Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
Bud.TV’s new spot called ‘Swear Jar’ has gone viral and has quickly captured attention – but is that really what they want?
With only 150,000 users in March and according to comScore, a number that dropped too low to be measured in April; Bud.TV was almost gone.
Enter The Swear Jar.
An obvious take on The Simpson’s episode featuring a ‘swear jar’ (Episode # 51 Season:3) which first aired in February 1992, the Bud.TV commercial spot features a work environment similar to ‘The Office’ where a swear jar is provided which will be used to provide the office ‘with a case of Bud Lite or something‘.
As promised, the Bud.TV spot delivers on content without the traditional ‘in your face’ integration seen in previous attempts by other brands.
In an attempt to revive the site, Bud.TV will now focus on short videos and is also looking to distribute Bud.tv content to other sites.
Earlier in AdWeek, Jim Schumacker, vp, digital entertainment and branded content at A-B was aware that Bud.TV needed to shift perception. "We need to build up more conversation beyond the negative of, ‘You can’t get in because of age verification.’".
Legal Issues
It was just back in February when 23 attorneys general "strongly encouraged A-B to use a more effective age-verification tool" to enter the Bud.TV site
Maine attorney general G. Steven Rowe, who helped to spearhead the effort along with Louisiana’s attorney general Charles Foti, said he didn’t have any evidence that underage children are accessing the Web site, but said it’s clear that more could be done to safeguard children from entering the site.
The concern is based in part, he said, on the fact that A-B is venturing into new territory with Bud.TV, different from putting ads on television. Because the brewer creates the programming and controls the Internet-based network, it has a higher responsibility to make sure youth aren’t exposed to the alcohol-related marketing, the officials wrote.
The concern now is when an ad goes viral is who is behind the effort. If a Bud.TV user grabbed video and sent it around, that’s outside of A-B control – but when A-B is behind the distribution of alcohol-related advertising, 23 attorneys general may take another look at Bud.TV.
