Can Bud Light's new NFL ad help save the brand?

Bud Light (BUD) has launched a new marketing campaign to try to get its target audience back on board ahead of the upcoming NFL season. Marcus Collins, University of Michigan Ross School of Business Marketing Professor, joins Yahoo Finance Live to break down the new ad campaign and whether it will be effective in bringing back consumers who have recently moved away from the brand.

Collins, author of 'For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want To Be,' spoke about Bud Light honoring its past. The company has been the NFL's official sponsor for the past 17 years. Collins said, "It's the job of the category leader to save the category. And that's not happening ... if they lose the football season, this is going to be a really tough year for Bud Light."

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Bud Light has just launched its new marketing campaign to try and get its target audience back on board ahead of the start of the NFL season. The beer has officially been dethroned as America's favorite this week and sales have plummeted since April.

It comes after Bud showed support for a young trans influencer online which led to customer boycotts and backlash. Take a look at the new ad.

["SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE"] I want a Sunday kind of love.

- Yo, Paulie, you want some coffee?

- It's really shaping up to be like that type of team.

- The defense too, though?

- Straighten out, baby!

(SINGING) Saturday night

- We got to hurry up. You know how it gets, baby.

(SINGING) I'd like to know it's more than love at first sight.

- We gotta go! I forgot the sausage. Oh, my god.

(SINGING) I want a Sunday kind of love.

- Another win today because the city sure do need it.

AKIKO FUJITA: Joining us to discuss further, we've got Marcus Collins, Business Marketing Professor at the University of Michigan and the author of "For the Culture."

Marcus, what's the verdict here. Feels like this is an ad that's sort of getting back to the roots, if you will. Is this going to be effective in getting some of those consumers who moved away from the brand?

MARCUS COLLINS: Well, back to the roots is probably an understatement. What we see here at Bud Light is exactly what Bud Light has done years ago, almost a decade ago.

Bud Light is basically saying, listen, we know we had a tough summer. You know it too. Let's act like none of that has existed, and let's get to some commonality. You love football. We love football too. This is a perfect occasion for drinking where Bud Light is the official sponsor of the NFL. Let's celebrate a thing that we can all agree on, that football is awesome. And I say "all agree" with big air quotes.

But this spot that you just saw with Bud Light that you just aired, that's not dissimilar from a spot that Bud Light made literally 11 years ago, because I worked on that spot highlighting, celebrating, superstitions, or rituals of fandom and Bud Light being sort of an artifact of that very thing.

So this is Bud Light trying to get back to some neutral zone, some commonality. Will it work? It's hard to say. And my gut says no. Because I feel like the opposition of Bud Light still is holding a lot of raw feelings.

And of course, the people who were alienated by Bud Light, the LGBTQ+ community, they still feel like they've been ignored. And Bud Light hasn't really issued or provided a meaningful apology either way. And they're go it's creating a really tough situation for the brand which we see manifested in its commerce.

DIANE KING HALL: So, Marcus, I want to ask you to that question about will this work or not. Because that is what comes to mind. And I have to admit, not that my opinion matters. I like both ads actually. And, yes, the new one does remind me of kind of an old-- I know you worked on their old campaigns before, today. But I got to ask you. If it doesn't work, what does this mean for Bud Light?

MARCUS COLLINS: It means Bud Light is going to be in big trouble. I mean, the truth of the matter is that the entire category is declining and has been declining for about a decade so year-over-year decline Bud Light had just been at the top of the ones who have been struggling.

And what this really signals is that if Bud Light has been dethroned and the category is declining, then there's going to be a pretty tough situation for everyone. Now, Modelo is benefiting being the new number one at the moment. However, the industry itself is still struggling. So this loss, this pain point that Bud Light is experiencing is one that's going to reverberate to many, many brands, right?

It's the job of the category leader to save the category, and that's not happening. So this is going to be pretty bad. If they lose the football season, it's such a pivotal occasion, drinking occasion for the category. If they lose the football season, this is going to be a really tough year for Bud Light.