After winning his first Super Bowl, Philadelphia Eagle running back Saquon Barkley did what so many Philadelphia Eagles and their fans have done before him—shotgunned a beer, shirtless, in less than three seconds.
In a video capturing the feat that soon went viral among sports accounts like Barstool and Bleacher Report, eagle-eyed viewers can just make out Barkley’s brew of choice: Open, a craft lager based out of Los Angeles.
Beer brands typically shell out millions to advertise during the big game, but in the case of Open Brewing, the exposure came without the sticker-shock. In a write-up of the post-game celebration, a Sports Illustrated reporter confirmed the cans were Open, calling the beer a “workingman’s beverage” choice compared to the celebration’s bottles of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spade Champagne, which retail for about $280.
David Sypniewski, Open Brewing’s managing director, told Marketing Brew the stunt was unplanned, but acknowledged the front-and-center placement benefited from the fact that the Eagle’s third string tight-end C.J. Uzomah is a fan—and an early investor in the brand.
“There wasn’t this nefarious coup, [like] we’re gonna hijack the Super Bowl,” Sypniewski said.
Drink up
Open, which was founded in 2023 and has seven employees, is distributed in Southern California and Las Vegas and is served at some bars in Tokyo. Sypniewski said there wasn’t any “plotting” to sneak the beer into the Super Bowl. Instead, they sent just “enough” cases to Uzomah with the hopes of scoring a little bit of screen time.
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“We had a perfect idea that this would happen,” Sypniewski said. “CJ is an owner. He likes the beer.”
Apparently Barkley, the all-time record holder for rushing yards in the regular season and playoffs combined, does too. Sypniewski said friends immediately sent him the viral video of Barkley’s shotgun after it was posted.
“I was watching him shotgun and thinking about his backwards hurdle, just going, this guy’s the best,” Sypniewski said.
Sypniewski said there was an “uptick” in interest following the game, although he acknowledged that was anecdotal. (“It’s not like we have a data team working around the clock to tally it,” he said.) If anything, he said, the viral moment has helped grow awareness of the brand.
Open isn’t planning any big marketing push out of the moment. Besides, the team wants to be careful not to go overboard, as Open Beer wants to land with the fashion-forward “hypebeast” crowd, Sypniewski said.
“You don’t [want to] get cringy with it. You don’t run out and make Saquon t-shirts or stage shotgun races,” he said. “We’re not marketing geniuses over here.”
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