Question

My Teacher keeps telling me I don't have a Thesis. I thought I hada good thesis. Please help!

Bud Light in advertising

            One of the most effective ways for businesses to thrive is to use effective advertising, whether the ad is on TV, magazines, social media or even movies. The goal is to create enticement for a purchase over the competitor’s product. Budweiser is great example of a billion dollar company that has always maintained a strong record of quality advertisements that have proven to work in sales. Using well written humor in commercials, strategic ad placements, and a large budget, Budweiser never fails to make sales of their Bud Light Beer. The ad in particular concerning this essay depicts two women and two men dancing with phrase, “time flies when you’re having Bud Light. According to Seth Archer’s article “Alcohol companies are placing a huge bet that cable TV isn’t dead” he states, “Beer brands were far and away the biggest spenders, $357 million”(Archer). Budweiser spends a large amount of money on research and development with writers on commercials, specifically for the Super bowl ads, which have always been a fan favorite for years. The Super Bowl an honored tradition for Americans that is not only watched as a football game, many people watch for the Bud Light ads alone. Budweiser knows this, and have managed to create a few pop culture phenomenons over the decades, for example; wazzup and dilly dilly. These catchphrases alone do wonders for sales since everyone in the office the next day is quoting them, a topic of which we will delve in to later. An analysis of Bud Lights advertising in this particular ad shows that the marketing is to convey to the consumer they will have a fun carefree time with Bud Light, and to men, they will have the women, and to women they will have the men if they are drinking Bud Light.

            The image is always a very important technique that gets people’s attention. The use of image has become more and more common in advertising, people buy what they like and the easiest way to get there is through a good image. Super Bowl commercials are just as popular as the football games going on. Some of the world’s largest company’s put the most effort into these ad spots, hence why they cost the most to place usually. According to the article Anheuser-Busch aims for broader appeal in Super Bowl 50 they; “bought 31/2 minutes of airtime for five commercials to air during Sundays NFL matchup on CBS between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos for Shock Top, Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra”. (Brown) Paired with the fact that sporting event attendees and viewers consume beer on average, more during events like football for example. Bud Light and Budweiser are always one of the top contenders to bring a great commercial. The famous “Wassup” by the Budweiser frogs created a cultural phenomenon that facilitated the use of the catchphrase in its context relative to the commercial in everyday life for millions of viewers and consumers.

  Another way industries advertise is the use of the bandwagon effect, persuading people by catch phrases that turn in to a cultural phenomenon. The bandwagon effect is used to create an illusion of popularity on whatever product they are going to introduce. Bud Light will use a phrase to make it sound desirable by all, like in this ad that say “Time flies when you’re having Bug Light”, which shows people drinking this product it will make for a good night. Now bars are having wall hangers that glow with the products names on them to reach out to people so they see it and order it. Producers try and suggest that their alcohol is the best and by popular demand will sell the most. People tend to drink whatever is popular because it makes the audience feel in with the crowd. That is the bandwagon effect in use, and why it is one of the most effective techniques.

Finally, the transfer, advertising for this product that will continually get people’s attention using transfer. When people watch or see an advertisement, a familiar face will help keep that image in their mind. Celebrates are everywhere in advertisement, they are a valuable asset in advertising. If someone’s favorite actor or sports player is on any ad drinking any type of alcoholic beverage, the consumer is more than likely to purchase it on that perceived notion that their idol is also consuming it. Budweiser has used everyone from Amy Schumer to Paul Rudd. Schumer and Seth Rogen for example played roles in various Bud Light ads. Rogen, being a highly successful comedic actor and Schumer being a highly successful female comedian and actress both compliment the masculine and feminine outreach for Bud Light, doubling the chances of both men and women to purchase Bud light with stout humor in the ads by two comedic heavy weights that everyone is familiar with.

            The alcohol audience will always be watching for new ads, and as time goes on it will reach out to new viewers with their creative techniques for advertising. Utilizing well written humor in commercials, strategic ad placements, and a large budget, Budweiser never fails to make sales of their Bud Light Beer. Bud Light who runs 97 ads in 17 different magazines continues to hold the top spot for the publication with the most beer ads. Different techniques like image, bandwagon and transfer to name a few will continue to make Bud Light and other company’s money. This simple ad that has reached hundreds used a simple image that lets there customers see what a good time consumers will have with Bud Light.

Work Cited

Sports Illustrated, November 2012. Bud Light ad. Print.

Archer, Seth “Alcohol companies are placing a huge bet that cable TV isn’t dead” Business Insider businessinsider.com June 22 2016 Web.             

"Anheuser-Busch Aims for Broader Appeal in Super Bowl 50." St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Feb. 5 2016.

Answer 1

Archer, Seth “Alcohol companies are placing a huge bet that cable TV isn’t dead” Business Insider businessinsider.com June 22 2016 Web.

The industry spends around 89% of its advertising dollars on television, according to research done by Citigroup.

Last quarter, the alcoholic-beverage industry spent $421 million on advertising, up 26% compared to the same time last year. Beer brands were far and away the biggest spenders, followed by winemakers, according to Wendy Nicholson, an analyst at Citi.

The largest individual spender was the brewer Shock Top, which is owned by Anheuser-Busch In Bev. Shock Top ran a Super Bowl ad campaign with actor T.J. Miller from Silicon Valley.

Nicholson contributes the increase in spending to a more competitive environment, and she sees the trend largely continuing as sales in the industry grow.

Still, even outside of television, the industry's preferences for advertising are decidedly old-school.

TV isn't the only old media alcohol companies are spending on. For MillerCoors, magazine advertisements were another top category. Boston Beer Co prefers radio advertisements after television.

The "internet" category, where mobile is king and cord-cutters make up a lot of the population, is surprisingly one of the smallest for alcohol companies, representing only 2% of their total ad spending according to Nicholson.

That's not the case in other industries of course. In the first quarter of 2016, digital advertising across all industries increased 21% to about $15.9 billion according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

"Anheuser-Busch Aims for Broader Appeal in Super Bowl 50." St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Feb. 5 2016

AnheuserBusch is ditching its Super Bowl playbook gearedtoward millennials and targeting a broader demographic in this year's crop of commercials airing Sunday night.

Puppies and video games are out, and Helen Mires is in.A-B, the St. Louis-based unit of A-B InBev, bought 3 minutes ofairtime for five commercials to air during Sunday's NFL matchup on CBS between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos for Shock Top, Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra. If the game goes into overtime, the brewer has a second Michelob ad ready to air.

Thirtysecond spots cost about $5 million, and the stakes arehigh: Last year's Super Bowl reached a record 114.4 million viewers, the largest audience in TV history.

During last year's Super Bowl, A-B executives targeted millennial 20- and 30 somethings. Its Bud Light Super Bowl ad a year ago featured a 30-year old beer drinker running through a life- size Pac-Man maze.

In this year's Bud Light Super Bowl commercial, actors AmySchumer and Seth Rogen star in a humorous faux political commercial for the nation's top-selling beer, asking people to join "the Bud Light party."

With the presidential campaign in full swing this year, the BudLight spot is about uniting people, said Jorn Socquet, A-B's vicepresident of marketing. It also introduces the brand's new tagline: "Raise One to Right Now."

"The message transcends generations," Socquet said. "We had lost our way a little bit ... and our humor didn't evolve over time."

Rich Meyer, chief creative officer at Olivette-based ad agency studio which was not involved in A- B’s ads, said the humorous Schumer. and rogen spot would be well received by ber drinkers of all ages "The inclusion angle is pretty smart," Meyer said.

The Super Bowl ad features the actors holding cans with a newdesign Bud Light is debuting this year the brand's first overhaulin eight years.

"For packaged goods like beer, it's needed every once in a whileto refresh things,"