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Something old, something new, something borrowed — something brewed?
If the COVID-19 pandemic has rained on your wedding-day plans, one beer company wants to help couples to drown your sorrows, with a timely — or, others may argue, opportunistic — marketing campaign.
The coronavirus has been crashing wedding plans, as lockdowns to fight the spread of the outbreak have locked down many venues and vendors in the $54 billion U.S. wedding industry.
The Knot puts the average wedding cost at $33,900 per couple, including the engagement ring (almost $6,000 on average), according to a survey of its users who are, perhaps, more likely to spend more on their wedding.
But the pandemic has put wedding plans on halt. More than one in four couples (27%) said they rescheduled their planned ceremonies for 2021, while 26% pushed their nuptials back to later dates in 2020, a recent Wedding Report survey found.
Pandemic promotion?
The Anheuser-Busch InBev–owned ABIN, -0.83% label is offering a free year’s supply of beer for couples who have had to put their wedding plans on ice this year as the coronavirus outbreak has temporarily shuttered all nonessential businesses and grounded most travel.
Couples must post a photo of themselves on Facebook or Instagram FB, -0.55% or Twitter TWTR, +1.16% and explain how they’re altering their nuptials with the hashtag #BuschWeddingGift and #Sweepstakes through May 1, 2020.
Some 250 couples will be picked in a random drawing and gifted a $300 debit card that they can use to buy two cases of Busch beers per month for one year. (12-packs of Busch cans retail at $8.99 at Target TGT, -3.91%. )
The St. Louis-based brewer is just the latest brand to find a marketing opportunity during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown where people have been told to remain six feet apart to avoid transmission.
Burger King QSR, -4.13% recently offered free Whopper burgers for students who could correctly answer math problems and literature questions online. And Busch previously offered free beer to people who adopted or fostered a dog during the pandemic.
Some couples have gone ahead with their wedding plans, regardless. Last month, one New York couple were married on the street by an officiant who stood at an apartment window above. The video of the ceremony went viral.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced over the weekend that New Yorkers can obtain a marriage license remotely and that clerks are allowed to perform ceremonies via videoconferencing, such as on Zoom ZM, -0.71%.
Still trying to plan a wedding? Here’s a celebrity wedding planner’s tips to putting on your big day in the midst of the pandemic.
