Winter is coming — actually it has arrived. Game of Thrones made an appearance at the Super Bowl with an unlikely character by the name of Bud Knight. He has a jousting match with The Mountain and it doesn’t turn out well. As part of Bud Light’s “Dilly Dilly” commercials, the commercial spot starts off as a quirky Bud Light Super Bowl commercial. Fun, right? Well, before we get ahead of ourselves, the commercial takes a dark turn when Bud Knight is defeated by the Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) in a jousting match. And as the Mountain performs his eye-gouging finishing move on him, a dragon comes and lays a fiery waste on everyone at the jousting match. What an unlikely way to end a Bud Light commercial.defender of the “Dilly Dilly” kingdom in a jousting contest. Building on the latest chapter of the medieval “Dilly Dilly” series, Bud Light’s Wieden+Kennedy, collaborated with HBO and Droga5 on the 60-second spot titled “Joust.” Production on the ad reunited more than 25 people from the Game of Thrones crew under the direction of David Nutter, the man who orchestrated the infamous “The Red Wedding” episode among others, and the collaboration of showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The first half of the spot was under the direction of Bud Light’s Spencer Riviera, who previously directed creative within the Bud Light medieval universe. When Game of Thrones last left off, Westeros was on the brink of its deadliest war yet. Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) and others were working together against the Army of the Dead, led by the vicious Night King. Their show of unity may prove too little, too late, however; in the final scene of season seven, the White Walkers burst through the great Wall of Westeros, finally launching their march on the Seven Kingdoms. The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones debuts April 14.<doc-sep>It was two — two! — two ads in one. But one of the commercials was decidedly stronger than the other. HBO and Anheuser-Busch shattered many Super Bowl commercial conventions Sunday night by running a 60-second promo in which the brewer’s famous Bud Knight was killed in violent fashion in a spot that morphed from beer ad to pitch for HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” The AT&T-backed HBO, which is slated to figure prominently in a new streaming-video service slated to launch later this year, teamed up with Anheuser-Busch InBev for the daring execution. In the spot, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” interrupts what has become a typical Bud Light commercial, in which residents of a happy kingdom protected by the famous Bud Knight cavort about in humorous escapades. But the fun quickly dissipates after the Knight was vanquished, his skull crushed by an enemy, and a dragon flies over the kingdom and burns its residents with fire. So dire is the spot that on YouTube, users who wish to stream it are given a warning that the spot might contain objectionable content. HBO declined to make executives available Sunday evening to discuss the commercial and its strategy. The maneuver is an unorthodox one. CBS has been seeking between $5.1 million and $5.3 million for a 30 seconds of ad time in the Super Bowl spot this year, and every second of is valuable – some might argue too dear to devote to a marketing goal that is not one’s own. Anheuser has its own challenges to contend with – big mainstream beers have declined in popularity in recent years as consumers show more favor to craft brews and spirits. But HBO also faces heady competition from streaming-video players like Netflix and Amazon, not to mention rival pay-cable services like Showtime and Starz. Hijacking the Bud Light ad allowed the media company to reel in hundreds of millions of viewers who expect bawdy humor from Anheuser every year, and then stun them with the “Game of Thrones” twist. “I didn’t see it coming,” says Conner Huber, chief strategic officer at McGarryBowen New York. She suggested the execution was done with no small amount of risk, but also appreciated both brands’ willingness to break with tradition.<doc-sep>Stella Artois offered a Super Bowl ad featuring Carrie Bradshaw and the Big Lebowski, and fans delighted in worlds colliding. That was nothing next to Bud Light’s medieval world meeting the fantasy world of "Game of Thrones." The surprise ad in the second quarter was co-branded by Bud Light and HBO, the network that airs the popular series. “It’s a beautiful day for a joust,” Bud Light’s medieval queen says. The king agrees: “Indeed. Sun’s out, got my lucky loincloth, cold Bud Light, comfy throne. I don’t have the plague anymore.” The Bud Knight gets ready to joust. The crowd shouts “Dilly, dilly!” And then it all takes a dark turn, tonally and in every other respect. Bud Knight is defeated. It turns out his opponent is The Mountain from "Game of Thrones," who then crushes Bud Knight’s head -- like Prince Oberyn’s on the show -- though in this case it happens offscreen. And then a dragon appears -- to the theme music from "Game of Thrones" -- and blowtorches fire from above onto the realm. Words come onscreen: “Game of Thrones: The Final Season. HBO.” The spot was directed by David Nutter, who directs "Game of Thrones." “Directing this epic jousting match in Spain was the perfect capper to my 'Game of Thrones' experience,” Nutter said in a statement. “Bud Light, the Mountain, and a dragon -- a holy trinity of epic-ness. ‘Dilly, dilly’ indeed.” Chris Spadaccini, HBO’s head of marketing, said there was no better platform to promote "Game of Thrones" final season than the Super Bowl. “Given the high stakes, we needed to create an unforgettable moment that would spark a ton of conversation,” he said. “We were looking for a brand partner that would be willing to make a bold sacrifice ‘for the throne,’ and we were thrilled when Bud Light answered the call. “Together, we created a very meta campaign with a Thrones-worthy twist that is sure to delight fans of both brands.” Andy Goeler, vice president of Bud Light marketing, said the partnership made sense given that Bud Light’s medieval realm was inspired by "Game of Thrones." “We love that we were able to finally bring together two of pop culture’s most iconic medieval realms to deliver an unexpected surprise at Super Bowl LIII,” he said. JOIN AD METER:Vote on this year's Super Bowl ads WATCH:See the Super Bowl commercials in the order they aired<doc-sep>
An elaborate Budweiser commercial is a Super Bowl tradition. An elaborate Budweiser commercial crossing over with Game of Thrones’ final season is... not. During the second quarter of the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl LIII, Anheuser-Busch revealed its annual Big Game spot, once again returning to the medieval land of the “Bud Knight” and ye ol’ age of “dilly dilly.” But this time there was a twist: the Bud Knight’s joust competition was none other than The Mountain, who defeated the brand warrior and gouged out his eyes like Oberyn Martell in Thrones season 4. The spot ends with one of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons swooping in to roast the joint. Not even an ice cold beer could quell this fire. Following the 60-second version released during the game was an extended edition for real Bud-Thrones fans: According to a press release that followed the debut, the spot was the work of two directors: Bud Light’s Spencer Riviera, who shepherded the original Bud Knight campaign, and David Nutter, the director of “The Red Wedding,” who reunited with more than 25 Game of Thrones crew members to shoot the commercial’s conclusion. Seeing as the marketing for the final season is meant to be mysterious and scarce, show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were personally involved with the creation fo the spot. Perfectionists! The real twist of the spot is that Anheuser-Busch ad executives were wary to embark on the crossover event at all. A Wall Street Journal post-mortem suggests that those running the Bud campaign were wary over allowing The Mountain to mash the Bud Knight into oblivion. HBO’s Marketing Chief Chris Spadaccini had other thoughts: “The Bud Knight had to die.” Which is how we wound up with brutal murder on prime time network television. “That is probably not the best thing to be showing,” Andy Goeler, vice president of marketing for Bud Light, told WSJ. Dilly dilly.