for the main character. We can see how these characters are feeling through their actions and emotions, because there is no sound besides the beautiful background song. This well-acted advertisement really sets itself apart from the other ads trying to be silly.

            These strategies Budweiser uses work very well.  If you ask anyone after the Super Bowl which ad they remember most, they will say Budweiser’s, and they will remember the tear-jerking story that came along with it.

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