Is Budweiser’s ‘Whassup?’ the best Super Bowl ad ever?

On every street, in every office, the catchphrase caught on. Long before social media existed, Bud invented the concept of viral content. The ad spawned at least 80 parodies, including The Simpsons, Super Mario and Scary Movie.

• Have your say in our Best Super Bowl Ads Ever poll

And the campaign kept pace with public reaction. The late, lamented agency DDB created around 20 different treatments – with girlfriends, New Jersey wise guys, pizza delivery boys, preppy men, old ladies, dogs and aliens.

Bud won the Grand Clio in the US and the Grand Prix at Cannes and was named Advertiser of the Year.

But what happened next was even more remarkable. In year one, sales increased by almost $1.5bn at today’s prices. In year two, Bud pushed Anheuser-Busch’s market share close to 50%, worth about $60bn.

August Busch, the former chief executive officer at Anheuser-Busch, said: “In our lifetimes, we’ll never see so much value created from a single idea.”

So, what is it about this seemingly simple campaign that worked so well?

You can see the fun in young guys getting by on TV sports, beer and in-jokes. But, in just 30 seconds, it also says something deeper. This absurd yet straightforward idea also shows how men communicate – sharing understanding, love and respect. Saying nothing at all, they say all they need to. And, just like the slogan, that is true.

But can you imagine pitching that idea to your boss? And getting it approved? You say, “Well, there are two blokes on the phone. One says, ‘What’s up?’ The other says, ‘Nothing – just watching the game, having a Bud.’ And the first one says ‘True, true.’ And then their friends shout ‘Whassup?’… and, well, that’s pretty much it.”

What’s startling is that the campaign got made at all. When DDB pitched the idea to Bud, the client thought they’d lost their minds. On paper, nobody got the scripts. It all seemed too risky.

You may already know that the creative team got the idea from a short film. Music video director Charles Stone shot the two-minute movie on a Hi-8 camcorder, just him and his mates.

It was only when the marketing team watched the original film that they understood the potential. The idea was licensed from the filmmaker. Charles Stone directed the commercials and, though they cast about 100 actors, that’s still Stone and his friends in the ads.

It’s tempting to think, ‘Oh, the agency just stole that idea.’ But the odd thing is that the ads are way better than the original treatment. In Stone’s film, there’s something bleak about the boys’ lives. They’ve got nothing going on – just chillin’, watching the game – and are unable to communicate.

In the commercials, Bud does what brands do best. It shows the potency of the brand as a social object: the emotional bonds it creates and showcases through marketing. More than piles of cash, it helps explain the ads’ success. The brand lets people feel included, accepted and valued.

When a campaign boosts the bottom line by $1.5bn a year, it’s easy to think that everything just fell into place. However, if you compare the Super Bowl ad in 2020 with the first ad that ran on sports shows, you can see how the popularity of ‘Whassup?’ must have caught the client and agency by surprise.

How do you take something that’s initially designed for a young-ish male audience on late-night TV and make it more mainstream and inclusive?

The ‘girl invasion’ ad has that same simple-but-subtle send-up of male behavior and attitudes. The performances are great – daft enough to make you laugh but relatable enough to feel true.

Maybe modern man is more prone to gaming than watching the game. But male friends using ‘bantz’ to avoid talking about feelings – that still seems relevant.

If you’re familiar with System 1’s research on the ‘magic of compound creativity,’ you’ll recognize how valuable that is. This campaign ran for around eight years.

‘Whassup?’ was a money-spinner. It was insightful, creative gold dust. But it’s still a masterclass in creative consistency over time: genius ideas dancing round a central, emotional truth and generating astonishing returns on marketing investment.

Of course, good ads are hard to make. But, far more importantly, great ideas are even harder to sell in, to get budget, to get run.

• The Best Super Bowl Ads Ever