Crested Butte and Bud Light

The advance team came and checked out one of our favorite ski towns, Crested Butte, for a wild Bud Light Party. Crested Butte is tucked away about 30 miles North of the Gunnison, Colorado. Crested Butte has a town population of a bout 1000 people in the summer and fall.  It is a big ski town and its winter population may swell to about 2500 people. It is not on the main road to Aspen or Breckenridge. It is out of the way yet can be reached by a jet airport in Gunnison.

At first many residents were massively skeptical that the town council would sell the town for 250,000 dollar for one weekend in September. What were they going to do there? What crazy activity would go on? Why such secrecy? Eventually the town got 500,000 for its trouble.

I week before it was actually going to happen the council approved and the party began last weekend, September 7.  The people who were invited to come were all adults and most of them were over 25 years old. They applied to be in the party, on line of course. 1,000 actually came. Bud Light chartered jets that landed in Gunnison and the party goers arrived in Crested Butte.  800 support staff also were there as Bud light figured to add about 2 million dollars to the local economy. 300 local laborers were also hired. The didn't count the 500,000 dollars that Bud light donated to the city as a legacy payment. Was that enough for hush money?  Most of the people in the area ended up thinking that it was well worth it. The Gunnison Times had a full color spread of the activities of the weekend. Bud light is now running slick advertisements of their fake mayor and their the party town that they constructed in Crested Butte. The Gunnison Times reported that the local hot tub company "rented 6 hot tubs" and returned them in good shape. The payment for their rental allowed the local people to get a very good deal on the hot tubs that were used in "Whatever" town, Crested Butte. Gunnison, 30 miles away saw increases in their motel occupancy for two weeks before the event and a week after the event. There was even some people who attended the party that thought they may come back and enjoy the area after all of the hoopla as over.

As reported in the Gunnison Times, when the town was reconstructed as the party town, gigantic cloth barriers were raised to disguise advertising down mainstreet that would take away from the tone or the focus of the revelers. Local people were invited to some events but not others. The disco and the music venues were strictly reserved for those who had won the contest and were supported at the party.

So what did they do in the heart of the city at 9,000 feet above sea level. If they drank just a little like my father, they were falling off the bar stools from just one beer. No these were people that represent main street beer party drinkers. This is the crowd that Bud light is hoping to widen their appeal. This age is quickly discovering "craft" beer and they have to find a way to make their beverage one that represents this"carefree" lifestyle. So.. rent a town in the middle of rockies, develop a carnival atmosphere, have parades, silly contests, and loud crazy music. Invite the people you want to be seen drinking your beer. Film it, chop it, have people report about it on the internet, and make a thousand cool commercials that get people to ask about what it is all about and you have accomplished your mission. Its the new music video advertisement. It is one way to gather those lost souls and say... you really belong to us. Have a bud light.

This advertisement for Bud Light stands in the wake of the Miller lite ads that claim precedent in the light beer march, claiming that they represent the very reason through a lightly plausible string that young middle age people even exist.... baffling.

With Bud light's investment in Crested Butte, the big question will be... for how long will we see pieces of Crested Butte show up in their ads.  Was it worth it for Bud Light?  Time will tell.