• Ad Age, Friday, January 29, 2010 10:48 AM

They're back. Did you really think they wouldn't be? We didn't, but that didn't stop us from re-reporting that they might not be yesterday. We won't go so far as to say that's why Anheuser-Busch's original Super Bowl lineup left the Clydesdales on the bench. We're just sayin' it wouldn't have been a bad idea to roil up the legions of equine loyalists, even if vp-marketing Keith Levy tells Jeremy Millman "he's not that smart."

Millman points out that most of the media coverage mentioned the Clydesdale absence, drawing negative reactions. Even hard-bitten marketing types rallied to the cause. "Ad Age's story, which spent more ink on DDB's failure to land a single Bud Light spot in the game this year, drew 16 reader comments, nine of which lamented or criticized the decision to not feature at least one Clydesdale spot in the game," he writes.

So A-B is posting on Facebook a re-edited spot from DDB it kinda likes now along with two competing spots. Let the people decide!

In other Super Bowl news, Reuters reports that McDonald's has signed a multi-year deal with NBA superstar LeBron James. He will appear with hoops archenemy Dwight Howard in a commercial during the pregame show on Feb. 7.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »