King's Hawaiian x Eli Manning: Key Findings
Quick listen: King’s Hawaiian taps Eli Manning for its first seasoning blend, mixing food, football, and Sunday rituals.
Football season is officially in session, and King’s Hawaiian isn’t showing up empty-handed.
The brand just rolled out its first-ever seasoning blend, called "Football SEASON-ing," and brought in Eli Manning to help carry the message.
The campaign is as much about food as it is about routine.
Sunday dinners, tailgate spreads, and the kind of recipes that don’t need explaining are the cultural beats King’s Hawaiian is playing into.
It opens with a tongue-in-cheek 30-second spot where Manning, wearing a sweater vest and a fake mustache, interrupts a book club to announce “Slider Sunday.”
Manning sets the tone in the new spot with a deadpan delivery and a book club full of confused guests.
In a People exclusive, he shared why Sundays still matter:
“Sundays are about traditions, and it's about family and friends.
And when you bring family, friends and football together, you need great food.”
The seasoning itself is a real product, created with chef Adam Tabura.
It’s meant for more than sliders: think pasta salads, grilled vegetables, even dips.
Ingredients like white and red Hawaiian sea salt, garlic, onion, and chiles give it range, but the campaign never overexplains it.
View this post on Instagram
Offline, the activation comes to life through a national Tailgate Tour.
King’s Hawaiian is teaming up with six NFL teams, including the Bengals, Vikings, Dolphins, and Packers, to serve thousands of fans free sliders outside stadiums.
It started in Chicago with a Barstool Sports stop, where Manning showed up to serve food and chat with fans.
King’s Hawaiian CMO Raouf Moussa explains why food and football continue to be the brand’s strongest pairing.
"There's nothing like football and King's Hawaiian sliders.
We've always been about bringing people together over amazing food, and we are thrilled to continue doing that for football fans across the country.
From our special football seasoning blend in collaboration with Eli, to our new official NFL team partnerships and Tailgate Tour, we are helping fans score big on flavor all season long."
Built on Flavor, Delivered with Familiarity
The campaign extends across digital, social, and live experiences, but it doesn’t feel overproduced.
A 13-part YouTube series, a fan cave giveaway, and weekly recipe drops all build on the idea that food should be easy, shared, and fun.
For King’s Hawaiian, it’s a way to reinforce their status as a go-to for gatherings without leaning too heavily on nostalgia.
The brand already holds the top dollar share in the U.S. dinner roll category, generating nearly $878 million in sales with an 11% increase year over year in a $1.32 billion market.
This campaign pushes it toward a new lane, closer to the center of the football conversation, which is still dominated by wings, beer, and pizza.
There's not one problem within this world that can't be resolved with a tasty King's Hawaiian sandwich.
— matt (@cancermatt2) August 31, 2025
On NFL Sundays, chicken wing orders alone surge by 25%, making them the top-requested item across restaurant platforms in game-day markets.
And while Manning’s mustache gets the laughs, the real move is strategic: anchoring the brand in one of the few remaining appointment-viewing events left on TV.
Proceeds from the seasoning go to Motiv8, the nonprofit led by Marcus Mariota.
It’s a reminder that Sunday still matters not just as a business opportunity, but as a way to bring people together.
Our Take: Can Simple Storytelling Still Win on Game Day?
I watched the Slider Sunday commercial twice, not because I had to, but because it made me smile.
The pacing works, so does the absurdity of the mustache, the sweater vest, and the deadpan way Manning breaks up a book club to announce it’s time for sliders.
None of it feels forced.
There’s a quiet confidence in how little the campaign tries to do.
It doesn’t push a lifestyle but just lands on something real: football, food, and the comfort of a familiar face.
As someone who covers brand storytelling, I see many overproduced campaigns attempting to engineer emotion.
This one doesn’t, and it understands the product’s place in people’s routines and lets that be enough.
King’s Hawaiian stayed true to its roots and found the right person to carry it forward.
I think more brands should resist the urge to reinvent and just pay attention to what’s already working.
Want more examples of how familiar faces can drive fresh relevance? See how Sonic brought in Terry Crews to kick off its first-ever NIL campaign.
From Eli Manning to tailgates, these agencies bring timing, heart, and cultural relevance to food campaigns that stick.
