CPS Student Competes in Budweiser’s National Best Friends Competition (Pt. 2)
(This is the second part in a two part series about one CPS students’ journey through Budweiser’s Band of Buds competition. See part 1 below.)
The next hour and a half flew by fast and furious. Each crew was given a different starting point and an envelope: figure out the riddle at each spot and receive the next envelope with your clue. It was an all out race to the seven secret places in Vegas. Each crew was given a limo and driver, and our first destination was the legendary Neon Graveyard; the place where Vegas has retired all the old neon signs from the past. We quickly found the vintage Budweiser sign and took off.
The second clue was a retro video game arcade where we had to play a 1986 Budweiser arcade game entitled, Tapper. That is where I came through, beating the game in less than three minutes and sprinting out of the door. The next location was located just down the street, so we took off to find that we got to ride the zipline over old downtown Vegas. “We Are The Champions” came on just as we took off. I couldn’t have asked for a better moment.
The moment didn’t last long, though; as soon as we hit the ground it was a full on sprint back to the limo. We’re feeling pretty confident as we take off to spot #4 as our limo begins to smell of gasoline and starts to smoke. Five minutes later we are pulled over on the side of the road with Budweiser trying to figure out how they could get us a working limo. After ten harrowing minutes, we were back on track, but far behind now. The next clue led us to the exclusive, members only club in Mandalay Bay, The Foundation Room, where we America’s Got Talent winner and master illusionist, Seth Grabel, put on a small private show and handed us our next clue.
From there it was on to The Venetian, but not before we had to memorize an old Budweiser jingle and sing it while riding the gondolas around the casino. A speedy ride out to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign and back in town to our final destination at The Rok Club in New York, New York. On our way to the final spot, we begin hearing rumors that other teams had finished ahead of us. It was until we reached the finish line that we realized we were the last place team. Huge bummer. It took us a while to get over our loss, but we were still in the competition, so we put our game faces on and took over the after party.
Budweiser sponsored a spa day for the final day of the competition for the top six teams. All the women got hair and makeup done, and the men…pedicures and barber shaves. Pure relaxation. But we still knew that the final four teams were being announced before the final game show that night and we had to stay focused.
We arrived to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for the finals, the last call, the big show. It was all or nothing at this point. As the crowd began to gather, the emcees called all six crews to the front stage. This was the moment we find out if all our hard work payed off. “And the second team in the Band of Buds Final Four is…...The 80’s Babies!!!!” Excitement ensued.
So we were in. The Final Four crews in America, vying for $100,000. Game on. The last competition was the Bud Wise Game. A Newly Weds type gig where one crew member from each team sits downstage while the other three members of each crew sit upstage. The emcees ask five questions for three rounds and the three crew members’ answers from each team must match the one downstage for 10 points to be awards. The questions asked ranged from “What is your buds’ most embarrassing song on his/her iPod?” to “What was buds’ teacher crush in middle school?” to “What is the most embarrassing thing in your bud’s bathroom?”
Touch questions indeed. And we didn’t do too well either. As the questions drug on, we fell farther and farther from first place. In the end, first place came down to the last question and Team America took home the trophy.
All in all, it was such an amazing experience and, to bring it around to CPS, a true lesson in how to run a successful brand campaign. It was simply mind numbing the extent to which Budweiser went to make this a top notch event. I made some amazing friends from around the country, got closer to my crew and best friends, and know that this will be an event I will never forget.