Thursday, June 19, 2008

Real Men of Genius

I have to give a little tribute to the greatest radio advertisements ever made: the Bud Light Real Men of Genius series. If you've listened to any radio in the past 7 years, you probably have heard atleast one of these spots. It started in 1999, dubbed as "Real American Heroes," but after 9/11, Bud Light decided that using the term "Hero" would be an insult to the real heroes that had been around at that time. Good decision. Personally, I like "Real Men of Genius" better anyways.

Each spot highlights a very specific kind of guy that we all can relate to, a lot of which are inventors of certain things or people with certain kinds of jobs, but eventually expanded into ones about "that guy" too. The spots involve two guys, a deep-voiced sarcastic announcer backed by an over-the-top 80's-sounding singer, who funny enough, is an over-the-top 80's-sounding singer: the lead singer of Survivor, creators of "Eye of the Tiger," among others. Sometimes a chorus of women chimes in too.

It's no surprise that this campaign is the most award-winning radio campaign in the history of advertising. As much as I love it, it doesn't encourage me to buy Bud Light...but it would take a lot to do that.

Here are a few clips for your listening pleasure:

Mr. Pro Sports Heckler Guy:



Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer:



Mr. Nosebleed Section Ticket Holder Guy:




4 comments:

Tom Whalen said...

BRILLIANT!!! No wait, that's the Guinness thing, but the post is brilliant. Never knew that was the "Eye of the Tiger" guy. And I wouldn't drink Bud Lite if it were free.

Unknown said...

Post the one about the Mr. Screen proposer guy!

Kevin said...

OK I might have to post a few more later today.

David Oblas said...

i like the one about "Mr. too much cologne wearer guy"... try to find that one!