GLENDALE, Ariz. -- So yesterday we—the attendees of Convenience Retailing University 2014—got an exclusive look at one of Anheuser-Busch’s Super Bowl ads. In it, a cuter-than-cute little puppy finds a friend in a large Clydesdale horse that doesn’t want the dog to leave the farm—Trust me, it watches better than it reads.
Later at dinner, a retailer from the West Coast commented on how much he loves that line of TV commercials A-B has been mining for the past few years during the Super Bowl. Another retailer, this one from the Midwest, asked, “Yeah, but is it going to make you buy more Bud?”
The discussion continued on into how and why such ads are really more about keeping a brand top-of-mind. But it got me thinking: In all honesty, I can’t think of the last time an advertisement made me think “I’ve got to buy that” unless it was for a new product or a product that was new to me.
The conversation brought me back to a #CRU14 course that I had attended earlier in the day. Bob Gulley, who oversees beer, wine and spirits for The Pantry/Kangaroo Express, expressed a great fondness for innovation and new products, especially if he knows the product is going to get a decent marketing push upon rollout. It’s those products he’ll advertise on the windows of his stores, rather than pushing an 18-pack of a premium brew for the umpteenth time. “They already know I have that,” he said.
It seems that’s smart: You can get me to try a new product once, maybe twice, but all the advertising in the world won’t get me to buy again a product that I don’t like or have a use for.
Go Broncos!
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