Budweiser's dog and pony show takes top Ad Meter spot

— -- The Patriots' streak was broken, but Anheuser-Busch's was not.

In the high-stakes world of Super Bowl advertising, it aired the best-liked Super Bowl ad for a record 10th-consecutive year, according to results of USA TODAY'S exclusive Super Bowl Ad Meter real-time consumer focus group testing.

Unlike many of its previous winners, A-B's big winner this time didn't tickle the funny bone, but it certainly plucked the heart strings.

The ad featured a Dalmatian who becomes personal trainer to a dejected draft horse eager to make the team pulling the famous Budweiser beer wagon.

In a nod to millions of boomer viewers, the valiant steed trains to the theme from the movie Rocky. And like Rocky, it won big.

"Ten in a row is a dream," said A-B's Bob Lachky, chief creative officer. "It's validation of the brand strategies we have in place and that Clydesdales are America's favorite icon.

"It is a spot about tradition, about the little guy succeeding," Lachky said. "There's a real era of cynicism right now, and America was ready for this message. It has a message about trying harder."

With the economy slowing, the housing market in the dumps and the nation's political races still unsettled, a lot of folks seemed to want something more substantial than a good belly laugh this Super Bowl. They wanted to feel good about the world. A-B gave them an ad that did just that.

The Clydesdale ad "had a beginning, a middle and an end," said Richard Lackner, a teacher from Downers Grove, Ill. "It told a little story and got you to root for the underdog, actually underhorse."

Indeed, no advertiser in the game did. But for a change, A-B faced serious competition for the top slot. A FedEx ad featuring giant pigeons chaotically trying to deliver overnight packages placed second. A Bridgestone tire ad that finished third showed a forest full of critters screaming when a beloved squirrel almost gets hit by a car.

And a year-old Doritos spot made by a consumer cracked the top five. The ad, in which a giant rat tackles a chip eater, finished third last year in Doritos' make-your-own Super Bowl ad contest.