Budweiser pitches pop-up stadium experiences for MLB’s Opening Day

Event location extended

Budweiser aims to evoke more pleasant memories of attending baseball games in person with its pop-up stadium experiences in New York and Chicago. The pandemic led Major League Baseball to delay last year’s season and reopen without fans in attendance, though it did allow a limited number of people to see the World Series and National League Championship Series in person. New York has limited games to 20% stadium capacity, while the Chicago Cubs are only selling 9,000 tickets to the 41,000-seat Wrigley Stadium, according to press reports.

The beer brand will arrange for ballpark vendors to give away freshly made hot dogs in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood and throughout parts of New York City, per an announcement shared with Marketing Dive. In New York, Budweiser will have a branded stadium experience pop-up at the corner of Houston and Lafayette Streets, and station hotdog vendors around several neighborhoods. The vendors will give away tokens to redeem for a free beer at nearby bars to fans over the age of 21. Budweiser set up an Opening Day microsite that gives Chicago Cubs fans a chance to wins tickets to an upcoming game at Wrigley Field.

Social media

As part of its Opening Day festivities, Budweiser is also running a social media contest to give a small group of baseball fans a chance to throw out the first pitch for their favorite team. The brand is asking Twitter users to tweet the #BudPitchYourPitch and #Sweepstakes hashtags and tag its @BudweiserUSA handle to enter the contest on April 1-30.

By running a sweepstakes to win a chance to throw out a first pitch at an MLB game, Budweiser can reach younger fans who have relied on Twitter to stay on top of the news and current trends. As Twitter users share their contest entries in tweets, Budweiser can extend the reach of the campaign among people who may not see its @BudweiserUSA account, which has about 215,000 followers. The brand creates a continual stream of content on Twitter for product announcements, humorous commentary about current events and contests to engage consumers.

These activities also indicate that brands are once again interested in experiential marketing after many brands suspended those efforts during pandemic lockdowns.