Diageo brands score big at Super Bowl LIX

A key part of Diageo’s commercial strategy is to drive growth by placing our incredible brands at the centre of key cultural moments. These moments have included Don Julio’s famous appearance at last year’s Oscars telecast, great celebrity partnerships, such as that between Johnnie Walker and actress Priyanka Chopra and through big sporting occasions.

One of Diageo’s biggest cultural connection points has been as official spirits sponsor of the NFL, through which it can access the Super Bowl. Over the last four years our brands have looked to show up to the Super Bowl with increased size and ambition. And this year was no exception.

Held on 9 February 2025, an estimated 127.7 million viewers tuned in for Super Bowl LIX, according to Nielsen, making it the largest audience for a Super Bowl and for a single network telecast in TV history¹.

The growth in global popularity of the NFL and the size of the Super Bowl TV audience has made the “Big Game”, as it has been affectionately called by fans for decades, coveted marketing “real estate” for brands.

While Crown Royal has a decades-long history of partnering with teams in the NFL and started advertising on TV around NFL games in 2017, it was in 2021 when the connection between our brands and the sport really took off, when Diageo signed the deal to be the very first official spirits sponsor of the NFL.

The core brands involved in the deal were Crown Royal, Smirnoff and Captain Morgan, but this has now expanded to also include the likes of Don Julio. The work ranges from advertising to high level engagement with on-the-ground teams, to helping create bespoke cocktail menus for local on-premise outlets on game days.

On Super Bowl weekend, our brands were unmissable in and around New Orleans, the host city for this year’s “Big Game”, as the Philadelphia Eagles scored a stunning win against the defending champions the Kansas City Chiefs, at the Caesars Superdome.

Diageo’s brands used this platform to execute an outstanding plan, using a mixture of innovative ideas and partnerships with ex-NFL players and celebrity talent to drive engagement with fans at the game and around the world.

Here’s a taste of how our brands showed up at “the Big Game”:

Crown Royal, the official Whisky sponsor of the NFL, activated against its season-long Crown Royal Rig Tour. The Rig [a semi-trailer truck] was the centrepiece of The Crown Royal Station, which saw over 7,000 fans over the weekend. Legal Drinking Age (LDA) fans enjoyed a curated experience filled with local flavours, and an appearance from NFL legend, ex-New Orleans Saints Quarterback and Super Bowl winner, Drew Brees. The brand’s celebrity partnerships and activities across the weekend reached over 200,000 people across social media and delivered 4.8 billion earned impressions (the number of clicks posts get from people sharing the content) – a 118% year on year increase.

Tequila Don Julio once again cemented its position as an icon of celebration by putting their unique twist on iconic New Orleans traditions and creating truly viral content through Super Bowl weekend.

Kicking off the festivities with the Tequila Don Julio x Popeyes Championship Lineup Menu, this first-of-its-kind collaboration, a nod to the home of both Popeyes and the Super Bowl LIX, launched ahead of the Big Game weekend and culminated in a star-studded celebration at the iconic BB King’s.

On Saturday, playing on the image of New Orleans’ iconic duelling piano bars, Don Julio partnered with international DJ stars, John Summit and Dom Dolla, to create a Duelling DJ takeover on Bourbon Street. Rolling Stone named the event as the “Best Viral Moment” of the weekend.

Captain Morgan, the official Spiced Rum of the NFL, successfully delivered on its ambitious aim of taking over New Orleans’ iconic Bourbon Street and turning it into “Rum Street”. Over 1,000 fans were served at the Captain Morgan HQ “Rum Street” party on the Saturday evening.

Captain also brought the spirit of “Rum Street” to late-night TV with a special segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Put together this activity helped Captain hit a total of 7.6 billion earned impressions across the weekend – up 54% on 2024.

Smirnoff in its fourth year as the official vodka sponsor of the NFL opted to go “Long” in New Orleans with a massive 60-foot tailgate and multiple fan experiences, including a performance by Flo Rida and a live podcast by former Philadelphia Eagle Chris Long. The centrepiece was a 15,000-pound truck, dubbed “The Longest Tailgate”. It was a space to behold with more than 8,000 Smirnoff cocktails served to over 3,000+ LDA fans resulting in 2.3 billion earned impressions to further drive the brand’s “We Do Game Days” platform.

Rick Pineda, Director of Sports at Diageo, says the brand teams delivered outstanding creativity and quality of execution all weekend: “I am so proud of how Diageo’s brands showed up last weekend across New Orleans. Around the on and off premise accounts of “the Big Easy” and at activations throughout the week and at the Superdome on Game Day, Diageo was at the centre of the celebration of sports and culture that is Super Bowl LIX, and the 100,000+ fans who descended on the city loved engaging with our brands. Our official spirits partnership with the NFL continues to grow and I can’t wait to see what we come up with at Super Bowl LX in San Francisco.”

¹ https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/super-bowl-lix-makes-tv-history-with-over-127-million-viewers/#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%20%E2%80%93%20February%2011%2C%202025,network%20telecast%20in%20TV%20history