Bud Light has unveiled their new commercial for the Super Bowl complete with star studded cameos, as the company attempts to reel in customers after a disastrous year.
The beer brand, who is the official beer sponsor of the NFL, is attempting to reverse course and lean in on previous Super Bowl ads filled with humor, characters, and stars.
In the new commercial, Bud Light veteran Post Malone, NFL legend Peyton Manning and staunchly anti-woke UFC chief Dana White all make an appearance.
They join the new character birthed in the commercial known as ‘the Bud Light genie’.
The move comes less than 12 months after their disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Peyton Manning is among the stars that appear in the new commercial which will be premiere at the Super Bowl on Sunday
Bud Light veteran Post Malone appears in the new Super Bowl commercial, marking his third appearance with the brand
Sales of the beer suffered due to the move, largely due to a boycott of the beer with sales in the first two weeks of 2024 down 28.9 percent from the year before.
Based on last year’s Super Bowl advertising rates, the 60 second commercial could cost as much as $14 million.
In an interview, Todd Allen, VP of marketing for Bud Light said: ‘We wanted to put the fans first in everything that we do, so you’ll see unparalleled access, epic experiences that turns into great content
‘Humor was important as well. You know, we’ve been doing Super Bowl ads since 1983. Some of the most iconic ads have leaned into humor.
‘So we’re bringing that lightheartedness a bit back as well, more to the forefront. And the third thing was talent.
‘You know, we’ve been at the intersection of sports, music, culture care entertainment for four years and we’ve made some great friends along the way and we wanted to bring some of those long standing partners into the mix as well.’
As for the use of celebrities featured in the commercial, Allen said the brand decided to go ‘big this year’.
He added: ‘We wanted to call on those longstanding friends of the brand to join us for the ride and they’re all aligned to the passion points and platforms that our fans know and love from Bud Light and expect from us.’
The move comes less than 12 months after their disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney – seen here
The commercial follows a group of friends who unleash the Bud Light genie from a bottle of the beer.
The genie proceeds to grant the group wishes, which includes Peyton Manning joining them and Post Malone hosting a backyard concert.
Dana White is also seen hosting a weigh-in featuring members of the friends groups.
‘We created something truly epic and pretty damn funny together that I know the fans will love.’
Manning added: ‘We had a lot of fun making this commercial, and I’m sure a lot of people are going to be thinking through what they would wish for if they were lucky enough to meet the Bud Light Genie.’
While Dana White said: ‘The cast, the director and Peyton were fun to work with and it was such an incredible way to kick off my new partnership with AB and Bud Light.’
Dana White is also spotted hosting a weigh-in featuring members of the friends groups, seen here
In October of last year, Anheuser-Busch announced a six-year partnership with the UFC.
A source familiar with the deal told CNBC at the time that is worth ‘well into nine figures’.
In the controversial promotion last April, Mulvaney posted a video of herself cracking open a Bud Light on her Instagram page.
She showed off the customized can with her face on it – one of many corporate freebies she got and promoted to her millions of followers.
Bud Light was accused of alienating its traditional customer base by partnering with Mulvaney, which led many conservatives – including Kid Rock – to boycott the brand.
The backlash led to plummeting sales and Modelo Especial take over as America’s number one beer brand.
Anheuser-Busch lost $390 million in second quarter sales compared to the year before.
In a post the the brands Instagram account last week they confirmed that Gillis, seen here, was now part of the team
Gillis shared images of himself being put to work inside the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St Louis, Missouri
By December, sales of the beer had still not recovered, despite the company teaming up with NFL stars in a marketing campaign in an attempt to boost sales.
In the four weeks ending December 9, Bud Light’s retail-store sales were down 28 percent compared with the same period in 2022.
Last week, the company announced that they had forged a new partnership with comedian Shane Gillis.
In a post on the brand’s official Instagram account they confirmed that Gillis, 36, was now part of the team.
The comedian had previously been fired from Saturday Night Live after videos emerged of him using and racial and homophobic slurs during a podcast in 2019.
