FAQ: Why isn’t my Bud Light commercial on display in the Gallery of XLNTads?
I really wish I had a short answer for you, but this one is going to take a few sentences. Sorry. 
The Beer industry is one of the most heavily regulated and scrutinized industries in the U.S., second only to pharmaceuticals. As a result, our friends at Anheuser-Busch must review each submission carefully before it can be shown anywhere, even in our Gallery. In addition to copyright issues, there are the challenges with having approved, checked out releases; actors that are 25+ years of age; directors that are at least 21 years of age; nothing that can be construed as inappropriate drinking practices; and more.
Add to that the extremely large number of submissions, and the fact that the largest number of those submissions came in on the last two days, and you can see the challenge facing A-B.
Rest assured that every single commercial that has been submitted is being reviewed and evaluated for potential purchase by Bud Light’s legal and brand team. They have completed the purchase process for one, and are reviewing releases on a second purchase, and have a potential list of nearly ten spots that could make it as assignment winners.
Typically, we like to have all our submissions on display during a program, but the upside potential for all of us in appreciating A-B’s concerns and issues huge. Potentially, we can be providing creative support for any number of A-B brands over the coming months. So while I understand your desire to see your work posted, we all need to recognize what’s most important … that a top US brand is buying our creative and probably will do more work with us in the future.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Thank you for the heads up. It’s much appreciated.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I submitted my Bud Light video and I have all of my release forms, do I need to send those forms? Or do I only submit the forms if I get selected?
April 5th, 2008 at 6:35 am
not really sure what I did wrong in my video for it not to make the gallery
April 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Marlene, trust me, you’ve done nothing wrong… it all has to do with legal stipulations that we are still trying to work out. It’s no fault of yours.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Gonzalo,
yes, please send in your releases if you have them signed. For this assignment it’s necessary for us to have them all in-house.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Hello,
I sent in most of my releases via fax with no problems but when I tried to send the final 2 over the last couple of days each time the fax came back with a “no response” message. Are there any problems with your fax machine or is it because of a high volume of faxes you are receiving? Also, is there a verification notice once you receive all releases? Thanks….
April 7th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I have all my release forms, how do you want me to send them (email,fax,) and who do I send them too?
April 7th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Who/where should we send release forms in to?
April 7th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
RE: release forms….
ok, here’s the deal… we moved offices on Thursday, right in the midst of receiving loads of faxes, and now we have a new fax number which is 610.649.2559 and we’ll be doing a big newsy email or blog post or something to let EVERYONE know. You can also EMAIL your releases to ME at liza@xlntads.com
hope that works! I’m sorry about the confusion!
April 7th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
@ Michael
No, there isn’t a verification notice once we’ve received your releases unfortunately… What I’ve been doing is just shooting back a quick email if I get your releases that way… if you request a verification email once you fax your forms, I’ll be happy to do that for you, just shoot me an email and let me know that you did fax them. Otherwise I’ll just be overwhelmed with trying to email everyone.
Thanks!
April 7th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Thank you for all your help Liza. I will be in touch….-Mike-
April 8th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Hi. I also have all my forms in order and signed by all involved. However I was unaware that I had to send them in before the selection process. Since our actors may look a little young (I assure you we are of age. I’M 30 I TELL YOU 30!) ;p i would imagine it to be a good idea to send them along? Should I fax them or would you prefer the email method? Thanks for your time. Good luck everyone!
April 8th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
@ Jason:
email is best, and it’s fine if you send them in after the deadline… as long as we have them…
April 17th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Sorry been away for a bit. Is the Budlight Contest done and over with? Where are all of the other video’s? Why is mine still not posted? Is Budlight still reviewing video’s? Whats going on!?
Thank you.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Hey Brett - we’re still waiting to hear back from the Bud Light folks. We hope they will be approving videos soon! They’re working on purchasing a few more, too.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
“So you’re telling me there’s a chance” - Lloyd
April 19th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
“You mean, like one in a hundred?”
“No, more like… one in a million…”
—
Yeah Brett, I hear you- I am trying to figure out why certain videos are up and others are not, and from what I can tell, it is a complex mysterious process.
I am sure that pretty soon Bud will make their decisions and hopefully most-
if not all- of the vids will be posted— I for one am anxious to see what everone made… Good luck all! T Patrick
April 19th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Bud Light posted another video on their site. It’s Hockey Dude by Cybel7. I’m assuming it’s a winner. Congratulations and good work!
April 20th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Hi, I just now found out about faxing this stuff. we were under the assumption that if our commercial was picked we send in our paperwork then. is it too late yet to fax everything say monday morning???
April 21st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Yeah, Matt, you’re right, thanks for noticing!
Derek - you can always email your releases to Liza in PDF format or you can fax them to (610) 649-2559. We do need them all for Bud Light videos, yes.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
thanks guys, got them in first thing monday! is there any form of confirmation though that they recieved our paperwork and are reviewing videos? also one last thing, i saw a lot of people put up their competition videos on youtube, are we allowed to do that or should we really be waiting until all winners are announced?
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Derek - we got your paperwork, thanks! No, folks aren’t supposed to put their videos on YouTube yet, so I would hold off on that. All the winners should be announced soon - Bud’s working on another round currently.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
sorry, one more post haha. i was going through my fax logs while filing the paperwork away for myself, and i realized, i think i forgot to add in our location release for our “tailgating” commercial. You do have a copy of the location, it was Absolute Results Gym as well, and we had that form sent with you guys for the “can’t get a drink” releases. Should I send another copy of it for the “tailgating” one as well?
June 27th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Hey everyone, I just saw but lights site had two more entries uploaded so congratulations to the both of them!
http://www.budlightdude.com/default.aspx?token=apemcobpfcfaclidmpkokobfohbacblmioodlg
So does anyone know if thats the last of the entires or are they picking more? If they’re done are we allowed to upload our commercials onto youtube and myspace and such?