- Kenneth Hein

MasterCard has called Peyton Manning's number again. This time, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback, joined by actress Alyson Hannigan from How I Met Your Mother, is plugging the new "MasterCard Priceless Gift Finder."

The tool, located at Priceless.com/giftfinder, helps shoppers find gifts according to price range, personality description and Amazon.com reviews. Through Facebook Connect, users can build shopping lists. The app also includes a budget calculator.

Cheryl Guerin, svp, U.S. marketing and digital for MasterCard Worldwide said, in a statement, that the gift finder is on trend with consumers' shopping habits. "The utility of the tool makes it easy to select these perfect gifts, while tracking a budget and managing a holiday shopping list using social media applications that are already a part of many shoppers lives," Guerin said.

Late last week, Deloitte's 24th Annual Holiday Survey stated that 17 percent of U.S. consumers plan to leverage social media sites to assist with their holiday shopping this year.





Three ads promoting the app kick off tonight. They feature Manning and Hannigan giving out unwanted gifts. In one, Manning presents teammates Jeff Saturday and Ryan Diem with a football-shaped gift and says excitedly, "You'll never guess what it is." The ads sign off with the message: "Getting them something they'll actually enjoy. Priceless." The campaign will run through Christmas. McCann Erickson, New York, is the agency.

MasterCard spent $219 million on media in 2008, and $95 million for the first eight months of 2009, per Nielsen.

Consumers who use the app are entitled to a $10 credit to their Amazon account, which can be used at the Amazon MP3 store. They receive the perk if they buy an item recommended via the gift finder at Amazon.com using a MasterCard.