Budweiser has dropped an ad spoofing the Janet Jackson fiasco from its Superbowl lineup. The ad shows a guy in the costume room at last year’s superbowl. He uses a costume (Jackson’s) to help him open a twist-off Bud, and, well, you can guess the rest. It’s pretty funny and can be seen here.

By giving you the URL to the Budweiser site, I’ve just taken part in what is likely a Budweiser viral marketing experiment. If you can’t broadcast the thing, why not let everybody see it via new media? The company’s commercial will reach an enormous slice of the Internet population and, in so doing, provide Budweiser with a reach it wouldn’t have attained even in the Superbowl. Nobody will be fast-forwarding through it. Nobody will be getting up to use the can or grab a sandwich.

I’m not suggesting the company planned it this way, but given the nature of the content, the streaming viewership is going to be significant.

UPDATE: Jeff Gralnick responds to my comment about this item on Lost Remote.

Terry is right.

Because the spot is part of an “issue” it will get streamed and seen and then the cablers will pick it up and play it a skillion times and Budweiser nets the views without spending a dollar.

Just like political ads. The parties create “pre-buzz,” do a narrow buy or worse release them to the media and then the cable networks do the rest.

Remember the LBJ/Daisy commercial which is now part of lore? It aired just once. The television networks did the rest and that was BEFORE cable.

Aren’t we just a helpful lot?

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