After a tumultuous year, Bud Light is attempting to win over fans with a playful Super Bowl 58 ad featuring a genie who grants party wishes.
As the Official Beer Sponsor of the NFL, the Anheuser-Busch brand’s campaign for the league’s biggest weekend unites the magical character with a host of sports and music stars. Rapper Post Malone, who has appeared in two previous Bud Light Super Bowl spots, stars in the commercial alongside NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White.
“Easy Night Out,” created by agency Anomaly, begins with a group of friends hanging out and watching football. One of them grabs a beer from the fridge and unexpectedly unleashes the Bud Light Genie from the bottle.
The genie looks like an easy-going guy you might meet at a party, dressed in a tracksuit and sunglasses. But through his magical powers, he can grant any kind of wish to improve a night out–from making someone “filthy rich” to a backyard performance by Post Malone.
The 60-second commercial expands Bud Light’s Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy platform, which debuted during last year’s Super Bowl.
Along with the film, the brewer will host a nationwide sweepstakes leading up to the Big Game on Feb. 11, offering fans a chance to win a trip to the host city of Las Vegas. The Easy Wishes initiative will continue year round to give away prizes such as tickets to NFL and UFC events.
During Super Bowl weekend, the brand will host The Bud Light Backyard Tour at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, featuring country artist Zach Bryan and R&B artist Leon Bridges.
Winning back fans with humor
The Super Bowl ad comes after a challenging year for Bud Light following its controversial partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
A social media promotion with Mulvaney in April 2023 sparked an uproar among conservatives, and the brand’s response failing to stand by the influencer also triggered a backlash from LGBTQ+ communities and their allies.
Suffering a sales decline in the U.S., Bud Light has since been on a marketing push to restore its image. Subsequent ads have taken a light-hearted approach to speak to its core audience.
Its “Easy to Summer” ad showed people cooling off in the heat with Bud Light, while its campaign to kick off the NFL season featured real football fans.
In that vein, Todd Allen, vice-president of marketing for Bud Light, told Adweek the brand focused on three fundamentals when developing its Super Bowl ad: fans, humor and talent.
“Fans will continue to be at the center of everything Bud Light does—and every creative decision we make ultimately comes back to how it will connect with our fans,” Allen said.
The Bud Light Genie joins the ranks of iconic brand characters such as the Bud Knight, who famously met his fate in the 2019 Bud Light x Game of Thrones crossover Super Bowl ad, and the “I Love You, Man” guy from the 1990s.
Crucially with the genie, who doesn’t seem to take many things seriously, the character had to have a sense of humor, said Allen.
“Humor has always been at the heart of the Bud Light brand, especially when it comes to our iconic Super Bowl commercials,” he explained. “The Bud Light Genie embodies easy enjoyment, which you’ll see as he grants some insane wishes throughout the spot and in real life for our fans throughout the year. We want people talking about this spot on Monday morning and going back to the Bud Light Genie to see what ‘Easy Wishes’ he might unlock for them.”
Last year’s Super Bowl ad starring Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh ranked sixth on the USA Today Ad Meter.
Two other Anheuser-Busch brands, Budweiser and Michelob Ultra, are also advertising during the Super Bowl.
For the latest Super Bowl 58 advertising news—who’s in, who’s out, teasers, full ads and more—check out Adweek’s Super Bowl 2024 Ad Tracker and the rest of our stories here. And join us on the evening of Feb. 11 for the best in-game coverage of the commercials.
