Peyton Manning is always good for making a nice little sales pitch. He has had plenty of experience in the advertising and sponsorship game. Before there was the Nationwide jingle, there was CUT THAT MEAT! As Manning closed the book on what could be a storied career after just winning his second Super Bowl, Manning said to CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson he planned to celebrate by hugging and kissing his wife and kids and drinking a lot of Budweiser.
Before you ask, Budweiser has already confirmed it did not pay Manning for that little postgame blurb, but they will gladly accept the free advertising (on top of the millions they already spent for their regular Super Bowl advertisements of course).
That seemingly innocent quick off-the-cuff remark from Manning had a tremendous value in the advertising game…
In fact, that Budweiser line may go down in history as the most valuable celebrity endorsement of all time as it is estimated the endorsement from Manning could be more valuable than a $5 million 30-second advertisement during the Super Bowl.
“A television moment comes and goes,” brand and marketing expert Mark Borkowski said in a report from The Guardian. “The value of this will be ongoing, and it is a running story now and will continue to be. Advertisers are desperate to have something that cuts through the cacophony of [advertising noise]. This will go down in the annals of marketing history.”
But was it really a spur-of-the-moment line from Manning, or did he have a secret agenda at play? It certainly was not the first time Manning dropped a reference to a Budweiser product. Take this comment following the 2014 AFC Championship Game…
Manning is always the man with a plan on the football field, and he appears to have a plan at the microphone as well. Manning owns part of two Anheuser-Busch distributors in Louisiana, which would certainly suggest Manning is putting out the word about a product he may not technically endorse, but most certainly has a stake in. But hey, who can blame him for wanting to support his sponsors and business portfolio?