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For ten years running, Anheuser-Busch had grabbed the top spot in USA Today’s much-hyped ranking of the most popular Super Bowl commercials. On Sunday, the brewer finally saw its streak end, coming in second and third.

But if you ask top A-B marketers, the broadcast was a big win for the company because it set up a great start to the year’s heavier selling season.

Whatever the poll results from Sunday’s game — audience: 98.7 million — they take a back seat to the sales that A-B hopes its splashy advertising will stir up. Airing an ad for Bud Light Lime, for example, was a bid to convince drinkers that the newish beer can be enjoyed year-round, not just in the summer.

"When you get to the Super Bowl," said Chief Creative Officer Bob Lachky, "You really have to try to not change your strategy to win a beauty contest."

For the record, Frito-Lay came in first in USA Today’s Ad Meter voting with a Doritos ad featuring an office worker using a crystal ball to free Doritos. About 300 volunteers voting in Virginia and Oregon gave the ad a score of 8.46 on a scale of 0 to 10.

In second place, only 4/100th of a point behind, was Anheuser-Busch’s commercial showing a Budweiser Clydesdale rescuing his circus horse girlfriend. A-B had 4 1/2 minutes of air time, ranking No. 2 behind PepsiCo, Frito-Lay’s parent company.

"You always give congratulations where it’s due," said Lachky. But with A-B claiming two of Ad Meter’s top three spots, Lachky said, "I’m very proud, and I think mission accomplished in putting those spots where we did."

In each of the three previous Super Bowls, Anheuser-Busch spent more than $20 million for the airtime, according to TNS Media Intelligence. That price tag doesn’t include the cost of making the ads.

Pundits had their own take on the performance of Anheuser-Busch, which invested those millions of dollars in the midst of wrenching change brought about by InBev’s takeover of the company no fax cash advance.

Innerscope Research, a media research firm, said there was a direct relationship between the "emotional state of the nation" and the ads that proved most emotionally engaging during Sunday’s game. Innerscope used biometric tests to measure viewers’ subconscious and visceral responses to ads. The gauges include hand sweat, heart rate, respiration and motion.

By that measure, a Bud Light ad that shows employees sitting around a room discussing cost-cutting measures — No bonuses? Cut marketing? Stop buying Bud Light? — came in fifth, outranking dozens of other national ads. This ad "reflected these uncertain times," Innerscope said.

But Derek Rucker, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said A-B’s overall lineup was a little weaker than usual. Kellogg’s Super Bowl grading event — 41 marketing students ranked the commercials according to a variety of criteria — put A-B’s ads in the "good" range. They usually rank in the "great" category. The grading criteria at Kellogg includes likability, brand retention and communicating the product’s utility.

Anheuser-Busch didn’t quite deliver its typically "very strong" execution this year, Rucker said. The use of three Clydesdale spots — an all-time high on the Super Bowl — may have diluted the effect, he said.

Anheuser-Busch executives reject that argument. In the Clydesdales, Anheuser-Busch has some of the "most-loved corporate symbols" in America, Lachky said. "We’re a very unique company. We’re a very unique brewer. This is the one icon that really does it for us."

jmcwilliams@post-dispatch.com

314-340-8372

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