• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, January 27, 2010 10:37 AM

A Super Bowl without Clydesdales? Could be, Suzanne Vranica reports. Anheuser-Busch InBev is going to aim for the funny bone with its five minutes of commercial time this year, and will also replace its Bud Light "Drinkability" tagline with "Here we go" for the big game.

The line is meant to show that Bud Light is a "catalyst for a good time," says Keith Levy, A-B's vp for marketing. In one spot, astronomers party as an asteroid approaches; in another, a man has built a house out of Bud Light cans.

Levy says the Drinkability ad campaign was "successful" and maintains that the new direction is an "evolution." Vranica points out, however, that Bud Light sales are "sputtering" (a 2.5% drop in 2009) and John Greening, an associate professor of advertising at Northwestern, says the Drinkability campaign felt forced. "Who doesn't know that light beers are drinkable?" he asks.

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