AB InBev is hoping an environmental message will be a winner in its Budweiser Super Bowl ad.
The ad, which has Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” as its backing track, celebrates the brewer’s use of wind power in its operations.
Last year, the company set a goal to ensure that by 2025 all of the electricity it purchases globally will come from renewable sources. In the US, about half of the purchased electricity used in the company’s 12 breweries and other operations comes from renewable energy.
“It’s more than just beer,” Angie Slaughter, AB InBev’s vice president of sustainability, told USA Today. “This commercial is for everyone. It’s something we should be thinking about every day.”
The company, she said, has a wind farm on an Oklahoma ranch and Budweiser is the first major brand to be brewed entirely with wind power.
“We think it’s an instant classic,” added Ricardo Marques, group vice president of marketing core and value brands at Anheuser-Busch.
“The ad brings you the classic elements” of Bud ads past, including the Clydesdales. Then it brings you something new. We think that combination is very powerful.”
AB InBev has bought five and a half minutes of air time during the Super Bowl 2019, its biggest media spend for the event to date.
It will promote its Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois, Michelob Ultra and Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer brands over eight commercials.
Thirty-second ad spots were reported to cost around $5 million during 2018’s Super Bowl, so AB InBev could be spending upwards of $25 million on the event.
Watch the ad below: