• by Les Luchter , February 2, 2022

Diageo, named the NFL’s first official spirits sponsor last June, enters Super Bowl season with no commercials in the big game -- Anheuser-Busch continues as the Bowl’s exclusive national alcohol advertiser -- but with its brands like Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and Crown Royal upping their promotional games.

Diageo’s Smirnoff, the NFL’s first official vodka sponsor, teamed with former player Vernon Davis, a Super Bowl winner with the Denver Broncos in 2015, to announce a Big Game watch party for a group of remote Alaskan gold miners 100 miles north of Anchorage.

These miners, the brand said, would normally not be able to tune in to the Super Bowl due to "lack of access given their remote location."

Others who won’t be able to tune in to the Super Bowl (a recent Smirnoff poll found that 2% of NFL fans fit into the category) include essential workers in the Los Angeles area, where the game is being played this year.  So Davis, who won’t be going to Alaska himself, will instead make surprise Smirnoff “drops with all the fixings” on Super Bowl Sunday.  

Smirnoff is also running a text-to-win sweepstakes, starting today, Feb. 2, through Feb. 6, in which 56 consumers (in honor of Super Bowl 56) will win 21 items each (in honor of its flagship Smirnoff No, 21) to throw their own Super watch parties.  The prizes include football-shaped stress reliever balls, foam fingers, chips and dips.

Consumers who really want to throw a super-sized party, though, might want to head over to another sweepstakes running through Feb. 6, this one from Diageo’s Captain Morgan, the NFL’s  first official spiced-rum sponsor. 

The prize in this case is a branded punch bowl that measures over 18 inches in diameter, and holds four gallons of liquid to serve 32 guests.

The bowl includes a base with stadium-inspired lights and sound, Bluetooth speakers, subwoofers, LED graphic equalizers, and Internet connection to provide real-time NFL game data from Genius Sports, the NFL’s official data and technology partner.

Along with the bowl, said to be one of only 20 in existence, the winner will also get a branded ladle, designed by “Unnecessary Inventions” founder Matty Benedetto, cocktail glasses, stainless steel ice cube molds, confetti, non-alcoholic ingredients for included cocktail recipes, confetti and a $100 gift card.

Captain Morgan announced the punch bowl last week with a sponsored segment on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that featured Benedetto and former player Victor Cruz, a Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants in 2015.

Diageo’s Crown Royal, the NFL’s first official whiskey sponsor, which broke the NFL’s long-running ban on spririts advertising five years ago, hasn’t teamed up with any former players but with Fox Sports veteran reporter Erin Andrews.

Together, they’ll mark the 56^th Super Bowl by gifting of Crown Royal’s new blend -- Crown Royal Aged 18 Years -- to 56 of the “most influential women” in sports, along with a gift of $1,000 in each recipient’s name to “a charity that supports young women in sports and their individual journeys.”

“Like Crown Royal 18,” the brand said, “each gift recipient is truly extra rare -- and we want to toast to their journey and contributions to the sports industry.”