Real Men of Genius (Bud Light beer commercials)
7Real Men of Genius is a series of advertisements for Bud Light beer, primarily 60-second American radio spots. At DDB Chicago, copywriter Bob Winter and art director Mark Gross conceived the campaign, which they co-created with copywriter Bill Cimino.
The campaign began in 1998 with 12 radio spots under the title Real American Heroes. More than 200 payments have been made. The radio version was adapted for television in the United Kingdom in 2001, advertising Budweiser beer rather than Bud Light (Bud Light was not officially distributed in the UK at the time). The six UK TV commercials stayed in the same one-minute format for about 18 months. In the fall of 2003, thirty-second versions of three UK TV commercials were edited, and seven new commercials were created for US television.
According to reports, Anheuser-Busch spent $38 million per year broadcasting only the radio version.
Dave Bickler, the lead singer of the band Survivor, known for songs like "Eye of the Tiger" from the 1980s, sang the song. Voice actor Peter Stacker provided the amusing yet serious commentary. They appeared on WGN Morning News together and did a Real Men of Genius about the cameraman, which was a parody saying he falls asleep behind the video camera while recording the show.