Calls of the Wild
Loyal Budweiser drinkers are not to be taken lightly — or litely, in most cases.
I learned that much rather quickly while tagging along for the Wild On Bud weekend Sept. 7-9. My companions were 93 sweepstakes winners (and their guests), whose brand loyalties were rewarded with a two-night, two-day blowout in New York City and the tony Hamptons hosted by St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch and E! Entertainment Television.
The weekend kicked off Friday night with a party at the trendy Paramount Hotel in Times Square, then moved Saturday to the 72-room Ocean Castle in Southampton, NY, for an all-day beach/pool barbecue, and wrapped up that night with a private performance by pop star Shaggy at an East Hampton nightclub.
This trendy New York excursion was the first of three prize-fulfillment trips Bud is hosting to cap a six-month on-premise program that united the brand with New York City-based E!’s Wild On series, which sends host Brooke Burke to exotic travel destinations around the world. The three-region campaign invaded bars and clubs in 32 markets May through October to host games, give away premiums, and recruit sweepstakes entrants from the 21- to 34-year-old target audience. (Consumers could also enter at eonline.com and budweiser.com.) National radio and TV spots featuring Burke supported. St. Louis-based Momentum handled the bulk of the campaign, which was buoyed by help from A-B’s regiment of local wholesalers.
The Northeast leg generated 10,000-plus sweeps entries after hitting Boston, Hartford, CT, New York City, Philadelphia, and Dallas (OK, so that’s not exactly the Northeast, but Bud classified it that way) in May and June, so most of the revelers on this trip hailed from those cities. Trips for the other regions are set for Las Vegas at the end of November and Miami in December.
City Life
The Bud proves to be almost ever-flowing, which is exactly what this crowd wants. “I’ve been drinking Budweiser since I was 18. It’s about time they paid me back,” says Andy Rodidoux, a 44-year-old carpenter from Fall River, MA.
In the din of New York and Boston accents on the bus taking us to the Hamptons on Saturday, I immediately tune into the unique dialect of the women seated behind me. I poke my head over the Wild On/E!-branded headrest and introduce myself to Toni Sellers and Tammy Edwards from Shawnee, OK. Sellers entered the sweeps at eonline.com. “I logged on to read the monthly column and saw the contest.” Edwards shows her brand allegiance by sporting a faded Bud Light T-shirt. “We knew drinking all of that Budweiser would turn out to be a good thing,” says Sellers, 39.
Not everyone on the two buses is up for chatting during the two-hour ride, since things had already gotten Wild for some the night before in Manhattan. Checking into our rooms at the Paramount, we are greeted with a black Budweiser duffel bag filled with branded trip essentials including beach towels, can cozies, sunglasses, disposable cameras, coolers, beach-safe cans, and E! bandanas. With the mood properly set, we descend to the hotel’s mezzanine level, following the boom of the kick-off party where Bud — and only the occasional Bud Light — pours freely as Burke makes the rounds filming clips for a future Wild On episode. E! shot-glass candles are scattered around the tables and Wild On plays on TV screens.
Have I implied that these people like to party? Although the free beer ends at a relatively early 9 p.m., some winners hit the streets looking for some unscheduled excitement. Hence, the morning finds some nursing hangovers — although a few diehards request a cure-for-what-ails-them on the bus ride. (They aren’t accommodated.)
Country Life
There is plenty of beer and other types of sustenance once the buses arrive in what looks like paradise: a massive ocean-view mansion looming beneath bright-blue skies.
Over by the pool, large “Budweiser” and “Bud Welcomes You” signs are everywhere: on the sides of the house, outside the DJ booth, and across the gates of the full-size basketball court. Bright-red inflatable couches and rafts bob in the pool, where swimmers can dive into floating coolers filled with ice-cold brew.
I ask a guest if she thinks the ubiquitous signage is overdone. “No, I think it’s festive,” she says. Others don’t mind, either. “It’s free beer,” reminds one.
In fact, before departing for the airports Sunday morning, several guests will ask if they can have the banners, says Diane Pesavento, a senior director at RPMC, Los Angeles, which handles event coordination, production, and travel for the parties and assists Young America, MN-based Young America Corp. with sweepstakes fulfillment. “They wanted to put the signs in their basements — that’s always great to see. The crowd was very enthusiastic and pro-Bud. It was a wonderful group.”
“We’ve run a number of promotions, but this is our first big on-premise sweepstakes,” says Mike Sundet, Budweiser product manager, as he surveys the activities on a deck overlooking the pool. “They seem to really be enjoying themselves, and having Brooke here has generated so much excitement.”
Throughout the day, guests feast on a spread of barbecued food, and some periodically head to the ocean for a walk in the sand. I meet Nick Sackandy and Dave Kelly, both students at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, at the pool. Sober, the boys are a little shy, although Sackandy later won’t be too timid to approach Burke and ask her to pose for a picture with him. He says he entered the sweeps at a Hartford bar in June, never imagining that he would actually win.
Mark Maasick, 29, from Hoboken, NJ, isn’t even sure how he got here. “They just called me up and told me I won and I didn’t question it,” he says. It especially came as a surprise since Budweiser is not his beer of choice, he notes.
Cynthia Hagg from Mantua, NJ, on the other hand, reports: “I already drank Bud, but I’ll probably drink it more now — and enter more contests.”
As the crowd loosens up, the games — non-drinking ones such as kick-board swimming races, splat ball, an egg toss, gutter ball, and a sack race — begin. Prizes include inflatables, golf shirts, keychains, basketball sets, and magnets — all branded.
Since there is drinking on the sidelines, several lifeguards are on hand to make sure the revelry doesn’t get dangerous. “It did make us a little nervous having alcohol and water activities,” says Lisa Moran, RPMC’s director of program operations. “But everyone has been very responsible.”
Night Life
Late in the afternoon, the temporarily partied-out guests head to their upscale Southampton hotel ready for naps and showers. Bud banners adorn the outside of the building, and a six-pack in a silver logoed bucket awaits us in our spacious rooms.
At 8 p.m., everyone is shuttled to Tsunami, a rented-out nightclub in East Hampton. Some Bud employees and Long Island natives on the bus tell me Tsunami is often booked for private parties by the likes of P. Diddy (that’s Puff Daddy for you “old school” types).
Neon Bud signs decorate the bar and dance floor, and E! candles light up the courtyard, where Wild On plays on TV screens. Shaggy (whose performance is largely kept a surprise) takes the stage and plays a reggae-infused mix that gets the dance floor jumping. “It was a great crowd. A drunk crowd is always a good crowd,” Shaggy praises after the show.
It just so happens to be Burke’s birthday, so Shaggy sings to her on stage and presents her with a cake. “The energy of the crowd was amazing,” Burke says. “Bud really knows how to pull it off.”
Once all three parties are held, E! will compile the Wild On special to air next year, says Neil Baker, senior vp-ad sales. (The network ran some footage from the Hamptons weekend on E! News Daily the following Monday.) “We were honored and excited to be a part,” Baker says. “We’ve gotten great feedback so far.”
I end up sitting in front of the ladies from Oklahoma on the bus back to New York City on Sunday. “We’re spoiled now,” Sellers says. “Fifteen years of hardcore drinking definitely paid off.”
Six months of on-premise events have apparently paid off for Budweiser, too.
