A Golden Buzz

Take a wild guess. What do you think the gold medal is worth at the Olympics? Thousands, tens of thousands, maybe more. Wrong! I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's only worth $240.00. That's right, $240.00!

It sounds like I'm making this up but it's true. Did you realize that the gold medal is not truly gold? Today's gold medals have only 6 grams of gold and about 130 grams of silver. If you're doing the math, there are 28 grams in an ounce. While silver is up on average over 50% from two years ago while gold is up 30% in the same time frame, gold is off over 20% from its peak on March 17.

Have I made you sick or are you just shocked? Obviously the emotional value and the implied career value are worth multiples of that price and frankly, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Speaking of which, this morning on a First on Fox, Tony Ponturo, the Anheuser Busch vice president of sports marketing & global media and Keith Levy, Anheuser Busch vice president of brand management joined me to talk about the future of Anheuser Busch and their investment in sporting events like the Olympics.

As you may recall, I went down to Anheuser Busch's headquarters several months ago, just before Inbev made a play for the company. Much has been said about the future of the Budweiser brand given the purchase of the Belgian Brewer. Inbev, which is expected to close on the purchase on Anheuser Busch before year end, has said that they plan to cut roughly $1.5 billion in costs and divest of non-core assets. Tony, a legend in the sports world and on Madison Avenue, has the attention of just about anyone in the sport world. Tony controls the largest portion of ad dollars for Anheuser Busch. He is responsible for deciding which sporting events the Bud brand supports. It is reported that his group spent $285 million on sports advertising last year out of a $482 million advertising budget. That's HUGE money.

What many people want to know is whether they will change their campaigns, tighten the reigns or change their philosophy. This morning they said it will not happen. They will stick to the core brands and look to expand deals where necessary and make sure that the right beer is affiliated with the right medium, whether that be sports or entertainment. Only time will tell if they can do this once the two very big companies with different cultures are merged but for now the proof is in the pudding and for Anheuser Busch, those numbers have been terrific. Take a look.