Budweiser Super Bowl Campaign Takes New Direction With PSA Combating Drunk Driving

For Super Bowl 50, Budweiser is trading cute puppies for an anti-drunk driving message delivered by actress Helen Mirren.

Chat with MarTechBot

Budweiser image

Last year, Budweiser won the online Super Bowl game with its “Lost Dog” spot, generating more than seven million views and 300,000 social actions before the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks ever took the field.

For its Super Bowl 50 campaign, the brand is taking a new direction with an ad aimed at combating drunk driving. A representative for Budweiser said the brand’s “Simply Put” spot starring actress Helen Mirren addresses the issue of drunk driving in a “… straightforward, unorthodox tone that no brand or PSA has ever used before.”

In the ad, Mirren eloquently explains how “… the collective ‘we’ are dumbfounded that people still drive drunk.”

The ad ends with the hashtag #GiveADamn, and according to a report from Adweek, Budweiser has partnered with Twitter to create a branded emoji and plans on donating up to $1 million to safe ride programs, giving one dollar every time the hashtag is tweeted.

Budweiser’s “Simply Put”

Adweek reports that Budweiser’s second Super Bowl ad, titled “Not Backing Down,” will feature the brand’s famous Clydesdale horses but will not be released before the game.

Check out Marketing Land’s full list of Super Bowl 50 advertisers and their campaigns at: Super Bowl 50 Advertisers: These Brands Are Ready To Play The Commercial Game.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Amy Gesenhues
Contributor
Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

Get the must-read newsletter for marketers.