She’s 21 days old, already weighs 200 pounds and was the star of an award-winning Super Bowl XLVII commercial for Budweiser seen by more than 108 million people. Now she has a name: “Hope,” a nod to the optimism and happy ending of the commercial where a trainer reunites with the horse he raised from a foal.
Last week Budweiser asked its Facebook fans and Twitter followers to send along suggestions for a name. More than 60,000 tweets, Facebook comments, calls and direct messages came through. “Hope” was one of the more popular female names generated.
“We were overwhelmed with the response we got,” said Lori Shambro, brand director for Budweiser. “Budweiser fans suggested a lot of great names, and it was a tough decision, but we landed on Hope as the perfect name for this friendly, slightly feisty and just perfect Budweiser Clydesdale mare. Many of our fans wanted a name to reflect their optimism and spirit, which the name Hope encapsulates beautifully.”
On Super Bowl Sunday, the Budweiser Clydesdales appeared in a 60-second spot, “Brotherhood,” which chronicled the bond a Clydesdale foal shares with his trainer. Brotherhood ranked No. 1 on USA Today’s Ad Meter, which was based on fan voting on the USA Today website via Facebook and Twitter.
Budweiser also has just released an extended version of “Brotherhood.” Check it out below.
John Soto, supervisor of Warm Springs Ranch, in Boonville, Mo. where the foal was born, said when Hope is grown, she will weigh as much as 2,000 pounds, eat 20-25 pounds of whole grains, minerals and vitamins each day; 50 pounds of hay a day and drink 30 gallons of water. She was born at 5 a.m. on Jan. 16. “Thirty-six hours before Hope was born, on Jan. 14, we welcomed our first-born Clydesdale of the year, a boy,” Soto said. “We have a special name for him, too.”
Budweiser announced that the first male Budweiser Clydesdale born in 2013, born at 9 p.m. on Jan. 14, and will be named after baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial.