For this year’s Super Bowl, beer advertisers stick to the script

On Super Bowl Sunday, expect beer brands to play the hits.

From comedy, cameos, and Clydesdales, beer execs told Marketing Brew that this year’s big-game ads are all about consistency.

So far, five beer advertisers have shared plans to run ads during the big game, one more than last year. Leading the charge is AB InBev, which, despite no longer being the Super Bowl’s exclusive alcohol advertiser, has secured time for four of its brands: Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois, and Michelob Ultra. With 30-second ads going for a reported $8 million, it’s certainly no small investment. AB InBev’s Busch Light is also running two regional ads in 11 markets, predominantly in the south.

Molson Coors has also purchased an ad for its Coors Light brand. Modelo, the most popular beer in the country and the biggest spender, is sitting out this year’s game, according to the company.

Beer commercials are a staple of the Super Bowl, but the category is facing headwinds. Younger people are drinking less, non-alcoholic beer is increasingly popular, beer consumption has been on a decades-long decline, and when consumers do drink, some have turned to alternatives like White Claw.

You wouldn’t know it when it comes to the industry’s TV ad spend. In 2024, the beer and hard-seltzer category spent $728.5 million on linear TV ads, which is only a 6% drop from the previous year, according to iSpot data.

And the big game is still a big deal for beer. “It’s a beer-drinking occasion,” Ricardo Marques, SVP of Marketing for Michelob Ultra, told Marketing Brew.

Super brew

Last year, Super Bowl audiences were introduced to the Bud Light Genie, who was paired with frequent Bud Light collaborators Peyton Manning and Post Malone. This year, the duo is back, alongside another Bud Light spokesperson, comedian Shane Gillis.

That spot, called “Big Men on Cul-De-Sac,” is essentially a bro-off, with Malone and Gillis livening up a suburban cookout with—what else?—cans of Bud Light. It’s a bread-and-butter spot for the brand, a lineage that can be traced back to more memorable spots like “Hawk” or “Real Men of Genius.” Risky, it is not.

“Hopefully, [fans] can see themselves in the spot,” Todd Allen, SVP of marketing for Bud Light and Budweiser, told Marketing Brew.

The stakes are high for Bud Light close to two years after it faced right-wing backlash and a boycott stemming from the brand’s work with a trans influencer on a social campaign. After the marketing executives in charge at the time went on leave, the brand committed to tripling its advertising efforts, but the brand has faced more setbacks: While Bud Light is still the most popular beer by volume, last year, it slipped to No. 3 in terms of in-store sales, behind Modelo and Michelob Ultra, according to NielsenIQ data.

Allen said that “millions of consumers are choosing Bud Light every day” and that it will “continue to be an iconic brand,” in response to questions about Bud Light winning back market share after the controversy.

“We’ve learned a lot that our consumers just want us to continue to bring that iconic Bud Light and humor that we’re known for,” Allen said.

Same as it ever was

Bud Light’s pain has, evidently, become Michelob Ultra’s gain. The low-calorie beer, which featured soccer star Lionel Messi in its Super Bowl spot last year, is leveraging the 2025 Super Bowl to promote a new brand platform called “Play for an Ultra” that will continue to be used through the year, Marques said. In the ad, Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara wreak havoc on a pickleball court to Rick Ross’s “Hustlin.’”

It’s the brand’s typical fare, with just a touch of silliness.

“Consistency is very important, but at the same time [we’re] bringing something that is fresh and new and entertaining, something that can cut through on a very cluttered Super Bowl stage,” Marques said.

In the same vein, Budweiser is bringing back the Clydesdales, their 47th appearance in the Big Game, for an Americana-tinged ad that was first intended to run regionally but will now run nationally. While Stella Artois, back from a five-year hiatus, hasn’t yet revealed its ad, it told Adweek that “iconic celebrities” would be included.

Coors Light, the only non-AB InBev beer brand advertising in the game, is leaning stunt-y this year, declaring a performative “whoopsie” after the brand purposely misspelled words on highly visible billboards in locations like Times Square.

The joke? Coors is selling cases of the Mondays, with its Super Bowl spot featuring (very relatable) sloths moving in slow-motion.

Play it safe

It’s all a bit of the same, as the industry tries to court both new audiences and those that might fondly remember ads like Budweiser’s now-iconic 2000’s “Wassup?” spot, said Bryan Roth, a consumer and market analyst at Feel Goods Company and editor of the alcohol industry newsletter Sightlines.

Previous attempts to court younger viewers have fallen flat, like Bud Light’s 2023 spot featuring Miles Teller dancing to hold music in his home. “That was an ad clearly meant for younger beer consumers…I don’t know if I can say if that’s helping to move cases of beer or not,” he said.

Additionally, beer advertisers are not spending much time on beer alternatives, a departure from prior years. In 2020, Post Malone pitched Bud Light Seltzer in the Super Bowl, and in 2023, Heineken pushed its non-alcoholic beer Heineken 0.0. This year, the non-alcoholic version of Michelob Ultra is shown for roughly one second, and Bud Light Seltzer isn’t in this year’s spot at all.

“There’s a reason for Anheuser-Busch going back to the Clydesdales,” Roth said. “It’s safe, universal, and peacefully inoffensive.”