Who doesn’t enjoy a cold, refreshing beverage on a hot summer’s day? And when it comes to adult beverages, nothing quite hits like cracking open a cold beer. As we shift into the dog days of summer, the MarketCast’s Ad Solutions team provided data to help us understand the in-market performance of the top beer ads in the alcoholic beverage category.
Our industry-leading Brand Effect measurement platform determines top performance by Brand Recall, which is the percentage of viewers that remember both the ad’s content and the advertised brand.
In looking at overall performance, Budweiser’s newest ad, “The Shared Spirit,” is the top performer in the category. The ad, which features their signature Clydesdale horse, feels reminiscent of Budweiser’s classic ads with familiar imagery paired with a strong voiceover, bringing the brand back to its roots.
Coming up to a very close second is Corona’s “Rhymes,” featuring their (now) longtime ambassador Snoop Dogg and comedian Andy Samberg. While the beach-lounging, rhyme-spinning ad was not the top performer overall, it did score the highest for Brand Linkage (audiences correctly linking the ad to the brand). This comes as no surprise, though, as Corona consistently uses simple and recognizable brand cues throughout their spots, making their ads impossible to mistake.
Sliding into the third spot is Samuel Adam’s “Your Cousin from Boston Goes Swimming,” a continuation of their larger “Your Cousin from Boston” campaign that has been running for a few years. The ad (which gives us all the summer vibes) benefitted from their use of humor and the wear-in over time, thanks to the creative consistency generated from the overall campaign.
While all the ads measured were pulled from CTV and linear TV formats, two of the top five performers featured interactive ad formats that are gaining popularity among CTV advertisers. Busch Beer’s ad “The Busch Guide: Black Bear” uses a branded screen overlay behind their ad, while Michelob Ultra’s “Beer Run” showed a scannable QR code in the last frame of the ad. Data from MarketCast’s CTV report shows a +147 percent increase in year-over-year interactive CTV campaigns, with a particular increase among ads with QR codes.
We would be remiss not to mention Bud Light, given the brand’s recent controversy and its ongoing sales struggles. Bud Light recently launched a new series of spots focusing on its “Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy” tagline and theme. The latest ad, “Shower Beer,” which features a country music soundtrack and summer music festival vibe, failed to breakthrough with audiences across all MarketCast Brand Effect metrics, from Ad Memorability and Brand Linkage to Likeability.
However, the lack of response to the new Bud Light ad may not be fueled entirely by the controversy but rather the ad’s lack of creative cues and light (no pun intended) storyline. As we’ve seen from other top performers in the category, ads that break through with viewers the most tend to have clear messaging, consistent branding, and use a creative element, such as humor. Another way a brand can boost its ad performance is by tying in a celebrity presence (case & point, Corona), bolstering the ad’s memorability.
As summer rolls on, we’ll continue to monitor the beer category and share any additional advertising insights with you. Stay cool and drink responsibly.
MarketCast’s Ad Solutions team is the gold standard for advertising performance measurement, which works across the whole ad lifecycle, from early concepts and storyboard testing through in-market ad and cross-media campaign measurement. To get started on optimizing your ad’s performance, contact us!