“The hallmark of sending a meaningful personal message is that you only need to say it once”
Anheuser-Busch was among the many advertisers who took to the airwaves on 9/11/11 to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the World Trade Centre attacks. It repurposed the original ad it aired a decade ago, and is now facing criticism for doing so from an unlikely quarter: Mike Sheehan, CEO of Hill Holliday, the agency that created the original spot.
His sentiment was relayed in an uncharacteristically plain-spoken missive from the CEO of the Boston-based agency — or most any agency CEO, really, when it comes to criticizing a big advertiser like AB-InBev. Sheehan recalled the considerations that Hill Holliday put into making of the original spot to ensure it was respectful, and then noted that he was disappointed to see the same spot used again, with minor tweaks like brighter coloring and swapping out snow on the horse-trodden ground for grass.
(See the original spot below)
“The hallmark of sending a meaningful personal message is that you only need to say it once,” he wrote in the blog post, which can be seen here. “So I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to see the spot resurrected, re-edited, and re-purposed for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. I do not own the spot and it’s not my decision whether or not it should ever run again. And I know absolutely nothing about what it takes to run a successful brewery. But when it popped up on this Sunday’s NFL games, it just felt a tad bit, well, wrong. The snow on the ground in the original spot was never meant to be swept away, replaced by what appears to be a computer’s idea of Pro-Turf. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
He defended though, the notion of advertising for the anniversary of 9/11 – noting that it’s the right of companies to express their feelings, but he just wished that AB InBev had “started from scratch” with its ad.
For its part, AB InBev defends the spot, and the small changes that were made to it.
“We feel our 9/11 Clydesdales tribute ad is very special,” said Paul Chibe, VP-marketing at Anheuser-Busch, in a statement. “We were proud to re-air the spot on Sunday, the 10th anniversary, as a way to help raise awareness of the fundraising campaign for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The subtle changes in the ad were intended to reflect the passing of time, and the most important point, that we should never forget those lost and affected by 9/11.”
It turns out that the most important contingent – consumers – either weren’t aware of the fact the spot was essentially a redo of the original or don’t care. An Ace Metrix poll shows that the Clydesdale spot got the highest marks of all the 9/11-themed ads, though they generally seemed to like all of them.
To read the original article in Advertising Age, click here.
What do you think of advertising around 9/11/11? Was Budweiser’s approach a bad idea? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
