During last year’s Super Bowl, Budweiser debuted their ad “Puppy Love;” the story of an unlikely friendship between an adorable yellow Labrador and the beer brand’s famous Clydesdales. This year they’re back with another installment called “Lost Dog,” following the same puppy and his peculiar friendship with massive horses.
The one difference? This time around we were on set with the Budweiser team and their group of eager animals. In between takes, we sat down with Executive Creative Director Mike Byrne – the mastermind behind the brand’s popular Super Bowl ads – to talk friendship, “Puppy Love” success, and what it’s like to advertise during the biggest game of the year.
COED: When the creative came out for the first spot “Brotherhood,” was there any idea that this was potentially going to become a series?
Mike Byrne: The only thing that was episodic – maybe – was the idea of unlikely friendships. “Brotherhood” was the unlikely friendship between the rancher and the horse. I mean, people have relationships with horses obviously, but in that spot the horse breaks away from the parade and remembers the rancher. So that was an unlikely outcome, scenario. And then the following year, the unlikely friendship was this puppy and this horse develop this bond… which is not too far off from the truth because you always see dogs around stables and stuff like that. We just sort of amplify that relationship further. So the camaraderie and friendship has been the staple for the brand, and I think that’s obviously true. What does that have to do with Budweiser? Well, you drink Budweiser with your friends. You open up about things that you want to do and accomplish. It’s a very different thing if I say to you, “lets go have a beer, let’s go have a Bud.” You know that we are going to talk about stuff as opposed to say “hey, let’s get a coffee.” That seems almost more serious. You know, and a Bud is like, “hey, you’re my buddy, let’s hash sh*t out.” So camaraderie and friendship is a fundamental part of the brand. I mean, that’s why you get together and drink, and be social, and those things.
So then last year we did the puppy thing. “Brotherhood” did really well in the Super Bowl and then last year “Puppy Love” did extraordinarily well…
COED: Did you see that coming?
Mike Byrne: No, didn’t see that coming at all. We knew we had a good story. What’s been successful for the Super Bowl, and obviously in Hollywood, is a strong narrative – a good beginning, good middle, good end. Both years had a surprise ending, this year it’s the same thing. This year is more about, your really good friends are the people you can count on; You call up at 2 AM and say “Hey man, I’m in this situation” and they’ll hop out of bed and come help you out. And I think this year is about the lengths that we will go to be there for our friends.
COED: Do you think that’s why these commercials have been so successful? That the themes are so in-line with the brand?
Mike Byrne: Yeah, and it’s a different way to talk about friendship. We’re using animals and the nice thing about using animals is they don’t talk. When you talk to dog lovers or animal lovers for that matter… I always tell people that you can have the worst day in the world and then you come home and your dog is psyched to see you. It’s not upset that you messed up or that you had a bad…
Budweiser has always used the Clydesdales and the Clydesdales always represent the brand. They’re stoic, they’re strong, they’re workhorses, they’re unapologetic in the sense that they just do what they do and they’re not trying to be anything other than that, and that is a lot like the brand. We brew quality beer and we’re not trying to be anything other than that. We don’t go with the fads, the trends. [We’ve] been brewing the same way for 126 years. So there’s just a real timelessness to the brand, to the authenticity of that, to the Clydesdales, to friendship. And I think people like to be reminded of what true friendship is and I think Budweiser plays a big role in that.
COED: At what point did you know there was going to be a follow-up for “Puppy Love?”
Mike Byrne: Probably seven days before the Super Bowl, when they launched the spot on YouTube and it just started accruing views after views. We were laughing going, “awe man, how do you follow that up?” And then you go, well what were the ingredients in it that worked? People go, it was so easy, you used a puppy… Well it doesn’t make it less difficult to write a good story. In fact it makes it a little harder because it’s a puppy and we’re this big masculine beer brand. So how do you make that puppy somehow… how do you bring masculinity to that puppy. This year we said, what did we learn from last year, what works, how do we create a story that can outdo last year, but has some of the same ingredients. So we didn’t get rid of the puppy. It’s like, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
COED: From a creative standpoint, do you approach a Super Bowl commercial any differently than you would a regular commercial?
Mike Byrne: Absolutely. I guess the fact of the matter is it’s the Super Bowl of football, but it’s the Super Bowl of advertising. Because, you have 170 million people plus watching… they actually watch the commercials. So you’re not going to be this forgotten thing stuck between a Doritos and a Pepsi ad, you’re going up against everyone else trying to get everybody’s attention. So you have to break through. And, probably, that’s part of the impetus with the puppy again, because we know that was break through. Also that got so much adulation; why not give America back what it wants? Even in the comments last year, people were already wondering what we are going to do this year. And I think bringing the puppy back is not going to make anybody upset.
But you absolutely go into the Super Bowl differently. There is good and bad to that because I think a lot of brands go “well alright, we’re gonna have stuff blow-up and we’re gonna do something totally crazy”… I think what we try to do is tell a great story, make sure the brand is at the center of the story, and try to make that narrative as authentic and emotional as possible. And really think through every scene, really think through the narrative arc. I think the biggest mistake with ads, with films is that it’s always hard to close it out. And I think we’ve been successful having a good narrative arc… good beginning, good middle, good end, with little moments in between that kind of keep you wanting more.
COED: Do you think “Lost Dog” is going to deliver all that?
Mike Byrne: I hope so (laughing)… I mean on paper yes, but now it comes down to going out and filming it… you’re dealing with animals, you’re dealing with puppies, they don’t always do what you want them to do. What you have on paper is not always what you… you’re dealing with weather, you’re dealing with location, all those intangibles. But it’s the same crew of people we’ve done the last two Super Bowl spots with, we all know each other, we all have high expectations, it’s massively collaborative. There is no “the director is over there, the agency is over here and the clients’ over there”… these are very unusual productions.
