Bud Light has done it again with their second iteration of Whatever, USA, a Content Marketing Dream. This years experience had to bring out a couple new tricks to play. Last year Bud Light announced that it was going to be turning Colorado’s Crested Butte into the fictitious Whatever, USA for one weekend in September. Almost a quarter million millennials applied to get in via thousands of summer on premise events and virtual auditions.
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Bud Light brought on Snoop Dog to help promote the event on social media, and as soon as it went to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, the brand got just the kind of exposure they were looking for. The festival was a giant marketing lab. Bud Light had several agencies working to create content for the brand including BBDO. Mosaic led the experiential aspect of Whatever, USA and Contend, Vayner Media and Weber Shandwick powered the social media war room.
Whatever, USA is using insights about millennials, specifically that they value experience more than material possessions and that they fear missing out on events. Millennials get a sort of social currency through posting photos of the event so it was a perfect match for the brand. The party was held in Catalina’s town of Avalon and took over just a few blocks of it’s main strip. At the entrances winners and locals, 2,000 of Catalina’s 3800 residents were given wristbands to enter saw placards telling them that their photo scan be used for anything Bud Light Desires. No one really cares how their photos are being used. It doesn’t seem to be a big deal because people are having a great time. Talk about the ideal situation for capturing an experience and marketing it through content marketing.
If you have questions about experiential marketing or content marketing contact BeCore today!
