Get Ready, It’s Super Bowl Ad Time!
The first ad is from Budweiser called “Brotherhood,” which first aired during the Super Bowl in 2013. It is about a man that raises a baby Clydesdale that grows up to become his best friend. The man sends the full grown Clydesdale off to the Budweiser truck and three years later the man sees an ad in the paper stating that Budweiser Clydesdales are coming to Chicago, so he drives to go see them at a parade. He spots his horse and the horse spots him. When the man leaves he spots the horse in his car mirror running after him, so he gets out of the car and the man hugs the horse showing that they are reunited.
The target audience of this ad is ideally people who drink Budweiser beer but its sentimental and inspirational tone would catch anyone’s attention. The company identified itself in the very first scene of the advertisement by having the man wear a Budweiser hat. In case the hat was unnoticeable to some, the company then identified itself with a bigger appearance on the Budweiser truck that came to pick up the horse.
This advertisement definitely has a beginning, middle, and end. It tells its story with a narrative structure. The Exposition is when the man looks over the fence at the baby Clydesdale and is shown raising the horse, the rising action is when the man is riding the horse and spots the Budweiser truck driving up the dirt driveway and the man hands the horse off to the driver to put into the truck, the climax is when the man drives to Chicago and their eyes meet, and the falling action is when the horse goes running after the truck and the man and horse reunite.
The Second ad is from Volkswagen called “The Force,” that first showed during the 2011 Super Bowl. It is about a little boy dressed in a Darth Vader costume that tries to use his powers on a baby doll, his dog, a workout machine, washing machine, sandwich, and his dads new Volkswagen Passat. When his dad sees him trying to use powers on it, he presses the start button on the remote from inside and the little boy jumps back with shock that it actually worked.
The target audience is Volkswagen drivers and to show them the new features that are offered on the new 2011 Passat. The tone of the ad is humorous and cute and would potentially attract all audiences, not just Volkswagen drivers. The Company waited until the middle of the advertisement to identify whom they were when the dad drove up into the driveway.
This ad also has a beginning, middle, and end. The exposition is when they first show the little kid dressed as Darth Vader, the rising action is when he is trying to use his powers on all kinds of different things, and the climax is when he believes that his powers actually worked on the Volkswagen Passat.
Between these two ads, the one that has the strongest narrative is the Budweiser “Brotherhood” commercial. The commercial does a better job at catching and keeping the audiences attention because the ad actually has a story line and an emotional appeal which makes it more interesting and entertaining. The Budweiser commercial is probably the ad that more people would share because of how cute and entertaining it is.
http://www.hulu.com/adzone/213364