Charleston is a city in which home-grown talent is loved and supported. Since our peninsula is off the beaten path of touring musicians and artists, local acts enjoy the spotlight much more so than cities like New York or LA. Budweiser was well aware of this when they planned their Made in America themed concert for the night of Tuesday April 15th. Instead of getting a big ticket act like Jay-Z, who is playing their upcoming show in California, Budweiser contacted Stop Light Observations and The Revivalists to play at The Charleston Area Convention Center. Stop Light Observations are a local band who have been playing around Charleston since they formed when they were 13 years old. The Revivalists, based out of New Orleans, have been visiting Charleston since they formed in 2007 and have a dedicated niche following here.
Although the band selection was surprising to me, the truly interesting aspect of this event is that everything was free. Budweiser provided tickets, food, drinks, and a very high quality production including several massive 3D screens and glasses, all for free. The only condition was you had to sign up via email and give a few basic tidbits of information for surveying purposes. Unlike most arts organizations, Andheuser Busch doesn’t face nearly as many marketing and technology challenges since they are a multibillion dollar corporation. They simply use these free events to promote their product on a personal level, and to film commercials that encourage the viewer to go online and find the nearest #MadeInAmerica event to them. Their use of social media in combination with national TV advertisements allows for large-scale promotion while maintaining that local and personalized feeling I associated with Tuesday nights show. They also receive tons of useful information from the survey that millions of people fill out to acquire a ticket, which helps them understand the demographic of their customers and how to better promote to them.