Back in October, Bud Light decided that Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen might not be the perfect duo to take the brand through election day, ending their campaign a couple of weeks before initially planned.
Then, this week, parent company AB InBev announced that it would use the period before the Super Bowl to debut a new tagline/creative direction, thereby consigning The Bud Light Party and “Raise One to Right Now” to that place where campaigns go when they retire or have their car keys taken away.
In the meantime, here’s the first in Wieden + Kennedy’s brand new series for the best-selling beer in the country. It’s about two dudes who stick together through thick and thin, united by their love of wings, karaoke, softball, Guns N’ Roses and, of course, Bud fucking Light.
The new tagline “Famous Among Friends” is similar to Anomaly’s “Grab Some Buds” from back in 2010. The point is really the same: Bud amounts to a shared experience between two people with feelings of mutual something or other for one another.
This is the opening shot in a campaign that will carry through into the Super Bowl, with the big game featuring not one but three different AB InBev spots. In addition to the 60-second Bud Light ad, the company will also air a :30 by Deutsch for Busch and one by FCB Chicago promoting Michelob Ultra.
Beyond the development of the deep feelings held between these two bros, one may notice that they are drinking from different Bud Light packaging in each scene. We’re not quite sure whether that trajectory is in chronological order, but we do hope the forthcoming spots’ music directors don’t bother dipping into Use Your Illusion volumes 1 or 2.