Jeff Knapper, general manager of Budweiser Clydesdale operations, shows the baby foal the USA Today headline announcing that "Brotherhood" won the Super Bowl XLVII Ad Meter competition. Fans submitted more than 60,000 ideas via social media for naming the now-21-day-old Clydesdale, who Budweiser announced will be called "Hope." (image via: PRNewsFoto/Anheuser-Busch)
Hope just 21 days old, weighs 200 pounds and starred in an award-winning Super Bowl XLVII commercial for Budweiser seen by more than 108 million people during the broadcast and millions more online.
Last week Budweiser asked its Facebook fans and Twitter followers to send along naming suggestions. The iconic brand was awash in ideas – more than 60,000 tweets, Facebook comments, calls and direct messages. "Hope" was one of the more popular female names generated through the social media crowd-sourcing.
"We were overwhelmed with the response we got," said Lori Shambro, brand director for Budweiser. "Budweiser fans suggested a lot of great names, and it was a tough decision, but we landed on Hope as the perfect name for this friendly, slightly feisty and just perfect Budweiser Clydesdale mare. Many of our fans wanted a name to reflect their optimism and spirit, which the name Hope encapsulates beautifully."
Other popular names submitted included Landslide (after the Fleetwood Mac song in the commercial), Buddy, Star, Raven, Spirit and Stevie.
On Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 3, the Budweiser Clydesdales appeared in a new 60-second spot, "Brotherhood," which chronicled the bond a Clydesdale foal shares with his trainer. Brotherhood ranked No. 1 on USA Today's Ad Meter, which was based on fan voting on the USA Today website via Facebook and Twitter.
Budweiser also has just released an extended version of "Brotherhood," with a running time of just under two minutes, see it below.
The commercial is the work of creative advertising agency Anomaly, USA. As powerful as the spot is, it doesn't make me want a Bud, it does however make me want a horse!