Peyton Manning put a good word in for Budweiser on Sunday night after the Denver Broncos Super Bowl 50 win. Budweiser execs immediately took to social media to show their excitement. Peyton Manning mentioned Budweiser not once, but twice post-Super Bowl, a move that Budweiser boasts wasn’t paid for but says is worth millions, according to MSN on Monday.
Other advertisers spent millions for not even a full minute in front of Super Bowl 50 viewers on Sunday. The base rate for a 30-second ad spot was set at $5 million by CBS. Over 60 companies gladly paid a huge price tag to get in front of hundreds of millions of U.S. Super Bowl viewers Sunday night, but Budweiser managed to snag the best advertising of all for free from Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
Word-of-mouth advertising from Peyton Manning was more valuable than any of the millions of dollars paid out by other companies for their mere 30 seconds of fame, according to brand and marketing experts. Mark Borkowski, a British PR agent who specializes in publicity stunts, said in a report published by the Business Insider that Manning’s mention of Budweiser came with a price tag that couldn’t be figured.
Manning’s ‘Budweiser’ mention valued at $13.9 million of free advertising: https://t.co/W3uj69PuQX via @gadgetress
— Sara B. Hansen (@sarabhansen) February 8, 2016
Borkowski says some advertisers paid close to $400 million for one Super Bowl commercial. Those same advertisers are now left kicking themselves after Budweiser received free and much more valuable advertising through word-of-mouth, an endorsement that Borkowski claims is probably the most valuable in history.
“I can’t think of anything as big as this — an all-American superstar jock endorsing an all American beer in front of a record TV audience.”
Peyton Manning managed to plug Budweiser twice on Sunday night after the Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50, once during a postgame interview and once from the winners’ podium.
“I wanna go kiss my wife and my kids” … and drink a lot of @Budweiser , says Peyton Manning pic.twitter.com/eODlyvKVDH
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 8, 2016
After the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers with a 24-10 win on Sunday night, Tracy Wolfson with CBS interviewed Peyton Manning when he said he was going to kiss his wife, kiss his kids, and then drink a lot of Budweiser to celebrate. Manning said almost the exact same thing later that night as he sat at the winners’ podium holding the trophy, with an added “Von Miller’s buying.”
“I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight Tracy, I promise you that,” said Manning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Flv019EPM
Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser’s parent company, was ecstatic to get the free publicity. In fact, just minutes after Manning plugged Budweiser, the head of marketing for Budweiser, Lisa Weser, took to Twitter to express their gratitude to the 39-year-old five-time MVP and two-time Super Bowl winner.
Weser also made sure everyone knew that Budweiser had not paid Peyton Manning for the endorsement.
“Hi Internet. For the record, Budweiser did not pay Peyton Manning to mention Budweiser tonight. We were surprised and delighted that he did.”
MSN reports that Anheuser-Busch even sent 50 cases of Budweiser to the Super Bowl 50 after-party celebration to thank Manning for the free advertising.
But why did Peyton Manning give special kudos to Budweiser twice and not get paid in return? Or, maybe he is getting paid after all.
In 2014, Peyton Manning also gave Budweiser a “free” plug during the AFC Championship playoffs game when the Broncos beat the Chargers.
“What’s weighing on my mind is how soon I can get a Bud Light in my mouth,” said Manning.
ESPN reports that at the time, Manning did, in fact, own stake in two Budweiser distributorships. Anheuser-Busch will not confirm whether Peyton Manning is still financially involved with Budweiser, but judging from Sunday night’s two Budweiser endorsements, it’s fair to say he probably does.
Even though active NFL players aren’t supposed to endorse alcoholic beverages at all, the NFL reportedly gave Manning the go-ahead to mention Budweiser. According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, he had no problem with Peyton Manning plugging Budweiser on Sunday, mainly because Manning said he’ll probably retire after Super Bowl 50.
[Image via Wikimedia Commons/ Dorisall ]