Are you looking for ways to leverage an official beer sponsor? Are you interested in learning about game entertainment tactics that are popular across the globe?
Cricket fans across the globe - from London, England to Melbourne, Australia - have become infatuated with one of the most unlikely forms of entertainment at cricket matches they attend: Beer Cup Snakes. What the wave is to traditional American sports, the beer cup snake is to the game of cricket.
Fans in the stands at cricket matches make the beer snakes with thousands of empty beer cups, usually sold at concessions stands location within the stadium. The longest beer cup snake was formed at the WACA ground in Perth, Western Australia on New Years Eve 2008. The snake was 45 meters long (50 yards), measuring the length of the Inverarity Stand at the venue.
Once a beer cup snake is formed, fans seated in the crowd try to lift it skyward to make it dance (as if being charmed). However, while beer cup snakes have proven to be extremely popular with cricket attendees, they are often frowned upon by the stadium's security personnel.
What is the significance here for U.S. sports marketers?
- Do not be surprised if beer cup snakes become a new trend in the United States (it is only a matter of time)
- Consider ways that the concept of the beer cup snake can be applied to in-game promotions. Beverage partners could consider creating an interactive challenge in-venue where two (2) competing sections have to pass a beer cup snake (a chain of empty cups) down the section to win X prize
The videos below capture the art of the beer cup snake in action: