After making a splash at one of the biggest international motor sports events of the year, Nowadays is seeing the runway opening up for THC drinks to “push the envelope” with on-site event marketing.
Earlier this month, Nowadays made its mark with one of the largest sporting event activations for cannabis beverages at the F1 Miami Grand Prix, a four-day event which attracted over 275,000 attendees and ranked as the third most-watched F1 broadcast in U.S. history.
The drink brand hosted an invite-only area inside the Hard Rock Stadium where it served THC spirits and RTD cocktails, and sponsored a party at the Palm Tree Club with electronic music group The Chainsmokers where drinks were sold on-premise.
The marketing event was seen as not just a chance to tap into the race’s over $500 million in estimated economic impact to the area, but an opportunity to “lift the perception of the category,” said Nowadays founder and CEO Justin Tidwell.
“How do THC beverages socially fit into these events? It was a massive experiment,” he said. “Let’s send a message that THC drinks are safe and are going to be in these scenarios.”
That message has been echoed across the category as hemp beverage brands have complemented retail growth with an increased presence at live events like music festivals.
The key for Nowadays was finding a venue and sport that would be interested in offering THC drinks as an on-premise option. The Hard Rock Stadium initially reached out to Nowadays to learn more about the brand, leading to the eventual partnership at the Miami Grand Prix. F1 Racing presented an ideal setting for Nowadays to establish itself in live sports due to the affiliation the racing league has with premium-positioned spirits like Grey Goose, Dom Perignon and Patrón.
In contrast, Tidwell said, “If we look at NASCAR, it’s Busch Light.”
More importantly, Nowadays wanted a case study it could use to address safety and regulatory concerns that on-premise partners might voice when deciding to bring in hemp-derived THC options. Nowadays presented both the Hard Rock Stadium and the Palm Tree Club with a detailed plan on everything from transportation options and the formats being served to guidance for staff on directing drinkers through their options and on when to cut off patrons who might appear intoxicated.
Nowadays THC drinks were not served at normal Hard Rock Stadium concessions, but were only available at a branded cabana activation where about 75 people (a mix of influencersand VIPs) were served in a controlled environment each day. This allowed Nowadays to track consumption and develop a SOP (standard operating procedure) that could then be replicated in future events.
In total, ROI was over 150% on the F1 weekend, representing about $2 million in earned media value from social media coverage, according to Tidwell’s calculations. The brand’s tracked engagement (likes, comments and shares) was over 2.1 million on social media posts, representing an engagement rate 4.03% above average. Online purchases of Nowadays products increased 39% between the Grand Prix (May 1 through 4) and the prior weekend.
“This doesn’t go into our Meta paid advertising bucket where we spend a dollar to get two dollars,” he said. “It’s the long-term impact on the brand and category usage. We slop this in our marketing budget where we spend this money to get this category where we need to go.”
Tidwell declined to say if the Hard Rock Stadium partnership was extending to other events, but he believes events like Nowadays’ F1 Miami Grand Prix weekend are a “necessary” part of marketing spend that will lead to future “big venue deals and activations.”
“Venues won’t get comfortable on a larger scale [to do these activations], so we have to continue to push the envelope,” he said. “No one’s going to do it for us unless we physically go prove it every single step of the way.”