This week’s throwback recalls the 1995 Super Bowl (Go Niners!) and one of the most prolific big game advertisers – Budweiser. Bud kicked off its 90’s reptile-themed campaign with the Budweiser frogs, and people haven’t forgotten.

Nearly 80% of all respondents remember the spot from its original airing.

 

As one might imagine, Information scores are fairly low however. As with the majority of Super Bowl ads, Likeability and Attention scores are off the charts – coming in at  23% and 17% respectively, above the current norm for beer ads.

For all its recognition, and regardless of respondent age, nostalgia did not lead to significantly higher scores as the ad was just at norm when compared to recent Bud ads. This is a departure from what we saw with last week’s Pepsi throwback.

One common response to any beer ad is that non-drinkers often react negatively. They bucked that trend with this spot, which scored 50 points higher than all ads from the past year (excluding Bud’s Super Bowl spots this year, “Soldiers Welcome” and “Puppy Love”).

The ad generated 345 optional verbatim responses, many of which were particularly enthusiastic and hopeful that the frogs would make a comeback. Respondents used the words “great” (10%), “funny” (11%) and “love” (9%) to describe the ad. In this age of “hopped-up” celebrity endorsements, the ad harkens back to a simpler time which some suggested was also a more creative time.

Meet us over on Twitter! We’re accepting #ThrowbackThursday recommendations, so feel free to tweet us your favorite vintage ads.