It's Bristol, baby! It was an insane crossover moment between NASCAR, 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 paint scheme, updated for the Bristol game. So as MLB's longest-standing partner, Budweiser wanted to show up in a big way.
Our goal: create an earned idea so when fans think of the MLB Bristol Speedway Classic, they should think of Budweiser.
I thought: what better way to combine all of these elements into one than to turn the beer hawkers at the event into our very own pit crew? They can run around 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.
We shot content to tease, launch, and sustain the program on social. We also had a great partner in Dale Earnhardt Jr. promoting the Bristol Bud Crew and his Bud #8 car. And fans couldn't get enough of the crew at the actual event. We even did a giveaway where a fan could win a special delivery of Budweiser by the Bristol Bud Crew.
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.
Below is a smattering of our social content, live coverage of the event that aired on FOX, and photos from the event.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. + Bristol Bud Crew Launch Video
Teaser #1
Teaser #2
Teaser #3
Event Sizzle
FOX Live coverage
Bud #8 Car Delivery on FOX
Made at draftLine, in-house @Anheuser-Busch
