Bud Light Dominates Super Bowl XLI, Launches Bud TV
By Jeff Hilimire on Wednesday, February 7th, 2007For those of you that watched Super Bowl XLI last Sunday, you might be surprised to learn that it was the third most watched TV program of all time. And if you’re like most people, you watched the Super Bowl for the commercials as much as you did the game. The most watched commercial (not sure how official this is, its just what I heard on ESPN radio) during the Super Bowl was the “Bud Light Classroom”.
However, according to AdBowl.com, the Bud Light “Rock, Paper, Scissors” was voted the favorite - it was my favorite as well.
You can see these videos are being hosted on the recently launched Bud TV website (and yeah, its annoying but you have to register - ugh). So far there are a lot of mixed reactions about Bud TV but I think its far too early to tell if this initiative is going to be successful or not. They promote that there will be an HD quality version coming soon and there’s already some decent content with more to come.
The most recent issue of MediaPost’s OMMA (one of my favorite magazines) has an article entitled, “A Leading Role: Be the Content”, which talks about the concept of advertisers and companies producing content rather than trying to advertise around content. I would link to this article but OMMA also requires you to register to see their content online - ugh again. The author makes the intelligent distinction that the content shouldn’t be about your brand, but rather it should support your brand. I agree with this whole heartedly.
And apparently this concept isn’t a new one, dating all the way back to the 1920’s when Procter & Gamble created soap operas to appeal to “a large audience of household-shopping decision makers”. I had no idea that was how soap operas were started but Wikipedia confirms it.
Yes, ugh. This Bud TV registration form is a classic example of traditional agencies and marketers trying to collect too much information at once. This mass collection method is to the detriment of the website.
I mean, why do I need a “BudTV screen name?” I’m just going to watch the commericials. I guess they are going to create a community and promote user generated content. These tactics are great and all, but they have a place. To create a community, there needs to be a shared passion that gives people a continued reason to re-visit and interact with others. I’m not sure if clever TV commericals are enough to spawn this*.
*Note: I am simply making this assumption because they asked for a “BudTV screen name”. As motivated as I was to watch the commercials (which I have yet to see), I can’t see myself filling out what appears to be a massive form of personal information just to do that.
I’m sure I can find them on You Tube.
I bet the lawyers made them require proof-of-age, but I agree the form is way too complicated.