In case you haven’t seen it yet, Budweiser’s Super Bowl ad—slated to run only on the Canadian broadcast of the main event—has gone viral in a big way online.
Here’s the setup.
Two amateur Canadian hockey teams think they’ve been invited to be part of a documentary. Instead they’re treated to a mega flash-mob and get to live out what every kid who plays hockey (or any sport, really) dreams of.
It closes with “Good times are waiting. Why not grab some buds.”
A lot of people have liked it on Facebook, tweeted it and +1’d it on Google+.
You don’t have to enjoy beer or hockey to connect with the message behind the ad.
Okay, not everyone liked it…
The National Post’s Andrew Coyne, for one, was unmoved.
“What exactly is the ad’s point?” he tweeted.
That led to this polite exchange…
Dialogue on the point to the Bud ad. Andrew Coyne is a great guy who isn
I’m not the kind of guy who is going to square off on Twitter with one of Canada’s best-read journalists (I’m a fan, too, Andrew). I’m not that dumb. Plus if you follow Coyne on Twitter, you know that debating the guy on social media can be brutal. Ask Tony Clement about that.
But Coyne raises some interesting points. There are things we all can learn from the obvious success of a beer company’s pre-emptive ad spot.
Advertising is in the selling business.
First, ads are made to sell things. This is obvious.
Many like to pretend that they are immune to selling or that selling is a dirty word. Or that we see through the gimmick.
Here’s what I know as a copywriter and as someone who has been in business for over 10 years.
There are just two kinds of selling.
The kind that works and the kind that doesn’t.
All selling that works shares a common mastery: the ability to be persuasive.
Being persuasive isn’t about being pushy.
Persuasion comes from the Latin word persuas, which means “convinced by reason.”
The curious thing about it is we’ve come to learn through psychology and neuromarketing that persuasion has as much to do with connecting emotionally as it does with reason.
So the meaning has changed from its Latin roots. English is funny that way.
Noted psychologist and author Robert Cialdini says there are six principles of persuasion.
Reciprocity
Commitment
Authority
Scarcity
Social proof and
Liking
Those last two are an important part of what makes the Bud spot so effective.
They’re not pushing beer in the ad. They don’t even show the product (other than the logo).
The ad is about an idea that connects with people on an emotional level.
When people like how they feel about something, they tell others.
You don’t need to advertise.
I know what you’re thinking right now: “What? Are you insane? You’re a copywriter” you can’t say that!”
Of course I can.
Advertising isn’t for everybody.
It’s very powerful if you can afford it and if you find smart people to help you who know the difference between being clever and being effective.
But it’s not for everyone.
That’s why it costs what it does.
Even Budweiser has figured this out.
Their spot isn’t going to run on US channels during the Super Bowl. It doesn’t have to.
By being pre-emptive and by using social media, their message—highly emotional, likeable and memorable, powered by an enormous amount of social proof—is already out there.
It’s why Scott Stratten wisely concluded today that Budweiser just won the Super Bowl and the internet. I agree.
More than products, people are open to ideas.
When you have good ones—ones that you share through the dual channels of reason and emotion—they often stick.
Not always.
But when they do, you know.
