Budweiser's new Clydesdale Super Bowl ad is an emotional reminder of the true American spirit

Budweiser is back in the Super Bowl advertisement game with a bang. After skipping the 2021 Super Bowl, the beer brewing company tapped Academy Award-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao for its new commercial. Titled "A Clydesdale's Journey" the 60-second commercial was released on YouTube on Wednesday ahead of this month's National Football League championship. The ad—which reunites the brand's favorite horse-and-dog marketing duo—shows an injured Clydesdale working through setbacks with the help of his faithful canine friend. "We all fall down in life and the journey to healing is often painful, long and solitary," Zhao said in a statement, reports Reuters. "To tell a story of perseverance, hope and friendship through the lens of the beloved Clydesdales really resonated with me."

The ad opens with the beermaker's signature draught horse galloping across a winter plain framed by snow-capped mountains at full speed while his trusty golden retriever pal watched from the distance. Then disaster strikes in the form of a broken fence post with barbed wire. Worry fills the faces of its handler and faithful companion as a veterinarian wraps the horse's injured leg. The commercial hangs the fate of Clydesdale in the balance as it shows storm clouds, a setback and some more worried looks. Eventually, a campfire's rising embers reignite hope which is set to Gary Clark Jr.'s live rendition of the national anthem plucked solemnly on an electric guitar.

Finally, the Clydesdale rises to its feet, alerting his best friend to its recovery and return. Replying with a bark, the dog jumps from the back of a pickup truck to join the horse in a full-throttled gallop before the words, "In the home of brave, down never means out" appear on the screen. "As America's beer, we wanted to come back to the Super Bowl with a message of strength and resilience," Daniel Blake, Group VP of Marketing, Budweiser & Value at Anheuser-Busch, said in a news release, according to the Florida Times-Union.

"Budweiser has a history of supporting the country through difficult times and reminding communities across America that better days are ahead. With this Super Bowl spot, our goal was to highlight the perseverance and determination of the country and depict that by coming together, we can grow and move forward stronger than before," Blake added. Explaining that "the story is really meant to parallel the resilience of the American people," he revealed that Zhao was chosen to direct the ad because of her "ability to capture true American character."

"She captures the beauty in the everyday scenes, the scenes of Americana," Blake said. This isn't the first time Budweiser has touched hearts with a commercial featuring the Clydesdale and dog duo. The duo's 2014 Super Bowl ad titled "Puppy Love" made America go "awww..." when the dog—a puppy at the time—forged a special bond with the horse and kept sneaking away to meet the Clydesdale. The ad ends with the horse staging a coup with fellow horses to get the dog back when the adopted puppy is being driven to its new home.

The best friends struck again the following year when the 2015 Super Bowl commercial followed the dog's return to the farm after being lost for some time. A group of horses, led by the puppy's pal, break out of the barn to save the dog when it is confronted by a wolf. The ad ends with the group returning home triumphantly with the puppy in the lead.