Snow Jokes: Michelob ULTRA Skis to a 5-star Win

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As you’ll know if you’ve seen our in-depth Super Bowl coverage, Super Bowl LX boasted a record crop of 5-Star big game ads, even if the average standard slipped a bit. There was no dip in standards for Michelob ULTRA, though. Last year’s “The ULTRA Hustle”, starring veteran actors ‘playing for an ULTRA’, scored a strong 4-Star Result on our Test Your Ad platform. This year they went one better, with a 5-Star winner, “The ULTRA Instructor”.

The basic idea of “The ULTRA Instructor”, made with agency Wieden + Kennedy, is close to last year’s ad. The concept of friendly bets where the loser buys the beers keeps the brand relatable and the ads entertaining, and once again they’ve spiced it up with a starring role for a Hollywood legend with Kurt Russell playing the Instructor himself.

But it’s the differences between the ads that let us see how the brand has gone from great to exceptional this year. “The ULTRA Instructor” introduces a rags to riches redemption arc, with a ski slope klutz having to buy round after round for his friends. Until Kurt Russell steps in, of course, with a bizarre and hilarious training montage which involves mystic meditation and skiing behind a galloping horse. Finally the hapless newbie masters the slopes, earning his Michelob ULTRA – and when he turns to thank his mentor, the mysterious cowboy has gone, leaving only his empty glass.

This positive and funny storytelling helps the ad hit higher emotional peaks. Looking at the Test Your Ad Pro report, you can see that a mighty 77% of viewers felt some kind of positive emotion (Surprise or Happiness). What’s more, there are big spikes over the norm for feeling Amused and Uplifted, two of the types of happiness most associated with effective outcomes.

But that’s not all “The ULTRA Instructor” has in its favor. As well as being a Super Bowl ad, it’s also promoting Michelob ULTRA’s sponsorship of Team USA in the Winter Olympics, which were only days away when the Super Bowl aired. The Olympics always catches viewers’ imagination, and in the Test Your Ad Pro report you’ll see that the peak of happiness in the whole commercial is when the Olympic rings appear at the end alongside the Michelob ULTRA logo.

With its strong storyline, great use of a celebrity guest star, and popular Olympics tie-in, it’s no surprise “The ULTRA Instructor” scored well. Its 5.1-Star Rating placed Michelob ULTRA in the Top 5 of Super Bowl LX ads, and it also nailed an Exceptional Spike Rating, predicting big sales gains as well as longer-term share gain. The ad was also the highest-scoring commercial this year to use humor as its primary strategy, proving that Michelob’s mix of laughs, celebrities and storytelling is a consistent champion, on or off the slopes.