The Greatest Super Bowl Promotion Of All Time

Biz-Online — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:56:00 +0000

I’m a good old fashioned red blooded American. I like Beer, Cheese, Apple Pie and the Super Bowl. Every January I get excited about the prospect of the one Sunday each year where everyone is on my page, even my wife and her sisters and mother. They’re all with me. “Let’s watch football, eat until we’re sick, drink beer, take a nap and do it all without feeling guilty. Usually on Sunday’s, I feel alone with my football and my food. But on Super Bowl Sunday, America is right there with me. But I’m a Buffalo fan so it hasn’t been my team in the game in about 15 years. But even when it was (including their 4 consecutive losses) I always enjoyed the commercials. And now, while I still love the game itself, when I don’t have a “dog in the hunt” so to speak I find that I love the commercials perhaps even more.

I love marketing. I know that I’m being taken advantage of by corporate branding, but I still enjoy it. From funny commercials, to the random business promotional products that adorn my work desk, I really enjoy corporate branding. One such promotion is one that I miss with the great fondness and nostalgia that can only come with childhood memories. The Bud Bowl!

Come on, you remember. The Bud Bowl was the promotional highlight of nearly every Super Bowl from 1989 until its final flight in 1997. For the young and uninitiated, the Bud Bowl was a mock Football Game featuring animated bottles of beer fighting against one another. It was clever, it was witty and it was excellent. Each year Bud was pitted against Bud Light in the battle for supremacy. Animated with an incredible flair in 3D computer Graphics by the San Francisco Production Group, they pleased both the young and young at heart. Budweiser had a solid hit on its hands. The games always featured an real life sports broadcaster such as Bob Costas and Chris Berman. Often times the teams would have a celebrity coach including, most notably, Mike Ditka. The Bud Bowls usually parodied sports lore such as recreating the infamous “Stanford Band” play and bringing the “Fridge” and “Freezer” in reference to Super Bowl XX fame. Funnily enough, I always rooted for Bud Light and to this day I have no idea why.

When I watch the commercials for the most recent Super Bowls I find myself each and every year somewhat underwhelmed. Occasionally there is 1 or 2 that stand out, but none that have the flair or panache as the Bud Bowl. Now when I see the promotional gimmicks like a 3D commercial for a kids movie or horses kicking field goals I wonder where the promotional innovation went? There was of course “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” but that was nearly a decade ago. Perhaps it’s that when I was a kid I could more easily become lost in the grandeur of the commercial, and perhaps now I’m more jaded having had a wealth of experience in the promotional marketing world. But nevertheless, I always look back fondly when I remember the greatest Super Bowl promotion of all time… The Bud Bowl.

Oh, and for what it’s worth Budweiser took the series 6-2.:cool:

No related posts.

Biz-Online.com » Success Stories & Case Studies

The Greatest Super Bowl Promotion Of All Time

Related Tags