Budweiser’s all-American Super Bowl ad wins crown for best commercial

Budweiser left nothing to chance in taking home its record 10th first-place finish in USA TODAY’s Ad Meter contest.

The King of Beers was once again the king of Super Bowl Sunday commercials, easily outpointing Lay’s in balloting that culminated at midnight Feb. 9, hours after the Seattle Seahawks trounced the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60.

In ‘American Icons,’ Budweiser emptied the tank to mark its 150th anniversary while strongly tying itself to the USA’s 250th. Naturally, its not-so-secret weapon – the iconic Clydesdale – was front and center.

Mix in the birth of an American Bald Eagle, nursed into adulthood by the caring steed until it soars freely on its own – picking up the pace in time with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’ – and the 60-second spot broke through the competition typically loaded with nascent brands and nostalgia-fueled celebrity spots.

‘That’s what we wanted to bring to life, this idea of celebrating two icons, the Budweiser Clydesdale, the American Bald Eagle at the same moment,’ Anheuser-Busch’s chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington told USA TODAY before the Super Bowl, noting that ‘Free Bird’ was the first and only choice for the soundtrack.

‘There’s not a lot of dialogue, so ‘Free Bird’ really carries this narrative in an epic way.’

In a sense, the proven formula stood out even more against an occasionally dark ad lineup heavy on artificial intelligence (including some fratricide among the brands), surveillance for your puppy and de-aging technology of beloved stars of yore that fans on social media found unsettling.

This time, it scored a 4.0 out of 5, defeating Lay’s ‘Last Harvest,’ which chronicles the emotional final lap for a potato farmer. Pepsi’s ‘The Choice,’ which co-opts Coca-Cola’s iconic polar bear, was third at 3.48, with Dunkin’s ‘Good Will Dunkin’,’ fueled by both the 1997 Ben Affleck-Matt Damon film and ‘90s-era NBC comedy icons, fourth at 3.48.

Michelob Ultra (3.47) rounded out the top five with a star turn from Kurt Russell and appearances from Winter Olympic icons Chloe Kim and T.J. Oshie.