While the Super Bowl will feature brothers Travis and Jason Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles vying for their second championship ring, the commercials will feature a 23-time Grand Slam champion completing a three-peat.
Michelob Ultra, a part of Anheuser-Busch, is back in the big game for 2023. And for the third consecutive year, the brand has tapped Serena Williams to star in its spot. In “New Members Day,” Williams goes head-to-head with Emmy award-winning actor Brian Cox on the golf course in a nod to the 1980 classic “Caddyshack.” The spot’s digital reveal is premiering exclusively on USA TODAY’s Ad Meter.
“I would love to play a little more golf, honestly, for the photo opportunities,” Williams, 41, admits to USA TODAY. “I had a pretty decent drive because I’m a tennis player.”
RATE EVERY SUPER BOWL AD: Help pick this year’s winner
Serena Williams is back…well…to star in a Michelob ULTRA #SuperBowl commercial for the third straight year.
The spot’s digital reveal is premiering exclusively on USA TODAY’s Ad Meter.https://t.co/BtP3wuwRaZ
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) February 1, 2023
Yes, the former world No. 1 still uses “tennis player” in present tense. Williams retired following the 2022 U.S. Open. And as it turns out, thanks to “King Richard,” golf isn’t entirely foreign to her.
“My dad did have myself and my sister (Venus) play golf when we were younger,” Williams recalls. “We used to go to the driving range, (but) I never really got the golf bug until after this commercial.”
In addition to Cox, the cast features a slew of athletes, including NBA star Jimmy Butler, World Cup champion Alex Morgan, WNBA champion Nneka Ogwumike and quarterback-turned-commentator Tony Romo. The campaign extends beyond the Super Bowl, including partnerships with apparel company Devereux Golf, e-commerce platform Instacart and the new Netflix series “Full Swing.”
“They really champion gender equity,” Williams notes of Michelob Ultra, which emphasizes featuring both female and male athletes in its campaigns. “Besides loving the product, it’s also super-fun to go with a company that walks the walk and talks the talk.”
As for her commercial co-star, Williams loves “Succession” but the patriarch of the Roy family didn’t divulge any season 4 spoilers to her on set. He continued to keep those storylines under wrap while chatting with USA TODAY via Zoom from his Brooklyn, New York, home.
“I think it’s a unique show, but it’s a zeitgeist for the period,” Cox, 76, says of the HBO series’ success. The actor won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Logan Roy, the head of a global media and entertainment conglomerate who struggles with his health and his family’s ambitions to control the company. “People love to hate. They love characters that they don’t like.”
For this ad, Cox’s first Super Bowl commercial, he didn’t channel Logan Roy but rather “Caddyshack” star Ted Knight.
“I’ve always been a huge admirer of Ted Knight, really from ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’” Cox says. “He’s wonderful in (‘Caddyshack’). He is the energy that makes that whole end of the film work.”
Cox was born in Scotland, not far from golf’s birthplace St. Andrews. He’s not a golfer nor a watcher of American football. However, through his sons, he has come to understand how big both the NFL and its championship game are in the U.S.
“We’re all going to Arizona,” Cox notes of his Super Bowl plans. “That’s why my boys are so excited; they get to go to the Super Bowl.
“Suddenly, their father has purpose!”
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