Super Bowl Ads: Hunks vs. Puppies

Timely enough, with the Super Bowl this past Sunday, the commercial ads featured are some of the most notorious, using specific storytelling features to promote big name products.

Let’s recall the 2013 “Lost Dog” Budweiser commercial that incorporated a best friendship between a puppy and horse and the 2014 ad for H&M that endorsed David Beckham and his entirety, if you catch my drift.

Budweiser’s target audience is obviously those consuming their product which is a very large audience, so with the sentimental tone featuring a puppy getting taking away from his home yet returning to his best bud, shows how it is possible to encompass a wide range of consumers, especially animal lovers.

Throughout the ad the company appears in a subtle manner, but strongly identify that the brand is Budweiser. For instance, the first sight in the Budweiser ad, is the man’s hat in the first scene guiding the horse into the barn. It is a very simple implementation, however they dress the man in very bland clothes while the hat logo is a bright red drawing the audiences eyes to their brand name, a very smart filming decision on their part. The ad goes on to elaborate a beautifully done story line with a beginning, middle, and end, along with a very strategic narrative structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action/resolution).

This is represented by the puppy first off displaying his friendship with the horse by showing he wants to go in the trailer with his friend (exposition). To his dismay his friend did not get into the trailer and before he knew it he’s on his way to who knows where (rising action). Then he escapes the trailer and makes his journey home thinking this is the falling action or resolution however it is not. As the ad displays as the puppy is almost home, a coyote starts to approach him. Then it jumps to horses who are rattling against their stalls because they hear the puppies whimpers (climax). Then when the puppy thinks this is it, the horses come to his rescue and return home (resolution). The owner is happy he has his dog, the puppy is home, and once again we get a last good sight of the man’s Budweiser hat that ties everything into place.

As for the H&M ad it essentially features a photo shoot of David Beckham presenting his Bodywear line. By running around the city and then returning slowly taking or “ripping” his clothes off.

The ads target audience is clearly young men. The tone in which this was delivered is humorous or lustful approach. It displays a fit, handsome man as the focus almost giving the product life that if you buy this apparel you too will be this desirable. The company establishes their presence dominantly by displaying that H&M presents the ad in a headline at the beginning. As far as the ad telling a story it honestly doesn’t. Beckham clearly just rips off his clothes, appears sexy, and before the ad even can develop a legitimate text book story the ad is over. However, we do remember the ad because Beckham is attractive and sexy sells.

When it comes to comparing the two ads, Budweiser did it better. The ad is clearly more effective because a larger audience wants to see what happens to the puppy. Sorry Beckham but you can only appeal so much with your body. Lastly, Budweiser encompasses a huge audience, not a confined one like H&M, and can be shared to many. The real gage is how many people smile with approval.