Earlier this year, Busch beer turned several Nascar vehicles into limited-edition beer cans that were auctioned off to raise money for the antilittering nonprofit Keep America Beautiful. Now it’s hosting an event that will put many more cans into the hands of drinkers who are out in nature. What could possibly go wrong?
On Saturday, July 20, the company will sponsor a secret pop-up shop (the “Busch Pop Up Schop”) that will last for one day—in a national forest somewhere in America. Attendees will receive free merchandise, with one winner getting free Busch for life. People can follow along on Twitter to decipher clues to that spot ahead of time. “We’re popping up where Busch tastes best,” says a red-flannel-clad spokesman dubbed The Busch Guy in a new ad. “In the great outdoors. In the middle of the forest. Miles from the closest city.”
But this event has a charitable tie-in. Through work with the National Forest Foundation, a nonprofit that works to protect roughly 200 million acres of conservation land for people to enjoy, Busch has pledged to plant 100 trees for each person who reaches its party spot. The NFF’s own goal is to plant 50 million new trees by 2023, and there’s no cap to how many trees Busch is willing to donate. It costs about $1 per tree planted.
Based on the first clue to hit social media, it’s unlikely to be a difficult treasure hunt. The game started with a fill-in-the-blank question about what country the pop-up will be located in:
Clue #1: Put on your drinking — err, thinking — cap and fill in the blank…#BuschPopUp is located in the U__A. pic.twitter.com/gF312s2a7y
— Busch Beer (@BuschBeer) July 16, 2019
Of course, encouraging people to bring beer into nature might create litter, so the event has the dual task of modeling how to enjoy both booze and the outdoors responsibly. “We encourage our drinkers to play their part in keeping our lands healthy, which includes disposing of their drinks properly,” says Daniel Blake, a senior director at Anheuser-Busch, in an email to Fast Company. For those who can’t make it, there’s a pledge to not litter and the ability to make a small donation on Busch’s website.
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