Bristol Bud Crew

Earned Media

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. once said, "It's Bristol, baby!"

In an excessively American crossover moment between NASCAR, Major League Baseball, and Budweiser, MLB hosted a specialty baseball game inside the Bristol Motor Speedway racetrack. That's right, an actual real baseball game inside a NASCAR racetrack. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also unveiled his iconic Bud #8 car for the event.

So as MLB's longest-standing partner, Budweiser wanted to show up in a big way.

The ask: concept an earned idea so when fans think of the MLB Bristol Speedway Classic, they think of Budweiser.

I thought, what better way to combine all of these elements than to turn the beer hawkers into a pit crew? You know, the vendors at baseball games yelling, "Ice-cold beer, here!" They can race around the event with beers at a pit crew pace, and we can use them on social to build intrigue around Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s involvement. It would be Budweiser's way of showing up, bringing the hype (and the beers), without coming across as too self-serving or detracting from the event.

And thus the Bristol Bud Crew was born.

The results:

3.1M total earned impressions, 116K total earned engagements, and 99% positive + neutral sentiment on social. Knowing the comment section can be a very scary place no matter what you post sometimes, we were all a bit blown away by that last figure (and I have confirmed it is real).

Below is a selection of our social content I art-directed, live coverage that aired on FOX, and photos from the event.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. + Bristol Bud Crew Launch Video

Teaser #1

Teaser #2

Teaser #3

FOX Live coverage