Dive Brief:

• Sports-betting platform DraftKings and Tums, the antacid brand, have teamed for a free-to-play game, titled Tums Prop Bites, around Super Bowl LVIII, per details shared with Marketing Dive. 
• Tums Prop Bites allows consumers using a designated microsite to make free picks on the details around popular game-day foods, like how many pizzas will be delivered before halftime, for the chance to win a share of a $10,000 prize pool. Tums in partnership with GoPuff will also be doling out free product during the game. 
• Comedian Desus Nice will act as the official “Prop Bites Tipster” and appear in digital and social content. The star will also appear at a pop-up event hosted by DraftKings and Tums at Circa Stadium Swim in Las Vegas, the host city of this year’s Super Bowl. 

Dive Insight:

DraftKings and Tums have linked up ahead of the Super Bowl to test consumers’ knowledge of game-day food habits for the chance to win a cash prize. The partnership signals how sports betting, which has become legal in many states across the country, has grown increasingly intertwined with advertising. Another sign of the times, Las Vegas this year will host the Super Bowl for the first time, a move that comes two decades after the city was banned from running Super Bowl campaigns.  

Tums Prop Bites — a pun on the popular “prop bets” available through the DraftKings app — allows consumers at least 18 years of age the opportunity to guess the answer to questions surrounding some of the Super Bowl’s most popular foods, like how many gallons of avocados are expected to be eaten on game day. The free-to-play game is available now through Feb. 11, the day of Super Bowl LVIII, and touts a $10,000 prize pool. The game closes at kickoff. As sports betting grows in popularity, linking with DraftKings could help Tums tap into pop-culture hype while promoting its antacid qualities against greasy game day food. 

Rounding out its efforts, Tums in partnership with delivery service GoPuff is offering a free 60-count bottle of Tums Chewy Bites, while supplies last, to consumers who visit its designated microsite at halftime. Additionally, DraftKings and Tums will host a Tums Prop Bites Food Casino at Circa Stadium Swim to kick off Super Bowl weekend on Feb. 9 from 12pm to 6pm. Included in the pop-up will be an appearance from Nice in addition to games that guests can play for the chance to win prizes.

DraftKings’ Tums tie-up follows the company’s recent announcement that it would not be returning to Super Bowl advertising this year after three consecutive appearances at the big game. Meanwhile, others in the sports-betting space have cemented their plans. Among them, BetMGM announced it will be making its Super Bowl debut with help from new creative agency of record Highdive. Additionally, FanDuel will advertise in the game for a second consecutive year with a campaign serving as the sequel to last year’s “Kick of Destiny,” which saw NFL icon Rob Gronkowski attempt to complete a 25-yard field goal during a live third-quarter commercial break, a kick that he missed, though the actual outcome was debated on social media.

Aside from sports-betting platforms, a number of consumer packaged goods brands have similarly announced their big game plans, including Drumstick, Doritos, M&M’s and Hellmann’s. Despite 2023 having been a year marked by a pullback in advertiser spending, brands have been quick to commit to Super Bowl advertising. By the start of November, CBS had nearly sold out of all of its Super Bowl advertising inventory, with a 30-second ad reportedly going for between $6.5 and $7 million.

Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that Tums Prop Bites is a game that involves no betting.