Peyton’s Bud plug
Player owns stake in beer brand
Peyton Manning said he was going to drink Budweiser. Just so happens he has a stake in two Bud distributorships.
Chicago Tribune
After winning the Super Bowl on Sunday night, perhaps his last game before retiring as one of football’s most accomplished quarterbacks, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said — not once, but twice — that he plans to drink a lot of Budweiser in celebration.
“I want to go kiss my wife and my kids. I want to go, you know, hug my family. And I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser, Tracy, I promise you that,” Manning said to CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson as confetti fluttered from the sky.
Manning later reiterated the same message from the podium after triumphing over Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. The NFL’s top pitchman shilling for Budweiser prompted speculation on social media as to whether Manning was paid. The answer: Not exactly, but Manning’s shoutout was nonetheless a savvy business move.
“Hi Internet. For the record, Budweiser did not pay Peyton Manning to mention Budweiser tonight. We were surprised and delighted that he did,” said Lisa Weser, spokeswoman for AnheuserBusch InBev, on Twitter.
But Manning does own a financial stake in two Anheuser-Busch distributorships, a fact confirmed by Harry Schuhmacher, publisher of the trade publication Beer Business Daily. And Manning’s done this before: After the 2014 AFC Championship game, Manning pined aloud for a Bud Light at the postgame presser.
Dan Azzaro, senior lecturer in the advertising program at DePaul University College of Communication, called Manning’s post-Super Bowl remarks a “huge win” for Anheuser-Busch and pos- sibly a bridge to a Budweiser endorsement deal for Manning.
“Does it help Budweiser? Absolutely,” Azzaro said Monday. “I think they get more value from that than the ads. … We might be seeing a Peyton Manning Bud ad very soon.”
Manning, also a franchise owner of 25 Papa John’s pizza restaurants in Colorado, was listed as this year’s top NFL player in endorsements, with deals valued at about $12 million, according to Forbes.
For what it’s worth, Manning embraced Papa John’s founder John Schnatter on the football field immediately after the game. Pizza and beer just go together.
All in all, it amounted to a good night for AnheuserBusch, which also scored with a commercial featuring actress Helen Mirren, who spoke frankly on the idiocy of driving drunk before hoisting a Budweiser.
Who knew Manning and Mirren had so much in common?