Why It Was All Beer And Skittles For Budweiser At The Super Bowl

If anyone’s smiling after last Monday’s Super Bowl – other than the eventual winners, the Denver Broncos – it has to be Budweiser’s CMO.

The famed beer brand not only had some of the best campaigns during the game, it killed it for social media mentions and then, the icing on the marketing cake, the winning quarter back spruiked the beer after accepting the trophy – a bonus $US14 million in free exposure to a TV audience estimated at 115 million Americans.

When it came to social media mentions, the beer brand was mentioned four out of five times according to monitoring firm Synthesio. Bud got 80.8 per cent of the social media discussion when beer brands where mentioned during the game. Bud Light came a distant second with 9.9 per cent.

Budweiser also used the game to air its anti-drink driving campaign featuring British actress Dame Helen Mirren which racked up more than four million views online making it third most viewed ad from Monday’s game.

However, it was Denver’s winning quarterback, Peyton Manning, that was the true kicker for the brand.

Manning was being interviewed post-match and said his celebratory plans include “drinking a lot of Budweiser”. Later on the winner’s podium he added: “What’s weighing on my mind is how soon I can get a Bud Light in my mouth”.

There had been speculation that Manning had been paid for his endorsement, however, Budweiser has subsequently denied the claim. Although it has been revealed in US media that Manning owns shares in the brewer.

Head of marketing at Anheuser-Busch InBev – brewers of Bud in the US – Lisa Weser said in a tweet: “Hi internet. For the record Budweiser did not pay Peyton Manning to mention Budweiser tonight. We were surprised and delighted that he did.”

Manning’s endorsement of the brand was reportedly worth $US9 million in free media coverage and a further $US5 million in social media mentions.

And it appears Manning’s no fool when it comes to endorsing products. According to Forbes magazine he makes an extra $US12 million annually (that’s aside from the $US17 million a year he gets for playing football) for putting his name to brands such as Gatorade, Buick and pizza chain Papa John’s (where he reportedly owns a number of franchises).

Interestingly, Manning was seen drinking Gatorade before the match started on Monday and later, after the win, was seen kissing Papa John’s founder and CEO John Schnatter.

And according to data by Australian media monitoring firm iSentia, Budweiser was also the most talked about brand in Australia. And that’s despite local lad, Peter Carstairs, near triumph in the Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl competition. Here’s how the brands played out in Australia according to iSentia:

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