Do Commercials Need Teasers?

Posting clips on the web of upcoming events like blockbuster movies is now par for the marketing course. But has this tactic not jumped the shark when companies post teaser clips for commercials?

Anheuser-Busch is doing just that for its Super Bowl ads. Head over to YouTube to “preview” the setups, but not the punchlines, of five Budweiser spots. If you want the remaining 15 seconds, you’ll have to wait a week (a week! That’s forever in web time) and tune in to your old teevee. All for just seconds of entertainment. Those had better be pretty freaking hilarious punchlines.

The whole goal of these teasers is to get you to watch the game (or at least the commercials) — but these clips don’t tell when or where you can watch their endings. They just stop, with no explanation or call to action. Embedded outside of the Budweiser channel on YouTube, they have no context, either — they just look like corrupt files that got cut off. Anheuser-Busch should have at least ended them with something like “See the rest during the Super Bowl.”

To the person who came up with this idea — this Bud’s not for you.