The second and final Budweiser commercial of Super Bowl XLI, "King Crab" via DDB Chicago, may have also been the best of the Anheuser-Busch roster. It at least grabbed the top spot on USA Today's annual Ad Meter, an important measure to many marketers even though it explicitly measures only entertainment value. A strong showing was so important to CareerBuilder, in fact, that failing to make the top 10 that year actually sparked a creative review ("Performance Evaluation").
By running five minutes' worth of commercials in the 2007 game, more than any other advertiser, A-B admittedly had an advantage in such competitions. But it should also be noted that its nine ads took seven of the top 10 slots on the Ad Meter, not to mention four places among the top 10 on separate IAG Research charts of the most-liked and most-recalled ads of the night.
This was not the first crustacean Super Bowl ad for A-B, by the way: See also the quick-thinking "Lobster" of 1999, directed by the same David McNally.
Production company: Villains. Director of Photography: Newton Thomas Sigel.
Managing director, creative: Paul Tilley. Group creative director: Barry Burdiak. Creative director: John Hayes. Creative director/copywriter: Patrick Knoll. Creative director/art director: Steve Bougdanos. Executive producer: Brian Smego.
Visual effects: The Mill. Visual effects producers: Jo Arghiris, Alicia Powers. Visual effects supervisors: David Parker, Douglas Luke. Lead Flame artist: Westley Sarokin. CG artist: Ben Smith. Mixer: Loren Silber. Editorial: Chrome. Editor: Hal Honigsberg. Music Company: Elias Arts. Audio Mix: Lime Studios.
BRAND: Budweiser
YEAR: 2007
AGENCY: DDB
SUPERBOWL: XLI
QUARTER AIRED: Q4