The first 10 seconds of this Budweiser commercial for Super Bowl XXX are so majestic that viewers might expect to spend another 20 seconds doing nothing but watching Clydesdales gallop in slo-mo through the sort of landscapes used in TV stations’ old, nightly national-anthem sign-offs. As it turns out, viewers had another 50 seconds to go, and the Clydesdales had a football game to play.

Then again they might not have been surprised. In loving the commercial, Ad Age critic Bob Garfield also pointed out, "The best spot of all, football playing Clydesdales from DDB Needham Worldwide, Chicago, had been on the air for a month."

The Clydesdales, which first appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Bud 10 years prior (“Dalmatian” in Super Bowl XX), would remain a staple of the brand’s big-game advertising. But this spot also nicely sets up Bud and DDB’s even-better ad on a similar line in 2003 (“Instant Replay”) and a funny threequel in 2006 ("Super Fan").

Anheuser Busch's ad roster in 1996 also included another minute-long entry, "When a Penguin Calls" for Bud Ice.

BRAND: Budweiser

YEAR: 1996

AGENCY: DDB Needham

SUPERBOWL: XXX