Favre hot on Manning’s heels

Believe it or not, there are a few people who actually don’t know anything about Peyton Manning. They wouldn’t know him if they saw him drinking Gatorade, and they wouldn’t know him with or without a fake mustache. They wouldn’t even know him if they saw him cheering on their local butcher.

According to Los Angeles-based Davie-Brown Entertainment, which measures such things, fewer than 15 percent of U.S. consumers have never heard of the Indianapolis Colts star quarterback. Still, a recognition rating of better than 85 puts Manning in the top spot among National Football League quarterbacks in the Davie-Brown Index.

But there’s an up-and-comer. Well, it might be a stretch to call Brett Favre an up-and-comer. But Favre has seen his DBI recognition rating soar 10 points since he came out of retirement, left the Green Bay Packers and joined the New York Jets. He flew right past the New England Patriot’s Tom Brady into second place and is on the heels of Manning in the recognition ratings. Manning, Favre and Brady are the only three quarterbacks with DBI ratings better than 80.

But there’s some bad news for the former cheese-head. Favre’s consumer appeal has dropped 9 points since his rubarb with the Packers, according to the DBI, and his trust factor has declined 8 points.

In those two categories, Manning is still No. 1 among NFL quarterbacks. But if Favre makes good in the Big Apple, sports marketers think Manning will have company at the top.