Anheuser-Busch wins big on Super Bowl Sunday

February 7, 2006

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Super Bowl Sunday Anheuser-Busch came in as Madison Avenue's big winner with the most popular ad, according to a survey conducted by InsightExpress, a leading online market research firm. The survey, which polled a representative sample of 500 American Super Bowl viewers, revealed that Bud Light's Clydesdale Colt topped the list of the best commercials shown during this year's game. Budweiser's Magic Fridge and Bear Attack spots drew the highest recall, securing the company's dominance of the big game.

"Humor is a Super Bowl staple, yet viewers chose the more touching Clydesdale Colt ad from Budweiser as their favorite," said Dan Campbell, Group Director for Advertising & Media at InsightExpress. "The poignant Clydesdale spot stood out from the pack, but advertisers were not afraid to be funny this year. The majority took the high road with jokes that appealed to a wide audience." Rounding out the top three best commercials were FedEx's Caveman and Budweiser's Magic Fridge.

"As far as trends go, this crop of ads was not edgy, but marketers did leverage integrated online components to capitalize on the Super Bowl's broad reach," added Campbell. "And since the Super Bowl is now a bona fide media event, these ads have morphed into post-game website content. In fact, a quarter of our respondents said they will visit a website because of a Super Bowl ad, most to view it again because they thought the ad was funny."

Beer and the Super Bowl go hand in hand, and it's clear that the beverage is also a great match for Super Bowl commercials. Americans credited Budweiser with producing the most innovative Super Bowl ad (Stadium Wave), and Bud Light's Magic Fridge spot was voted the funniest.

Dove also scored with Self Esteem Fund for Girls, the commercial with the most positive influence on the advertiser or its product. And although pizza and sex-appeal are also Super Bowl standard fare, Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites was most often cited as the commercial that did not strengthen the image of its brand.

"While there was less risk taking than in years past -- we saw a lot of animals and plenty of physical humor - there were also fewer outright bombs," added Campbell. "Since the average cost for a 30 second spot during yesterday's game was $2.5 million, smart advertisers maximized the return on their investment with pre-testing. In this situation pre-testing is a no-brainer since it helps to reduce risk, a major component of any Super Bowl ad buy."

A total of 500 online Americans adults (18+) from across the country were randomly recruited online using InsightExpress' patented recruiting methodology, e-RDD. At a 95% confidence level, the survey's margin of error is +/-4.38%.

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