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Imagine, just for a second, that Post Malone and Shane Gillis are your neighborsnot in a now-youre-rich-and-live-among-pop-stars-and-comedy-elite way, just your average suburban cul-de-sac situation. This is what Bud Light has been asking of us in its recent Super Bowl ad teasers. In one, we see Post and Gillis through a doorbell cam. In another, Gillis is outlining the rules of actually drinking in a beer ad (no bueno). These were mere sips of what was to come. Today, Bud Light decided to jam a proverbial screwdriver into the side of the can and let the world shotgun its full big game ad ahead of time. Now we know what the tucked golf shirts and jorts hype was all about. Bud Light has turned Malone and Gillis into BMOCsBig Men on Cul-De-Sac, the neighbors responsible for boosting a party. Here, they come to the aid of a needy neighbor by sending out invites, bringing over the lawn-cutting smoker, as well as the biggest cooler Ive ever seen since that Yeti x Liquid Death casket. Even Peyton Manning takes a break from FanDuels Kick of Destiny to hang out. Todd Allen, Bud Lights senior vice president of marketing, says youd be hard-pressed to find better BMOCs than Malone and Gillis. Not only are they the most likeable and authentically hilarious guys around, but also longtime fans and partners of Bud Light, says Allen. With humor being a staple of Bud Light advertising and the Super Bowl stage, we knew this was the duo that could help us bring to life what I truly believe is one of our funniest spots in years. https://twitter.com/budlight/status/1883590760273994123 This is Post Malones fourth Super Bowl with Bud Light. Weve taken a peek inside his brain, and seen him with legends. And since he first signed on as a brand partner in 2018, hes had a limited apparel line and a dive bar concert tour with the brand. Laugh Strategy Gillis signed on with Bud Light a year ago, in the wake of the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco, with a sponsored comedy tour, and then created two hilarious spots for the college football season. If this past year is any indication, the brand should hang on to Gillis and his comedy partner John McKeever for as long as it can. Not only have the spots been hilarious, Gilliss team is clearly capable of more. The comedian broke down the process behind his recent Notre Dame ad for Under Armour, which he told Pat McAfee was made in just a couple of days. This is what Ryan Reynolds would call fastvertising, in its ability to deliver entertaining ads that tap into culture here and now. Allen says fans made it clear they loved the Gillis partnership. It was a no-brainer for us to keep the momentum going and continue to lean into the iconic humor fans expect from us, he says. Theres absolutely no bigger stage to deliver a laugh than Super Bowl, and when you combine a comedic powerhouse like Shane with Bud Light, I think we have a winning formula. Bud Light sales have not rebounded since the Mulvaney controversy, in which a small promotion with the trans influencer in early 2023 became a lightning rod for anti-woke right wing media. Since then, the brand has leaned harder into humor, as well as sports and music sponsorships. https://twitter.com/budlight/status/1882428502487838849 The brand is navigating an overall slowing down of beer sales, thanks to factors that include the growing popularity of ready-to-drink cocktails. Its also in direct competition with sibling brands. AB InBev has ramped up its marketing and advertising behind Michelob Ultra in the past few years, and thats helped it outpace Bud Light sales. In this Super Bowl alone, Bud Light is up against fellow AB brands Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Michelob Ultra. With a decrease in craft beer sales, light beer brands like the Kelce brothers-backed Garage Beer see opportunity. But for Bud Light, its an ideal time to invest in its brand like this to stoke and deepen its fandom. Were staying laser-focused on bringing the best of what fans expect from usleaning into our iconic humor and staying consistent in how we show up through our mega-platforms throughout the year, like UFC, NFL, college sports, country music and more, says Allen. This spot is centered in this objective, focusing on putting fans first, leaning into humor, showcasing epic talent and cementing our role in a relatable settingthe neighborhood. Its not quite as epic as the Bud Knight in Westeros, but it may still get you to grab your jorts, pull up your socks, and go find the cooler.
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E-Commerce
Capital One has launched an AI agent designed to help consumers with one of the most frustrating, time-consuming processes in life: buying a car. The banking giants Chat Concierge provides information, makes decisions, and takes action using multiple AI agents. Mimicking human reasoning, the product aims to assist consumers in all aspects of the research process involved in making a car purchase, from comparing vehicles to scheduling test drives. Buying a car is a stressful experience, says Prem Natarajan, EVP, chief scientist, and head of enterprise AI at Capital One. The possibility that we can make this really important purchase for people a frictionless experience, a more satisfying experience, a more easy experience is important. The company is a major provider of auto loans, and already offers Dealer Navigator, a platform that provides car buyers and dealers with resources for the research, sale, and financing processes. Capital Ones new agent comes amid a wave of buzz around agentic AI, with many experts calling it the way of the future. Agentic AI can be magical for users because it shifts the purpose of artificial intelligence from being a general tool to performing specialized tasks, Natarajan says. In recent weeks, Google and OpenAI have announced their own agentic features that can browse the web and perform tasks on behalf of users. Instacart also recently announced that it would integrate agentic AI to create grocery lists and place orders on customers behalf. Our journey into agentic AI started before it was being talked about, Natarajan says. The only way youre part of any trend is if you were in the early part of shaping it. [Image: Capital One] The Chat Concierge, which users will find on participating dealers websites, orchestrates task completion among multiple specialized AI agents. Capital One will scale up the feature nationwide throughout the year. Customers who walk into a car dealership with lots of questions often cant find one employee who is able to address all of them. If a customer goes the online route, a typical chatbot will likely take their name and phone number and say that someone will get back to them. Sanjiv Yajnik, president of financial services at Capital One, says Chat Concierge is different because it starts conversing with a customer immediately about any question they might have. In a single conversation, the agent can perform tasks like estimating the value of a trade-in and scheduling appointments with salespeople. It can look at the inventory and answer a whole bunch of questions, says Yajnik. For example, if a user tells Chat Concierge that they want a cheaper car, the system understands what cheaper means, what to compare it to, and what to offer the user. Chat Concierge uses Metas Llama AI as a base, but its not out of the boxCapital One has customized the model with its own data. Natarajan and Yajnik say they hope that this system will allow people to enjoy the car-buying process that many find overwhelming. The main goal of Chat Concierge is shifting some of the cognitive burden of the job from humans to AI, Natarajan says. And if Capital Ones agent helps more people buy vehicleswell, that will presumably be good for the companys loan business.
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E-Commerce
Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries.It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. But the medication’s modest effectiveness and lengthy development process underscore the challenges of finding new ways to manage pain.Studies in more than 870 patients with acute pain due to foot and abdominal surgeries showed Vertex’s drug provided more relief than a dummy pill but didn’t outperform a common opioid-acetaminophen combination pill.“It’s not a slam dunk on effectiveness,” said Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist and pain medicine expert who was not involved in the research. “But it is a slam dunk in that it’s a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot promise.”The new drug will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.Vertex began researching the drug in the 2000s, when overdoses were rocketing upward, principally driven by mass prescribing of opioid painkillers for common ailments like arthritis and back pain. Prescriptions have fallen sharply in the past decade and the current wave of the opioid epidemic is mainly due to illicit fentanyl, not pharmaceutical medicines.Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body. Those chemical interactions also give rise to opioids’ addictive effects.Vertex’s drug works differently, blocking proteins that trigger pain signals that are later sent to the brain.“In trying to develop medicines that don’t have the addictive risks of opioid medicines, a key factor is working to block pain signaling before it gets to the brain,” Vertex’s Dr. David Altshuler, told the Associated Press last year.Commonly reported side effects with the drug were nausea, constipation, itching, rash, and headache.“The new medication has side effect profiles that are inherently, not only different, but don’t involve the risk of substance abuse and other key side effects associated with opioids,” said Dr. Charles Argoff of the Albany Medical Center, who consulted for Vertex on the drug’s development.The initial concept to focus on pain-signaling proteins came out of research involving people with a rare hereditary condition that causes insensitivity to pain.Vertex has attracted interest from Wall Street for its ambitious drug pipeline that involves winning FDA approval for multiple drugs across several forms of chronic pain, which generally represents a bigger financial opportunity than acute pain.But the Boston drugmaker’s share price plummeted in December when Vertex reported disappointing mid-stage results in a study of patients with chronic nerve pain affecting the lower back and legs. The drug didn’t perform significantly better than placebo, the research found.“We believe the data reflect a near worst-case scenario for this key pipeline program,” biotechnology analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note to investors, adding that the results jeopardized estimates that Vertex’s pipeline could be worth billions across multiple forms of pain.Still, Vertex executives said they plan to move forward with a new, late-stage study of the drug, theorizing that a different trial design could yield better results and pave the way for FDA approval in chronic pain. AP video journalist Mary Conlon contributed to this story from New York. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer
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E-Commerce
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