What if a real-life commercial looked, sounded and felt like an SNL skit? It’s happened before, both purposely and accidentally, and it’s happening now in the U.K. with a new Bud Light ad.
The AB InBev brand, which launched there earlier this year, parodies a bunch of hipster, millennial-targeted ad tropes with a musical number that features sun-drenched beaches (in England?) and beautiful “friends” enjoying their bohemian lives. Even a pet rabbit, inexplicably used as a prop, is “an 8 out of 10” on the looks scale, the commercial says.
It’s bull’s-eye self-aware marketing.
The ongoing campaign, dubbed “Keep it Bud Light,” recently teased a line of branded “leisurewear” consisting of tube socks, shower shoes, scarves and cross-body bags. AB, whose execs say the apparel and accessories are not a joke, calls the “fashionable” product a lighthearted take on streetwear.
Its bright-blue logo-heavy kimonos make an appearance in the new 30-second spot, from Wieden + Kennedy London, that sings about its “super-cool girl with aspirational friends, lifestyle ad with Bud Light at the end.” There’s an identifiable dash of Lonely Planet throughout, especially when the song says: “Follow your heart, those pants are quite tight/Drink with your face, and keep it Bud Light.”
As part of the brand’s across-the-pond push, the ad will air on TV and in cinemas, with digital versions planned that will star the cast of the hero spot. AB plans a “significant” spend on digital via Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube through the end of the year.
The ad aims to give Bud Light “a distinctive voice in the U.K. beer world,” Ray Shaughnessy, the agency’s creative director, said in a statement. “We’ve tried to make it clear that this is a co-ed beer brand having a laugh because—wait for it—turns out both men and women enjoy beer as well as a chuckle.”
Soiurce:-.adweek
