Blog Project: Topic 1
Budweiser's Commercial "Lost Dog"
Topic 1: Media Blog Project
Commercials are
always a hit and miss for everyone. Majority are cheesy and boring but some of
them are funny or emotional. Its hard to describe the perfect commercial. The
best time of the year for commercials is the Superbowl, and everyone that has
watched the Superbowl remember the cute Puppy in the Budweiser commercial in
2015. Winning back to back years, Budweiser’s commercial “Lost Dog” has the
audience on a roller coaster of emotions for 30 seconds. With a cute puppy,
good looking farmer, and a crew of Clydesdales.
Describe:
1) The content of this commercial is to
show a soft spot for Budweiser. The commercial starts off with a farmer, puppy,
and a Clydesdale on a farm. The puppy gets into the car with the farmer but
falls out, getting lost from the farmer. The farmer starts looking for the
puppy for days but can’t find him. With the sad music in the background and the
sad looking farmer it puts the audience in an emotional state. Finally, the dog
finds home but runs into a wolf about to attack him. With the audience in fear
of the wolf going to eat the puppy, a group of Clydesdales come to the rescue
and bring the puppy home. The music is a sad/soft song that sets the mood
perfectly for the audience. It stats off slow and sad but build up the suspense
in the end. The characters are a good looking farmer, a lab puppy, and a Clydesdale.
They do not use the product at all in the commercial
2) The actor and animals used are not familiar
in any other film or commercial.
3) The ad runs for about 30 seconds. I
first saw the ad when I was watching the Superbowl in 2015. That was the first
time it had been broadcasted on live television.
4) There have been a series of those types
of ads, with the puppy and horse. Starting in 2014 named “puppy love” won best
commercial of 2014, and in 2015 was the sequel “Lost Dog” that also won that
award.
Analyze:
1) There are a few great persuasive techniques
used in this ad. The first is the ad starting off with a good looking farmer
that owns a horse and a cute puppy. The puppy gets lost, creating an emotional roller
coaster for the viewers. They ad soft/sad background music to really set the
mood right. Then when the puppy finally returns home he runs into a wolf,
whining for his life a group of horses come save the dog. Giving the audience a
sense of relief, while rooting for the dog to be okay. I
2) It incorporates story-telling with the
adventure the dog goes on for getting lost and finding his way back. The dog
falls out of the car and they show a scene of the puppy laying in a box while
it is raining to make it sad for the audience. Then it shows the dog going
through fields to try to find its way home. These examples show the story of the
dog trying to return home.
3) I say no it does not effectively use
it. Yes, it ended up being hugely successful by winning commercial of the year
but it does not say anything about the actual product in the commercial. I
could have done a better job using the product in the commercial with that kind
of platform.
Interpret:
1) To me this ad was new. I have never
really seen an ad that has touched people that emotionally with a puppy and a
horse. Especially a beer commercial. Having the horses break out to save a
puppy, about to be eaten by a wolf, really put the audience on their toes. I haven’t
seen that in a commercial. Commercials you usually see don’t tell a
heartwarming story like that
2) I believe this commercial targets just
about everyone. It is designed to target people that drink beer to buy
Budweiser, but the story that it tells can touch just about anyone heart.
Having a cute puppy and a horse become close like that can be enjoyed by
everyone. But it is initially made for beer drinkers.
3) I did not see any stereotypes in the
film. Maybe the farmer being good looking with a cute puppy, but other than
that there were no stereotypes.
Evaluate:
1) The strengths of this ad are the cute
puppy they used to draw in the watchers. The sad catchy music in the background
to help get the mind set. The good looking farmer in distress trying to find
his lost puppy, and the horses in the end saving the day for the puppy. It
really set an emotional roller coaster for the audience. The biggest weakness
for the ad was not using their product in the commercial. Yes the commercial was
cute but not once in the 30 seconds did they mention a Budweiser. According the
the commercial critiques ClickZ; “Patel and Kaipa revisited the ad and analyzed it based on
surveys, both traditional and visual, as well as social listening data. Though
the ad was popular on social – 19 million YouTube views before the commercial
even aired on TV and nearly 240,000 Twitter mentions by Monday morning – it
ultimately didn’t result in any brand lift.” With not mentioning the brand
until the last 5 seconds, the commercial really didn’t make people want to go
out and buy a Budweiser.
2) Yes this commercial is memorable
because, it won the best commercial of the year, it came out during the biggest
time for commercials, which is the Superbowl, It tells a story of a puppy and a
horse getting a long and becoming family, and the commercial itself basically
tells a story, that you don’t see much anymore.
3) Yes it did connect with the target
audience. The commercial ended up winning commercial of the year after the successful
Superbowl ad. It was mentioned on twitter over 200,000 times right after the ad
was played.
Engage:
1) The Superbowl ad “Lost Dog” ended up
getting 14 million views off of YouTube after it was played in the Superbowl.
That means that just airing it on that day, they got free views of 14 million
just because of YouTube. It also racked in 240,000 twitter mentions according
to ClickZ.
2) TIME magazine said, “The ad was the most engaging Super Bowl spot among
its viewers, meaning it caused the biggest spike in active viewership of any of
the ads. “Lost Dog” was also voted the best Super Bowl by viewers on Hulu’s
AdZone, which gathered all the national ads for the big game in one place.”
TIME magazine had nothing but good things to say about the Superbowl ad “Lost
Dog” after it generated tons of views on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. They
said the use of cute puppies really sold it for the brand.
3) I wouldn’t say the ad would make me buy a Budweiser but what
the ad did do it make me conscious of what a Budweiser is. The commercial doesn’t
say anything about Budweiser, but after seeing the commercial it makes me think
of Budweiser. So maybe I would buy one based off of this ad.
4) I would recommend the ad. It is open of the cutest heart warming
ads I have ever seen. It also has a great short story behind it.
Conclusion:
1) With this assignment I learned how to look deeper into
commercials. To see if the message is there, does it actually help the brand,
what did they use to draw my attention, and other things.
2) What surprised me is how much they spent on the ad and how
little they actually promoted the brand Budweiser. The ad is 30 seconds but doesn’t
once mention having a Budweiser. Very risky on their side.
Cites used
·
ClickZ:
·
People: tvwatch:
·
TIME:
Comments
Post a Comment